Mauerpark adventures

Sunday was bliss. I went to discover the treasures of the Mauerpark Flohmarkt (flea market) and spent literally the whole day there. Mauerpark is situated in Prenzlauer Berg in North-East Berlin. When you enter the fenced are you will find mountains and mountains of stuff: Flowers, fruit, honey, fresh juices, Middle Eastern pastries, jewellery, kitsch, junk, cameras, records, paintings, broken, new, fancy, faded objects, anything, everything  and more. You find piles of jewellery but in the end you don’t buy anything because there’s too much choice. I could stay there the whole day because of the good facilities. There is a toilet (highly appreciated) and many food stalls to fill up your stomach. I had a feta spinach wrap for lunch with an English girl Marie-Claire, to whom I strolled into randomly. Later I also had a piece of walnut carrot cake and fruit salad, yum.

At around one o’clock I was already about to leave, when I happened to discover the actual park next to the market. A karaoke afternoon was about to start in the park and it wasn’t just any karaoke. The singer would be performing to at least 300 people in the amphitheatre looking graffiti styled stage. We stayed there in the sunny stand with some friends, Caterina, Felicitas and Aurelia, from work and thanks to that (and the delusion that the day was going to be cloudy) my nose was red in the evening. 


As I was walking around I came across with a small, white outworn, collapsible bicycle. I immediately fell in love with it and it got the name Mahti (the Might). The man who sold it to me was very nice. Using my poor German I managed to bargain the bike to 55€ and the man gave me the keys so that I could cycle to the nearest cash point. On the way there I met a girl, who asked where I got the cool bike and already wanted to buy the thing. I gave her my number, although it’s already difficult to think about giving up on the bike. The bike seller was also ready to buy the thing back for 20€ if I would go back to Mauerpark before going back. 

Before leaving I went to sit on the burned grass in the shadows of trees, and listened to the band Stitch Craft among others, which was making their European Tour with a collective called the Pleasant Revolution. They asked people to come and cycle bikes around the band to generate electricity for the sound system. There was a juggler fooling around on the grass and too many people were smoking. Hippy feeling. And then a ride home with my mighty vehicle.