Life in “lockdown light” – week 3

Be a couch potato, be a hero.

It’s week three of lockdown light and the German government, or Bundesregierung,  has come up with a new strategy to convince young people to stay at home. They are running an online campaign with a series of ironic documentary-style videos showing old people reminiscing about the winter of 2020, a time when they were young and they became heroes by simply doing nothing. In one short film, an old man shows off the medal he was awarded for his outstanding contribution in the fight against coronavirus. He was a lazy slob, who stayed at home all day playing computer games and eating junk food. His friends used to make fun of him, but due to his laziness he became a hero because he stopped the virus spreading. The final message is: “Become a hero too and stay at home”, hashtag #besonderehelden or special heroes.

If the scenes at the Mauerpark last Sunday are anything to go by, it’s likely to be an uphill struggle. Clearly Berlin is not a city of couch potatoes. Crowds gathered at the park, which, by the way, has been enlarged recently. As well as people dancing in close proximity to one another (clearly in defiance of the AHA rules), there were multi-ethnic families having barbeques, aspiring musicians trying out new beats, aspiring acrobats trying out new tricks, graffiti artists spraying on the walls and the usual boules-playing gang.

Meanwhile in a different part of Berlin, Prince Charles was giving a speech, partly in German and partly in English, at the Bundestag, the German Parliament. He was attending a ceremony to commemorate Germany's National Day of Mourning for victims of war. Actually, his German is quite impressive! I wonder if the Prince of Wales is aware that there is a nightclub in Berlin named after him. Unfortunately, the club called Prince Charles, like all other clubs (in case you didn't know, Berlin is famous for its club scene), is closed due to the current Covid restrictions. I should point out that Prince Charles and Camilla are amongst the first passengers to land at the newly opened BER airport. It was worth opening a painfully delayed airport in the middle of a global pandemic after all!

Talking of the royal family, season four of The Crown is finally available to watch on Netflix. My favourite moment so far is when a mystified Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, wonders why she is wasting her precious time at Balmoral, while «struggling to find any redeeming features in these people» (i.e. the royals), who her husband describes as “boorish, snobbish and rude”. Meanwhile, Earls Court, where Lady Diana lives, is a place for “prostitutes and Australians”. That is according to Princess Margaret, played by Helena Bonham Carter. If you think you come from an odd family, don’t worry you’re in good company, even though you might not live in a palace or castle.

The wonderful world of Mauerpark

Forget the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate or the Pergamon museum, Berlin's top attraction on a Sunday is the one and only Mauerpark! All year round huge crowds of locals and tourists flock on a Sunday morning (not too early mind - this is Berlin) or afternoon to this once abandoned piece of land divided by the Berlin Wall.
 

Mauerpark Karaoke

The Mauerpark caters for all tastes. Fancy some live music? Care to spend a few hours browsing the flea market stalls selling everything from GDR furniture and paraphernalia, to jewellery and clothes made by local designers? Or perhaps you would like to try out your singing talents in front of hundreds of cheering people at the karaoke? Then head to the Mauerpark! Of course there is also a good selection of food and drinks available. The Schoenwetter beach bar and the Mauersegler bier garden are always a good choice for chilling out on a Sunday afternoon.
 

The Mauerpark is a great place to try out your artistic talents: be it wall spraying, juggling, tightrope walking or breakdancing. It's also a good place for entrepreneurs - be it karaoke entertainers, Pfand  (deposit) bottle collectors or improvised bakers. The popularity of the Mauerpark has reached unprecedented levels. It's also a good place to keep fit: you can play boules, basketball, jog, cycle, dance... the list is endless.  The number of visitors has grown exponentially over the years. It's mentioned in every respectable guidebook, blog or travel web site. Alas, the Mauerpark as many other unique Berlin attractions is at risk!
There are plans to build hotels, houses, businesses threatening the survival of the Mauerpark as we all know it.
 

The mayor of Berlin once famously said that Berlin is “arm aber sexy”, which translates as “poor but sexy”.  Whatever happens I cannot believe that the city of Berlin will destroy one of its most important attractions to make way for some rich but uncool investors.

This post was written in April 2012, but never found its way onto the Blog.  Two years later nothing (or very little) has changed.  I recently met a friend to spend a couple of hours at the Mauerpark on a Sunday afternoon leaving Papa and son to play football in a nearby park.  The place was so busy that although we had previously arranged to meet by the entrance at Eberswalder Strasse it took us 40 minutes to find each other! The mobile phone networks were overloaded so we couldn’t call or text either. This just shows that the Mauerpark is still extremely popular and attracting very large crowds.  The future of the park is still uncertain, as plans keep changing.  However, I don’t think there is any danger that the Mauerpark and its colourful crowd will disappear any time soon.