Poor but Sexy

17:41. October 30, 2011. Astor Café in Firenze.
I know that it has been way too long since my last blog. However, I hope that my readers (all seven of you) forgive me because I have so many things to say now and I’ll do my best to make up for the lost time. Essentially, I spent the last nine days on a mad dash through northern Europe with nothing but a tiny backpack full of clothes and two wonderful friends as travel companions. We had train passes and very few plans, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I’m sure that the three of us will take away many things and different things from the trip as a whole but for now at least, I only want to talk about one thing. Berlin. More specifically, a little redheaded American girl named Trish that lives in Berlin.
Ok, I’m sure you’re all reasonably confused by now, so here’s how it went: We, meaning me, Lacey and our new friend Lauren, wanted to visit Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague, more because all of these places lay in one convenient train path than because we knew much about any of them. So we began. We took an overnight train to Paris (which is an amazing city in and of itself but I feel like everyone knows that so I don’t need to focus on it) where during our stay, we received the most wonderful suggestion from a fellow hostel-mate to take a certain free tour in Berlin. As fate would have it, the train to Amsterdam never happened because it turned out to be far less expensive and far more intelligent to just ride straight through to Berlin. However, while we had arrived in Paris with the classic list of renowned sites to see in that particular city, we arrived in Berlin with little more than a hostel reservation. As our train rattled into Hauptbahnhof the view was somewhat dismal; grey skies met a horizon of broken, graffiti-covered buildings and I’m sure we all took a minute to wonder why we ever wanted to stop there in the first place. Then, after the very cold, forty-minute walk through nowhere-ville to our hostel I’m sure we all took another minute to wish we had stayed on the train. However, the day was young and so we dragged our tired bodies and low expectations out to Alexanderplatz on the U-Bahn (the subway system in Berlin). There, we met a young and spunky looking Trish (remember Trish, I mentioned her about a paragraph ago) outside of a Starbucks and the following odd conversation ensued:
Us: “Is this the free tour?”
Trish: “Yes.”
(Awkward silence…)
Us: “Can we go on it?”
Trish: “Why wouldn’t you?”
At this point we chuckled… awkwardly, and sat down on a nearby wall as group of people leisurely formed around Trish.
Trish: (nodding towards the three of us) “You want the alternative street art tour, not the historical tour right?”
Us: “…sure, whichever one you’re giving.”
And so this began the most eccentric yet enlightening tour I have ever been on. Trish, an American artist from California, has spent the better part of the last five years living in Berlin and her passion for this German city and the beautiful street art contained within it was so vibrant and refreshing, it was contagious. Berlin is a young city, it’s been only 22 years since the wall and communism fell, much of the buildings are still deserted and it is a new frontier of sorts. A city in the process of developing its own identity. Blank walls are the canvases of a new generation of artists who deeply desire to speak to their city, to shape their world. And their art isn’t cooped up in galleries and museums, it’s everywhere. I spent nearly four hours walking through Berlin with this combat-boot-wearing-red-haired-five-foot-nothing-system-fighting, passionate little woman, and as the hours flew by, those broken and graffiti-covered buildings took on a whole new identity. I fell in love with Berlin. This woman allowed me to see that this city, in all of its brokenness is a lot like me. She implied that maybe it’s a lot like all of us, like humanity. Berlin was one way for a long time but now it is beginning anew and it’s so beautiful when you can look at it and understand where it’s been and how far it’s come. The physical surfaces are the voices of thousands of artists right here and now. These people and their art actively shape the culture and deeply impact society. Oddly enough, because this talent is displayed on sides of buildings, tunnel walls and light poles it is both free and priceless at the same time. It is also ever-changing and developing. In recent months especially, I feel a lot like Berlin. And while it costs €11 in Paris to see the top of the Eifel tower, €10 in Prague to tour the Prague Castle, and €12 in Capri just to enter the Blue Grotto for five minutes, this wonderful young woman walked with 20 people for 4 hours, shared her passion, and inspired each one of us to love this vastly under appreciated city in all its beauty and resilience… and then didn’t ask for a cent in return. I wanted to empty my whole wallet.
It was just a few hours of a nine-day trip, but maybe it’s the most important thing to share. In a world full of over-priced, mass-produced, low-quality junk I was shown something truly genuine. For this, I have nothing but gratitude. As always, I’m still learning and I could be wrong but this is the journey – This is the experience I am blessed enough to be having. The mayor of Berlin says that the city is “poor but sexy.” It lacks structure and wealth but it is young, and passionate, and full of potential. So, it is poor, and it is sexy, and it is another lesson for me; to look for beauty in brokenness, to get by as I must, but to do what I love, not for the money but simply because I love it, and to find joy in that wonderfully unexpected surprise. It’s not a bad thing at all to be “poor but sexy.”