Berlinbound

Der Schwimmer über Berlin

A few weeks ago, there was a picture of German film director Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Paris Texas) in the newspaper. He lives around here, Torstrasse to be precise, which is a very busy street in Mitte. Poor old Wim is fed up with the loud traffic, so he has set up an action group to campaign against noise pollution on Torstrasse. A follow-up report recently said that Wenders has a penthouse with an eighteen-meter outdoor pool on the roof. Hmmmm. So I fired up Google Earth and scanned along Torstrasse....bugger me sideways with a fishfork!

All riot on the night

May Day passed off without major incident yesterday. In recent years, there had been a proliferation of rioting by left-wing anarchists, particularly in Kreuzberg. However, this year, as Tagesspiegel reports,

“One group of rioters smashed up a bus shelter. Another set fire to a wheelie bin and vandalised public phone boxes. Bottles and stones were thrown at police...who used pepper spray and made over 20 arrests.”

Sounds like a quiet Saturday night in Manchester.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

One of the more unusual names on the Berlin public-transport network is the U-Bahn (tube/subway) stop Onkel Toms Hütte or Uncle Tom's Cabin. Named after Harriet Beecher-Stowe's classic (and nowadays somewhat controversial) anti-slavery novel, the stop is located unsurprisingly on Onkel-Tom-Strasse in swanky suburb Dahlem in the south west of Berlin. Here's the proof:

Doing the knowledge

Although I don't always agree with their politics, you can't fault The Economist when it comes to accuracy, clarity and insight. Their reporting on Germany is excellent, and is far superior to the tedious nonsense filed by the foreign correspondents of other notable British papers. At The Economist, they will often go to great lengths to place things into context and explain how things work in Germany, drawing comparisons with the rest of the world. The Backgrounder section is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand a bit more about what makes this country tick, and the Berlin guide has some great tips and general information for newcomers and visitors.

Spring in Prenzlauer Berg

Spring has finally sprung and Berlin is getting greener and prettier by the day. I've uploaded this and other snapshots taken around Prenzlauer Berg to an album here.

Stupid tourist season begins

A 2006 Readers Digest survey of good manners in 35 world cities ranked Berlin number three, behind Toronto and Zurich, for courteousness.

If you live in Berlin, you could be forgiven for spitting out your currywurst at this point. Because Berliners aren't exactly renowned for their politeness. Quite the opposite. If you put a foot wrong in this city you can very quickly find yourself on the receiving end of Berliner Schnauze, the brusque local way of telling you to go to hell.

Since the study was published, there have been various attempts to explain the disparity. The consensus seems to be that Berliners have plenty of patience when it comes to hapless tourists. But if they think you live here, you should know better - and that makes you fair game.

However, the tourists themselves aren't always well behaved and respectful towards their hosts. On Easter Monday, a drunken Lithuanian man got himself arrested after doing a Basil Fawlty i.e. shouting out Sieg Heil and raising his right arm in front of the Russian Embassy on Unter den Linden. He was released by the police after they did a blood test, presumably to confirm that he was as pissed as a fart. A mere three hours later, the same man got arrested a second time, for the same crime (yes it is a crime in Germany), but in front of the Reichstag. And they say travel broadens the mind...

Arm aber sexy

Welcome to Berlin, welcome to Debtsville, Deficit County, IOU State. Since 1991, Berlin’s Schuldenberg or mountain of debt has ballooned from 10 billion to 60 billion euros. In fact if you piled Berlin’s debts up in one-euro coins, the Schuldenberg would be 55 times higher than the Matterhorn. I reckon.

Despite signs of recovery in the German economy at large, the Berlin unemployment rate remains very high at just over 16%. And according to the media, almost half the city’s population now lives on benefits.

An article in The Economist in September 2006 (here but for subscribers only) offered this explanation for Berlin’s financial woes:

During the cold war both halves of the city were heavily subsidised, but the money dried up after unification. The legacy was one of uncompetitive firms, a huge bureaucracy and an ingrained welfare mentality. Heavyweight firms that moved out after 1945, such as Siemens and Deutsche Bank, saw no reason to return. The results are visible as soon as one strays beyond the smart government district around the Brandenburg Gate or the posh neighbourhoods near Kurfürstendamm. Signs of poverty are everywhere. One-third of children in Berlin are poor.

Sounds like it’s all doom and gloom, but as with so many other things, Berliners seem to take it in their stride. The city’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit, even gave it a positive spin, describing Berlin as, “Arm aber sexy” or, “poor but sexy” – a label that has stuck.

Berlin, the boho babe with take-me-to-bed eyes but without a penny to her name. It might not be entirely true but it’s not that wide of the mark either.