The Berlin Journals: The Streets, Maur Park, and more

It's taken a little while to put it all together and I thought that a street post would be a solid kick off to the Berlin Journals, besides the taste I threw together last November. If you're going to Berlin, I'd suggest the former east side, it's relatively cheap,  and not so prepackaged. Lot's of street vendors and open markets, fresh fruit & vegetable spots, and shwarma huts, and a healthy variety of small stores, thrift shops, and the like. Well, at least that's what it was around Leopoldplatz minus a general department store or two on the corner. Generally though, it was a good spot to set up camp for the two weeks we were there, it felt grounded and tangible, the people were nice to talk to and for the most part not dismissing, and the outdoor markets coupled with the shwarma spots combined to create an olfactory cornucopia not much unlike that experienced back home on St Lau or along St Caths at times. Hell, I was hanging out with random people, homeless war vet amputees and other vagrants on my first day in waiting for Meor to arrive from his connect in Paris. Good times slugging back some tall boy local pilsners trying to get my basic German correct so I could at least survive until I hooked up with homeboy. Suffice it to day I made it out alive my first day in, slightly tanked after slamming back a bunch of beer in the sun and causing shit that I didn't even understand with the gutter crowd. Good start.

Getting around is relatively easy and there is a lot of activity on the streets so this is really just a drop to what's out there. Maur Park is a pretty chill spot. We stopped to paint and chill at the semi legal wall during our first full day in. It's a long ass wall that sits atop a hill that overlooks the rest of the massive grounds the park covers bordering a soccer field. There's a market and a bar in it and at night folks come out to play music and drink. That night these three guys just set up a traveling band from out of a trailer they towed with their bikes, lights and all.

 Stolen memories.

  

 More to come soon. I got some fresh stuff from Montreal streets to post soon too including some shots from the mural fest happening on St Laurent in the plateau. Stay posted.

The Berlin Journals

I flew out to Berlin the last two weeks of October to get a taste of subculture on the other side of the pond.  It was a hell or a trip too - pure bombing and missions - for pretty much the entire stint of the trip. Even though I was drinking pretty much everyday, having a flat on the fifth floor of a city that has few elevators and walking five to ten kilometers a day kept me in shape. The food was great, especially the king sized doners, the people were welcoming for the most part, and besides some grey skies and cold evenings, the weather was pretty nice. I took a ridiculous amount of flicks and I'm still working on them but I wanted to drop a few 'cause it's been far too long since I posted last.

I wanted to drop some shout outs to the folks in Berlin who I met, particularly STU76 for bringing us out towards Heinersdorf to paint and for a couple of fun days with lots of laughs; Sharm and Tres for their walking tours of the city and then Tres dragging us around to some hot spots to paint and flick to give us a taste of what its like tracking trains and walls; Korea and company for a hell of a Halloween party night and great conversations over drinks with unknown quantities of mixed alcohol; Dask and Most for a solid three days in Halle and some of the best missions I've had in a while, shorty shots, and more enlivening conversations; and finally Meor for putting up with my shit and feeding me over the two weeks we spent out there. Everyone else in between you got my love and thanks for making my first Berlin and Europe trip an absolute blast.

I know that things have been quiet here for a bit. But considering I took something in the realm of 7000 flicks while out there it's gonna take me a little while until I'm through them all. Well, here's a taste of that multitude I've been working on for the last month.

Way more to come. And I'm back on this beast. New picks from Berlin Stinky's, the streets, and more soon!