Anarchy in 36

Blake just gave me some chocolate and then took the boys to go swimming.  Bless him. Ahhh, peace.  Now if I can just figure out where we are going for the merry month of July??

Our time in Berlin is coming to an end.  We leave Sunday for Prague. I will not be sad to leave behind the shower whose temperature wildly fluctuates, nor the ants, nor the poop shelf toilet. But it has been fun to be here and watch spring happen around us.

Last Sunday it was May Day, and that means something special in Kreutzburg - a street party and then political parade/demonstration where anarchists throw rocks at banks and anything remotely associated with the capitalist machine.  Bring your kids inside after dark!  Watch the communists mix it up with the local police force or dance to techno until 1AM - your choice.  The Berliners LOVE their techno and as we walked around absorbing the atmosphere, we watched the genial crowd sway to the pounding beat in the park across from our house.  Cal couldn't stay long.  He said the music made his throat hurt. Hmm.

Then we wandered over to the Ping Pong tables in the park.  Ping Pong is hot here.  Everyone is in on it.  Young kids to old Turkish guys.  If you are playing and they approach the table, they hover around waiting, watching, breathing down your neck until you give.  Which in our case is within 45 seconds because none of us are very good.

So after the octegenarians kicked us off of Ping Pong, we wandered down the street.  Everyone was pounding beers, Mojitos, Turkish pizza and burgers.  Good times.  Except here when they are done with their trash, they just throw it to the ground.  No trash cans, no bags, no attempt to make it less messy for your fellow man, just huck it!

So we avoided the trash, and started heading for the canal, which unbeknownst to us, was where the political parade was going to start later that evening.  The cops were everywhere.  Battalions of them in riot gear, helmets, bulletproof vests, clubs and the requisite video camera held by a boom above their heads to catch all misbehaving anarchists.  It was quite a shock, not something that we see everyday and the boys were unnerved.  Well, Declan was unnerved.  Cal said, "Let's go over there and see what is happening!"  I said, " I don't think that is such a good idea."  And the German dudes next to us chuckled knowingly.

So we avoided the melee. Went home and listened to the techno pounding in the street until 1 AM.  On a Sunday night.