Street art

Even my dad's into Berlin's street art. And he's "no supporter of vandalism". In fact, "he won't stand for it". But the thing is, street art in Berlin is just so crazy, that everyone just gets into it eventually.

At the moment, there's a new street art bandit in town who seems to have a real thing about drawing birds. For weeks now I've been spotting pictures of flying fauna of all shapes and sizes on walls in the east. Credit to the guy (or girl), he or she doesn't seem to have one particular bird. Each bird gets a look-in - keeping things very politically correct.

But I am struggling to find the meaning of this recurring badge to be honest. The classic, the yellow fist, always had a sense of rebellion about it. This street artist just seems to really like birds though. I feel like Jake in Eureka Street - wondering about the meaning of a street message, which maybe isn't meant to be understood.

But for me, you still can't go past this massive mural from Blu on the south side of the river, right where the old border between east and west used to run. It's political, historical AND a logistical masterpiece. It's a once off though - that's probably for the best because if he started doing this on every apartment building wall in Berlin he'd probably get into a spot of bother.

Mauerpark Karaoke

It's Sunday in Germany, which means it's time to head out with the family and go for long aimless walks and eat ice cream. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But, here in Berlin, people aren't interested in that sort of good, clean fun. Instead, they grab a couple of Sternburg Export beers, head to Mauerpark and go shopping for old World War Two gas masks.

We've talked about Mauerpark before here at Euroblog - but that was in winter. In high summer is when it really shows its true colours. The place becomes a magnet for every coolio north of Alexanderplatz (the people in Kreuzberg have their own flea markets thank you very much). But can Kreuzberg offer this sort of pulling power???

You see, Mauerpark has now added an extra string to its bow - it's called Bearpit Karaoke. Run by Joe Hatchiban, a bike courier from Dublin who now lives in Berlin, this local cult event started on a Sunday way back in February 2009. The idea is simple: if you provide a laptop full of karaoke songs, two speakers and a very odd eastern-bloc amphitheater, the people will come. And it's going from strength to strength, crowds of 1500 to 2000 people are now regularly on hand to watch their neighbours embarrass themselves with a version of their favourite song. Only in Berlin.

Udo's got the look

I've been hanging out on Kurfürstendamm this week in West Berlin, doing a french course (what else?). Despite going to the effort to buy a full Hugo Boss wardrobe on the first day, I've been feeling about as sartorially elegant as a worm wearing a bowtie. It really is a different world over there. Take hairdressers for instance.

In the home of the 7 Euro haircut, Berlin's superstar hairdresser Udo Walz charges a 70 Euro fee for a consultation on Kurfürstendamm. And, yes, you saw right. He really is holding a hair dryer as if it's a firearm in the photo above. As Udo himself puts it on his website: "Udo Walz is a hairdresser - nothing more, nothing less. And he is a phenomenon."

Only on the K-damm can you get away with that.

The other beer festival...

It's not quite the Oktoberfest, but Berlin's annual Biermeile really is worth a visit if you are in the capital in August. Sure, Karl Marx Allee in East Berlin is a far cry from the Theresienwiese in Munich, but if you look closely you can see a lot of similarities between the two.

For instance, there's plenty of leather involved at both festivals. Lederhosen are a no go in Berlin of course, unless you want to get beaten up. Instead it's the "black leather waistcoat look" often combined with a pair of cheeky denim shorts and socks and sandals. And...the ladies aren't to be outdone. Instead of showing off their best in a Dirndl, the waitresses this year on the Biermeile were wearing the novelty nurse's outfit. Ah, the kulcha!

Food wise, both festivals lean towards the savoury more than the sweet. In Munich it's a Brezn (pretzel) and salty chicken - in Berlin an oversized, gnarled gerkin in a napkin is the snack of choice. A heavily marinated cucumber for one Euro - who could resist?

The beer is flowing from early in the day in both locations - after all, we are in Germany. The Berlin festival prides itself on presenting a range of beers from such "exotic" places as Japan, India and Vietnam as well as boutique beverages from around Germany. In Munich, the Oktoberfest is mainly used as a sales boost for the Bavarian big boys: Löwenbräu, Paulaner and Augustiner. The effect at the end of the day is the same in both cities. The tourists have just about all passed out, while the Germans just bust out to 80's rock'n'roll all night long.

But I did notice an important difference too: in Berlin you go home with some money still in your wallet.

Over the border

One great thing about Berlin that's often forgotten about, is that it's really close to Poland. In less than two hours you can be over the border in Slubice, via Frankfurt (Oder).

And so many things to do! Well, not really. Just over the border is mainly farmland and little villages. But you can get a very cheap haircut and if you are a smoker, cigarettes here are a steal. Of course the people are very friendly - in comparison to Berlin at least - and everything has a certain rustic charm. I was so chuffed by the place that I had to grab myself a local girl - what a find!