Numbering Trees...

... is better than painting rocks. Well, only just. 

Since moving to West Germany's former capital, I have often wondered what the silliest example of bureaucracy would be which I could come across in this city. I believe this could be it.

That's right - these trees have been numbered. They form part of a long boulevard of trees beside the DHL tower which lead down to the Rhine River. All trees are numbered in ascending order as you head towards the water.

Perhaps the fauna was numbered as a precautionary measure following the recent incidents involving an elderly gentleman stealing lamp-posts and other street signage in the local area, on a bicycle.

All I can say is: thank goodness the Bonn authorities have got this under control. One less thing to worry about.

Street art, with training wheels

As I sat there on the balcony listening to my (grown adult) neighbours from the Bruderschaft singing along to Katy Perry, I got to thinking once again about the many differences between Bonn and my previous stomping ground, Berlin.

Of all the things that I miss the most from Berlin - from the cheeky radio stations to the tattooed mothers with biodegradable strollers - I would have to say that the lack of quality graffiti really is the biggest hole in my life right now. Take a look at the examples below:

Out of town sledge

This has been on the power box at the end of my street since I moved to Bonn. That's over a month! That is just not acceptable. You can't have people come to your turf and graffiti their love for a neighbouring city (and their football club, I presume) and then just let it stand.

If no-one tags over this in the next week, I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands and get the spray cans out.


Too much time on his hands

This really is quite a nice piece. It's colourful, it's got presence - you can see the vandal is at least making an effort. But what is the treble clef for? C'mon man - what were you thinking? That could be the uncoolest thing I have EVER seen.

And how did you think that the copyright symbol in the bottom right hand corner was going to help things? I used to scrawl that sort of thing on my pencil case at primary school. I suspect that this graffiti was done by the shop owner's son.

Pool-time blackout

Normally in Germany, the changing room walls at the local pool offer a good insight into a region's graffiti. In Berlin-Kreuzberg, there are tags in Turkish, in Schöneberg's pools you see "personal ads" of all sorts of shapes and sizes(!).

Bonn's changing rooms seem to be covered with cave-man like attempts at graffiti. It would be different if the walls were shiny and bare. But this is like watching a group of kindergarten kids fill out tax returns. This one definitely caught my eye: what a catchy look!

Bonner Republik

So, we're bäck - this time from Bonn.

After receiving plenty of (occasionally threatening) fan-post asking us to keep Euroblog going, I've summoned up the courage to write my first entry. The new location will make things a bit challenging at first. The thing is: the team here at Euroblog always prided itself on giving you "the word on the street". We're not really sure we've found the word on the street here in Bonn yet. But we're trying.

In my first few weeks here I've noticed a lot of people wearing boat shoes and sports jackets, been a bit disappointed in the lack of decent graffiti and have been fascinated by the huge number of people jogging. I've also been going to work a lot. It's been like moving life forward 25 years. Except no-one has a flying car.

I think the interesting thing about Bonn is it's strained link to the past - and that will probably be a bit of a theme for the blog-o. You can sense that people here are STILL cheesed off about giving up the capital to Berlin in 1990. Day by day their old West German capital is disappearing.

Take the Bonner Republik for instance. This restaurant, situated on Adenauer Allee, used to be a real haunt for politicians and hot-shot journos in the old days. Now, the owner is selling his historic inventory and changing the name and concept of the location. The old ministry signs hanging on the wall are now for sale, the embassy gifts are going for a steal. Just drop by and name your price.

A little piece of history making way for dark-wood panelling, flat screen TVs and cut-price cocktails? Let's hope not.

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.