Kreuzberg – till the cow comes home

My 2nd day in Berlin was a Saturday and I started early in the morning, as I was sure, that this would be a long day in Kreuzberg. I like to walk and see how the neighbourhood awakes. when the shutters are still closed, you have the chance to see the paintings, which are hidden when the shops are open. Kreuzberg has a lot of painted shutters which are in no way inferior to those of London’s Eastend. There was no special plan, but to change the direction and turn left at Oberbaumbrücke and not right, as I did when I was on the traces of 1st Berlin Mural Festival in June. And so I followed Schlesische Straße, curious what this walk would bring. The best friend of human beings is the dog. I don’t have a dog and so I mostly walk alone, except in Berlin, where I was adopted by Phatty, a beautiful French Bulldog, which appeared everywhere, wherever I was. I followed Schlesische Straße and passed Curvystraße, where once BLU had painted two murals, which were among the most famous graffiti in Berlin. He later destroyed them in a protest against real estate speculation. Passing Barbie Deinhoff, a gay/lesbian bar with shrill pink facade and a lot of street art, you reach Landwehrkanal and Chalet, a club for electronic music. Here my guard dog Phatty left me for a dance session, he was dressed like Gene Kelly. Crossing Flutgraben you’ll reach Badeschiff and Arena and leave Kreuzberg for Treptow. This property is crowded with street art and it took a lot of time to pass only a few meters. Graffiti, paste-ups, stencils, stickers and installations of high quality cover the walls and windows. It was already late afternoon and I had forgotten to eat and drink. Too much too see and to take pictures of – and to much distraction. When I reached Elsenbrücke and former Osthafen, I was hungry enough to try guinea pig, but everything was closed and no bakery in sight. But Elsenbrücke and  THE BERLIN KIDZ, JIMMY C and Otto Schade brought distraction.

At least I found a take away for an absolute awful, unhealthy Currywurst (Berlin style). It was delicious!

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