Cryptic Tag
When I lived in Mitte it was a scrappy neighborhood of quiet residences and flagrant dissent. While it lacked the flamboyant attack-the-police weekend celebrations of Kreuzberg, it was still a bubbling stewpot of social conscience and utopian dreams. Squatters' houses were abundant, bright and strange and promising a whiff of danger. There were dreams in the air.
Now Mitte is the East Village of Berlin, shiny and trendy and full of sparkle and profit. It's bizarre to try to find my old town after 11 years away. Bits and pieces survive; this besetzt Haus on Linienstrasse is still there, decorated with the same art and political slogans now as it was then. I'm so glad to see it that my eyes get a little damp.
So did the revolution die, or did it just get comfy and decide to settle in a bit?
Cryptic Tag
When I lived in Mitte it was a scrappy neighborhood of quiet residences and flagrant dissent. While it lacked the flamboyant attack-the-police weekend celebrations of Kreuzberg, it was still a bubbling stewpot of social conscience and utopian dreams. Squatters' houses were abundant, bright and strange and promising a whiff of danger. There were dreams in the air.
Now Mitte is the East Village of Berlin, shiny and trendy and full of sparkle and profit. It's bizarre to try to find my old town after 11 years away. Bits and pieces survive; this besetzt Haus on Linienstrasse is still there, decorated with the same art and political slogans now as it was then. I'm so glad to see it that my eyes get a little damp.
So did the revolution die, or did it just get comfy and decide to settle in a bit?