Postfuhramt, Exhibition Centre for Photography

Postfuhramt building was constructed in the 1875–1881 by Wilhelm Tuckermann according to the plans of Carl Schwatlo. In its long history it was used not only as a head post office. Post and telegraph school, receiving centre for packages, apartments provided by the employer and even machines operating for the pipe mail system used to be situated in this building. The Postfuhramt was seriously damaged during the Second World War and partially restored in the years 1973-1989. From the year 1997 it has been used as the exhibition centre. And that’s what it is now – the Exhibition Centre for Photography.

I went there anticipating the thrill I would feel experiencing the “In Principio” – series of pictures by Sebastião Salgado, the photographer I adore. Unexpectedly this time his work didn’t touch my heart. Was it because the project was sponsored by the Illy coffee that the hard work wasn’t shown as hard as it could have? Anyway the exhibition of the works of Leonard Freed occupying most of the rooms has totally made it up. Pictures of this patient photo hunter, politically and humanly engaged person and a true artist have fascinated me.

And now to the point of this post: the interior of the Postfuhramt is not what you expect to see keeping in mind its pretty clean facade. The peeling walls provocatively exposing layers of the paint they where wearing for last decades, crumbling stucco, and worn-out doors create a scary and enchanting atmosphere turning time into something almost material. At a second glance the biggest exhibition room proved to be a former sport hall with one of the hoops still fixed to the wall. I guess you have to be quite a pervert to see the beauty of this collapsing block of history but I swear I loved it! Definitely worth a visit.

P.S.

Placed on the floor plates with the names force all shortsighted people to make a low bow in front of every photograph. I think it has a deep philosophic sense.

Postfuhramt Oranienburger Straße/ Tucholskystraße 10117 Berlin
http://www.co-berlin.info/co-neu/web/CO_Berlin/start.php

Girl on a wall

Another example of wall decorations. This time in the Reinhardstrasse.

Around Hackescher Markt

Modern frescos in one of the courtyards next to the Hachescher Markt, Mitte.

- Look at this blond girl!

- I am fixed on the terrorists.

Order & Discipline

“Ordnung muss sein” was almost the first phrase I’ve learned in German. And I somehow believed in the myth about pedantic, disciplined, solid Germans, which helps manufacturers to better sell German cars, German washing machines and German shoes. Then I moved to a new flat.

After one month of living in it I learned from the owner that I had to read the electric meter before I started using electricity. I should have informed the supplying company about the result. Neither did I know the reading, nor did I inform the company. As I’ve called the company they didn’t want to know anything but the initial reading. As I’ve asked the flat owner what I should do, this German guy said: “Just tell them something. Who cares?”
I start feeling at home!!!

A place to happily ruin the liver

I have to admit there are a couple of places in Berlin to which I go more often than to the others. Not all of them do serve alcohol, but this one does. Welcome to the Lützow-Bar - the real drinker’s paradise! It’s open 7 days a week form 16.00 p.m. to 4.00 a.m. Between 16.00 and 21.00 p.m. they have a happy hour, which means that every alcoholic cocktail costs half of its price plus 1 Euro. For everyone who considers an evening to be a successful one only in case he/she had to fight to the bar counter through a crowd of “cool” people, Thursday will be the only right day to visit the place. Some friends of mine believe it’s somehow connected to the next door club Trompete being opened on Thursdays, which doesn’t explain the fuss to me, as the Trompete is also opened on Fridays and Saturdays. Anyway six other days of the week you can walk into Lützow-Bar, take a chair and relax. Actually they write on their web-site that the bar chairs are covered with the ostrich leather which, being distracted by some other things, I’ve never noticed… To cut a long story that’s enough for the general information.

I like the cocktails being sorted just the way they are supposed to, namely on the basis of the main ingredient: Whisky, Rum, Vodka… The menu is so long that I don’t think my health will allow me to try all the drinks, especially if I repeat the tastiest ones. Oh, and they’re tasty indeed. As if it was not enough they also have an additional special card every month. The barkeepers seem never to be tired; almost in seconds they create a couple of diverse cocktails at once, followed by the couples of others, followed by… I guess you got it. Special feature of the bar is a narrow strip of light along the whole counter. First the barkeepers put the glasses on this strip and only then they start filling them up with little bit of this and little bit of that. A cocktail being born in the light coming from beneath – what a great spectacle to watch!
As for the music at this place I would be glad to have most of it in my collection. But if your kind of music has a “tuz-tuz-tuz-tuz-tuz” rhythm, forget everything you’ve just read and go to the Weekend.

Bar am Lützowplatz
Lützowplatz 7
D-10785 Berlin
Internet: http://www.baramluetzowplatz.com/
If you speak German then on this site you can enjoy a special story for every day of the year.

It's my dustbin!

Germany is quite a playground for those who like the feeling of being slightly responsible for the ecological situation on our planet. For example, it gives everybody the opportunity to sort the litter. The range of garbage containers amazes: paper, packaging, green glass, white glass, brown glass, biological refuse, rest garbage… Most of them are also to be found in the courtyard between the two entrances into the apartment block I live in. This morning I was carrying out the trash and decided to start with the biological refuse the container for which, I believed, was placed some 30 steps away from the door while the others are just some 20 steps away from it. Suddenly the superintendent who was cleaning the courtyard jumped into my way shouting annoyed, “Not into my garbage can! Not into my garbage can!” “I thought it was the only bio container”, I responded baffled. “It’s my garbage can!” went on the superintendent.

Poor, greedy, insane guy feeling such an affection towards a public dustbin… does he indeed rule our house? 

Food: Altes Europa

Tonight I went to a place called "Altes Europa". It was thank to a colleague of mine that I got to know this location. He loves it so much that he calls it "my second living room", but there is one thing about it, he meant, I had to keep in mind. According to him the food there is delicious, the atmosphere is great, prices are affordable but the waiters seem to be extremely rude. Well, he has forgotten to mention one thing: pretty cute paintings on the wall. Above the table we were sitting at, there was a funny monkey curiously watching colourful birds. Not a big surprise as I already know what an artistic city Berlin is. The table itself was old and trashy and it had a drawer. As we looked in we have found some stuff: a kid's drawing, some old theatre tickets and a note from someone saying that it was a "gift box" and that we could take something out of it if we leave something in return. We were not that keen on having old tickets but we have put there a cigarette and a hastily created fairytale about three kings who have fucked a frog. If you are bored, go there and check it out!
By the way, the waiters were really nice. Just an example: the only menu they have in this place is handwritten on a board at the entrance. Since I was too lazy to go there and read the whole stuff, I've just told the waiter about my likes and dislikes and sent her to study the menu. In a couple of minutes she came back and gave me a report. By gosh!!! Does the rule "people treat you the way you treat them" really work?

Altes Europa

Gipsstraße 11, 10119 Berlin

http://www.qype.com/place/15659-Cafe-Altes-Europa-Berlin

Graphity

I'll not surprise you by telling that Berlin is a city of graphity. Moreover it's a city of visual arts. Every street is a museum, every alley a galery. It seems that either every second person here is an artist, or those who are work tooth and nail.

Mitte, a few steps away from the Hackescher Markt

Mitte, next to the Hackescher Markt


Kreuzberg, at Checkpoint Charlie

Kreuzberg, around Kotbusser Tor

Be cool, be Berlin...

Visiting bars and discos is a popular pastime among Berliners. They stand talking, overpay their drinks and show-off. Even if a guy has been single for the last three years and in the past two hours he grew really sick of the fellows he came with, he is very unlikely to approach girls regardless of the glances they are throwing at him. After all the only reason for him to be there, is to look as cool as possible!