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We found this shopping trolley filled with potatoes on the Schwedter Strasse last week, and despite extensive research (google) we are still none the wiser to the point or the origin of this piece of urban gardening. This blog article speculates that it might be a new form of guerilla gardening, or perhaps even a PR campaign. I have no idea if it is still there, but if anyone knows what the point of the spud trolley then let us know…
Christian and I have been South Africa for four days, although with the experiences of the past 96 hours it feels somehow like we have been here for weeks. On Sunday morning we arrived at Cape Town airport and Andreas was waiting for us. We spent the first couple of days exploring the city and with a bike ride down to Cape Point, before squeezing into the seats of a Greyhound bus for the 22 hour ride to Durban where the semi-final was waiting for us.
Travelling overland you get a sense of the scale of the country, and passing through the neat vinyards with large farmhouses, next door to the shanty towns which presumably provide the workers for the fields, you can see the disparity in wealth of this country even through the window of a Greyhound bus. I have had too many thoughts and impressions over the past four days to list here, but it is that wealth gap that strikes the hardest, and shapes my impression of everything else.
We arrived in Durban weary but excited about what was to come. On the way to the stadium – an incredible and beautiful structure – the streets were filled with fans from both teams, and it was clear that the local fans had made their choice as well, and had been shopping to make sure they looked the part. Slightly more had gone for Germany, which I am sure is the result of the team’s performances up to that point.
The game itself? A disappointment from the German perspective, not because of the result, but the fact that the young team could not raise themselves as they had done against Germany and Argentina. For the first time you could sense the tension was there, and Spain with all their wonderful players were simply calmer and less afraid. Of course, Andreas and Christian were a little sad in the end, but it did not take long before the disappointment was overcome and we all agreed that this German team had played a wonderful tournament and in a great style, making new friends along the way.
Now we are back in Cape Town and are about to begin our journey overland to Johannesburg by motorbike. It promises to be a fascinating trip, and I am really looking forward to seeing more of the country. The South Africa I have experienced so far, in this short time, is beautiful and vast, with some troubling aspects, as I mentioned before.
These are of course the legacies of Apartheid, and 15-odd years is a very short period in the life of a nation. To look back at South Africa then, and to see what has been achieved is a credit to Mandela, Tutu, the other leaders and of course the people themselves. But there is clearly still a lot to be done, and until the poverty that is a reality for so many here in the country is lessened, the social issues that threaten South Africa will not be resolved. Crime, violence directed against immigrants, health issues, education…the key to everything is poverty, the poverty of jobs, of housing, of educational opportunity…and how the government tackles this issue will shape the direction of the country in the years to come.
The end of the road for German fans was Durban. But the next adventure awaits. Andreas will be back on the blog soon to tell you all about it.
See you soon,
Paul
(If you are interested in reading more about our wonderful city either before you come or once you’ve got home, Paul is selecting some of his favourite books about Berlin, starting with Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood)
Often packaged by the publishers as The Berlin Stories – alongside Mr Norris Changes Trains – Goodbye to Berlin brings together a fictionalised account of different scenes during the time he lived in the city from 1929-33. If you know a bit about history, you’ll know that those four years could definitely be classed as “interesting times”, a period bookmarked by the Wall Street Crash and Hitler’s rise to power.
The political situation is ever present in the book, which explores different characters and their social circumstances through the eyes of the English narrator. Whether he’s bunking down with a working class family in Kreuzberg, or attempting to teach English to a spoiled daughter of a rich family, Isherwood paints a picture of Berlin that stands as a powerful record of a certain time and place.
The most famous character in Goodbye to Berlin is of course Sally Bowles, who was the inspiration behind the film Cabaret, and who became more famous than the book that gave birth to her. Although much of the book is light-hearted in tone, what gives it a sense of melancholy and sadness is the knowledge of what happened in Berlin after Isherwood had left. As you try to imagine the fate of the firebrand Communist and some-time homosexual Otto, the Jewish Landauer family, or even the landlady Frau Schroeder, the book suddenly gives off a sense of impending doom as all the while Hitler and his cronies intrigue in the background.
Goodbye to Berlin is a portrait of a city on the edge of disaster, a portrait of bohemians, politicos, the rich and the poor…Isherwood manages in a surprisingly small number of pages to draw them all, and draw them well.
If you are looking for a good bookshop in Berlin, with a fine selection of second hand as well as new books, and a large selection of translated German literature, check out St George’s Bookshop in Prenzlauer Berg. Otherwise, you can find Goodbye to Berlin here on Amazon.co.uk.
(Our intrepid explorers J and J take the rest of the family on a trip to another corner of Berlin…the Wrangel Kiez)
Wrangel Kiez in Kreuzberg has a population density of approximately 27.000 people per square kilometer which is about the same as Manhattan. It also has a very young and ethnically diverse population which makes it one of the more vibrant neighbourhoods, even for Berlin standards. Of course there are plenty of scene bars and clubs including Madam Claude’s on Lübbener Strasse and Lido on the Curvy Strasse.
Josefine and I however like to hit Pizza Amore which is on Wrangel Strasse and just watch the street life. “Mister Pizza Amore” – that is his name – will try and convince you of to things 1) That he is Italian (he is from the Lebanon) and 2) That you need to put garlic sauce on your pizza as this is good for your “Amore”. Great bloke. We recommend pizza Kuku which is with Turkish spicy sausage, feta cheese and of course extra Amore. The easiest way to get there from the Circus is to take the U8 to Kottbusser Tor and then the U1 to Schlesisches Tor.
Andreas, not long after the final whistle…
Spiegel International
