berlin-ing

tonight i went and found a crazy bar on the spree river, a small canal about 20 feet wide. you walked in through a gate and there were tiers of seating, the lowest being the dock right on the river, to which a boat was tied. the boat was large, old, and the inside had been removed and the edges of the boat were outfitted with benches and tables. the dock had pillows and square tables set up, and trees from the edge of the river spilled over. people were sprawled out everywhere, drinking beer and having a great time. i bought a beer that the bartender reccommended (although i had a becks for $2 on the way over, since you can drink on the train and all the little newsstands sell and open beer for you) and paid my extra euro for the dj (and got a stamp to show it). afterwards, i explored the area, which was beside the spree and next to a rather large street. Off the street alongside the river was an outdoor seating area. There was a gutted bus, outfitted with new seats so you could sit inside the bus and drink. There were old cars covered in astroturf that people were lying on. there were oversized benches 4 feet off the ground that were so big your feet stuck out in front of you and the back of the bench was two times higher than your head. a dj was spinning in an indoor space and a neon-lit bar was serving drinks, although it seemed to me that everyone already had one from the corner deli.

i wandered into an adjacent graffiti-covered loft area and found it was simply for the WC. Signs in german pointed down a dark alley between two abandoned warehouses and with some trepidation i followed them, feeling reassured by the random display of artistic red lights wired between the buildings. I followed the arrows to a clearing. beneath my feet sand appeared, and as i looked ahead i saw a series of layers of boardwalk and an open-air bar to my right. hammocks, canvas beach chairs, lounge chairs, and small tables led the way to a submerged pool floating on the river. steam rose into the air from the lit pool, the glassy teal surface constrasting deeply with the black river. hipsters lounged in the hammocks while girls in bikinis swam back and forth in the river. this is one of those moments where i wonder what is going on--how can this exist? how is anyone making any money? why is everyone staying up so late? why does everyone seem authentically cool?

the thing i've realized about berlin is that it just exists in this way for itself because it is a product of itself. it hasn't been reappropriated or invented for the purpose of a means to an end. it is the way it is because of its history and its past. it's created itself for better or worse, because it has no other possibility. in a lot of ways i find the city depressing. it's decrepit, rundown, and kind of ugly. even the nice neighborhoods are desolate and graffiti-ridden. there are hardly any banks, no police, no chain stores or drugstores on every corner. but it doesn't matter because everyone is having a good time and doing fun stuff. the whole city is like an outdoor cafe/beer garden, with so much open and shared space that it's just bound to end up being cool. the people are awesome--trendy and fashionable in a very cutting edge way, like they are creating the fashions just by being unique and themselves, rather than following what everyone else is already doing. it makes me wish new york was like this, but i realize that it would never work in new york, because it would just be pretentious and watered-down, and then mobbed by people from new jersey and long island (in a bad way, not a good way).

i just wish all my friends were here to enjoy it with me.