Risky business

On Sunday, Ronny and I went for a long, long walk, to take advantage of the nice weather and to make up for the fact that we did not leave the house on Saturday (except to go out for dinner at our little Italian restaurant up the street, but that does not count!!!). We started our walk in Treptower Park, a lovely park that lounges the water. People of bikes, on rollerblades, walking their dog or their baby, everyone was out. After drinking something hot and cold (I had a "heisse Zitrone"- a freshly squeezed lemon in hot water served with honey- and Ronny had an iced coffee), we headed towards the Molecule Man (see previous post). We then reached the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km stretch of the Berlin Wall that runs parallel to Mühlenstraße and the River Spree. Last July, a 40 meter section of the Wall was removed, allowing people to walk along the side of the Wall that faces the Spree. It is along this side of the Wall, and not the side facing the street, that you will find graffiti artist adding their own personal touch to the art work already found on the Wall. Of course, that is risky business. As my friend Rebecca wrote on her blog: "Getting caught tagging the wall can mean up to a 500 Euro fine. Getting caught multiples times lands you in jail for five years". These threats did not seem to bother the taggers that were there on Sunday. We saw many of them at work that day, and the dozens of spray cans that littered the ground testifies to the popularity of this pastime.



Graffiti artists at work on the Wall.




What we did not realize as we started walking alongside the Wall was that at the end of the stretch of the Wall, one was "imprisoned": the gates that replaced the Wall were locked! There we were, along with a group of Spanish tourists that had walked behind us for the last 20 minutes, stuck. We all were not liking the idea of having to walk all the way back to the opening of the Wall and so, noticing that the gate that was blocking our exit did not go all the way down to the sidewalk, us girls decided to slide under it, while the boys, wanting to be boys, decided to climb over it. And of course, what was meant to happen happened- no, no one got stuck on the gate, no holes were made in jeans or coats- rather, a police car showed up, just as Ronny was climbing the gate and a Spanish girl was sliding under it!!! Talk about perfect timing! But in our un-luck we were lucky- the police officers seemed more interested in the group of Spanish tourists, so as soon as Ronny landed on the other side of the Wall, we discreetly walked away, as if nothing happened! No worries, nothing happened to the Spanish tourists- the police officer just made it clear that they (us) had been on private property and that that was not permitted.
Fun times!