Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Euro Tour 2010 part 9: The Golden Spiral

8/9

[Berlin]

This morning, shopping, then I figure out what to do about laundry and tourism. I've got time, unlike last year, but more space to cover.

Record check (cleaning out the crash bag to do laundry):
Darkwor 3/4
Nachzehrer 16/20
Dead Languages 7/10
Deathamphetamine 6/10
Panzerbastard 5/9
I need to push Nachzehrer some more; the gain rate is about the same, but I've got a lot more volume to clear from them. Of course, Party.San is a much more DIY-friendly festival, and I expect to move everything above no problem.

Because Andrew stressed so hard to give PB only to the baddest doods, here are the four bad doods at Wacken who got the first four discs. In order:
- Greek Motorhead fans who hosted Death Before Dishonor in Thessaloniki and partied them to the point that they almost couldn't leave
- Mark from Alarum
- a bunch of badass German bikers
- Sobo from Jack Slater

Today was a down day, but I made it, literally, all the way around Berlin, keeping my eyes open.

The city of Berlin is divided into three concentric zones for the purposes of public transit pricing. The S41 and S42 lines run clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively, on the border between A, the inner city, and B, the immediate suburbs. (Think as if someone had the sense to run a belt line from the sea on the Cambridge-Somerville line, cross the Charles around the point of the ABC interchange and follow the Pike back eastwards.) Because Google wasn't being especially helpful, I went back to the Waschsalon in fucking Friedenau to do laundry...which was literally across the city, almost halfway around the ring.

That in mind, and wanting to try and find a Hertha fan-shop around the Olympiastadion, why not? Out on the S41, detour down the U9 to do laundry, then backtrack and pick up the 41 again, switch to the S3 at Westkreutz, then on coming back from the stadium, NOT take the S3 through the city center to Ostkreutz, but get back on the 41 and complete the circumnavigation. After all, what's the use of a ring line if you don't go all the way around, like Japanese businessmen sleeping endless circuits on the Yamanote after they miss their last train home?

Also sofort. Not very adventurous in comparison with any other leg, but it's still the hard way to do the simple thing.

I washed my handful of clothes (Rampant Decay shirt now permanently stained as a result fo Norway, which is how it should be, Woods GITNB shirt already "recycling" itself, wtf Dan), and since I was just across the road, took a look at Hurricane. I bought a bunch of weird shit (Norwegian jazz, Spanish grindcore, metalcore from Belgium via Hong Kong, German oi), and thought I'd found a copy of the Napalm Death/Coalesce split, but someone had gotten there first and done the punk rock thing and stole the CD out of the case. Fuck. Whatever, they'll probably enjoy it more than I.

371. Looking south from Bundesplatz, laundry done.

Chores done, tourism in.

372. View across the Olympiastadion S-bahn stop. Ther track I'm on is the only normally "live" one; the others handle special extra trains for World Cup finals, Champions League finals, Olympic championships, the DFB-Cup final, and other major events.

373. View of the stadium itself.

374. Immortalized here for obvious reasons. Vergangenheitsbewältigung requires the hand withheld be extended.

375. Ha ho he, auch in die 2. Liga. Unfortunately, I forgot that Hertha doesn't own their own ground, and doesn't even train out here, so no fanshop. Fortunately, there is kind of a giant monument here, so it's still worth making the trip out just to see the stadium from the outside.

376. Bell tower overlooking the stadium. The stripped lines and artless imitation of the classical style screams Fascist architecture louder than any date plaque.

377. The stadium has similarities, but looks better by being less violently useless.

378. Towers on the other side of the stadium.

379. Statues by the stadium. The ground was closed, so I couldn't get any closer.

380. Berlin water system manhole cover.

381. Russian market on the Landsbergallee. Rumgang absolviert.

382. Sundown, going out on a beer run to a local discounter.

No vuvuzelas, but I did find some Eiskorn to smuggle back. This is going to be doubly difficult since glass is going to be controlled for at Party.San.

383. ((not germane))

Tomorrow's plan is a little tougher; DDR-Museum, bang around the inner ring, and watch out for floods on the Spree. However, I can shoot and write as much as I want; I got a new notebook along with the beer, eats, and contraband, and don't need to worry about running out of paper.

No comments: