I am back

Berlin was awesome.

That is all for now, as I have to go to sleep, but a detailed, although possibly chaotic, recap will follow tomorrow.

P.S. already2late, I am reading this book that you would LOVE. It's called "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" and you must procure and read it immediately. I am only halfway through but it's kind of like "Secret History" meets "The Basic Eight" but it's funnier than the former and less satirical/more deeply weird and much better written than the latter.

P.S. I lost my voice somewhere in Neukolln. If you find it, please send it to me.

Berlin

things seen in Berlin:

a gallery opening that so quintessentially epitomized every stereotype of "avant-garde" art that it was kind of heartwarming because it all took me back to, like, Williamsburg circa 2002. I mean, the performance art was a naked dude squatting with a chain around his genitals, cutting his eyebrow with a razor.

an amazing pantomime act performed by a Russian mime self-admittedly inspired by Daniil Kharms.

Angelus Novus in the flesh, at the Paul Klee exhibit (I have complicated feelings about art museums, and rarely will go see any permanent collection, but sometimes if I like an artist enough I will go see their exhibit). They had the relevant passage from "Thesis on the Philosophy of History" written on the wall.

an abandoned hospital, amidst wet autumn leaves slightly worse for the wear and the winter

a surreal district somewhere in East Berlin where sovok (gloomy Soviet) architecture was combined with these little suburban yards oversaturated with lawn gnomes and swans.

things consumed in Berlin (other than art and the winter air):

cheap and delicious Vietnamese noodles
sticky sweet items from a Turkish bakery
hot apple cinnamon cider at the outdoor flea market
hot mulled wine in a variety of settings (at one point with almonds, which was a brilliant touch)
creamy potato soups
ginger tea

things lost in Berlin

my striped gloves
my voice

incidents with gas heaters inducing 3 AM freakouts in Berlin:

just one, transpiring upon the realization that in German AUF means not OFF but, rather, ON