My favorite urban tableau has been the construction site in front of the old-school ice cream shop on Stargarder Straße. Rather than being cordoned off, the beams, pipes and ditches became impromptu seating and playground for families licking their cones. (I felt I became German the moment I let S balance along one of these water pipes.)
needs do as needs must! (as i type this, it occurs to me: any little maxims that germans have which poorly translate to american?)
Posted by: jonquil | 14 June 2011 at 03:40 PM
oh damn. i'm back in australia, pining for my little prenzl.berg hood and i read your blog all the time, nostalgic. i live around the corner from stargarder and the last time i was there it was piled high with snow and i slipped and slid my way past the construction. it's lovely to see it all clear and bright and filled with kids and icecream.
Posted by: lauren | 15 June 2011 at 07:12 AM
The Germans and their ice creams. A lot can be written about that. : )
Posted by: Suzy | 15 June 2011 at 09:15 AM
Jonquil, oh, so many! "Wenn schon, denn schon" (something like "If you're going to do it, do it right", but the crispness and rhyme in the German are so nice); "Augen zu und durch" (something like "Just get on with it" with an element of "suck it up"); "Es wird überall mit Wasser gekocht" ("really people aren't all that different").
Lauren, oh, the Platz behind the church is heaven too. Will you be back to see some of summer?
Suzy, yes ;-)
Posted by: Berlin Reified | 16 June 2011 at 08:17 AM
and the platz behind the church! oh.. that would be so gorgeous.
sadly not this year. plans are for the beginning of spring next year, and hopefully for a whole year this time. cursed visa restrictions :)
i LOVE 'wenn schon denn schon' and 'augen zu und durch' - such great german poetic stoicism :).
Posted by: lauren | 16 June 2011 at 11:45 AM
Oh, how funny, I went there for the first time right after our Bärlauch hunt! I enjoyed seeing everyone sitting on the construction site as well. Maybe we can have our ice cream there.
Posted by: Leslie | 23 June 2011 at 12:05 AM
i was there 14 days ago (unfortunatelly i don't live in berlin) and have been sitting there as well. your post, to me, touches the essence of berliners, of berlin type of living...
while you're at it, stop by at oderberger strasse (a street through which i discovered berlin) where people and cafés changed the construction site to a place for a temporary exhibition or a beach...
i love and miss berlin
Posted by: ahasver | 23 June 2011 at 08:22 AM
Lauren, I know!
Leslie, it's dangerously close to neat-and-tidy, but there are a few splintery fences yet, so fingers crossed they'll still be there next week.
Ahasver, really? Then you know exactly how it feels. I missed the Oderberger Straße site -- or is that something you saw recently?
Posted by: Berlin Reified | 23 June 2011 at 11:50 AM
well, i am exagerating a bit, so you may have seen it :)
this is 2 weeks old
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahasver/5862778406/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahasver/5862778298/
also new cafés are appearing, much quicker than couple of years ago...
(unfortunatelly - malls, huge residential/office projects etc. are appearing as well)
Posted by: ahasver | 23 June 2011 at 11:21 PM
Ahasver, I hadn't, thank you! Yes, it's all so fast now, I can hardly keep track...
Posted by: Berlin Reified | 26 June 2011 at 03:27 PM