Day 30 - Bountiful Busking in Berlin

My spot in Mauerpark

Welcome to Berlin, a city filled to the brim with history.

During my stay there I was able to get around on a free walking tour, guided by an Aussie tour guide named Theo. If ever you're in Berlin and want a fantastic overview of the major sites, peppered with funny anecdotes pertaining to their historical significance, I thoroughly recommend Brewer's Berlin Tours. Ask for Theo.

I could write on and on about how wonderfully rich I found Berlin to be, but I honestly don't know where to begin. Suffice it to say: It's worth a visit. Plus, drinks are very cheap. Big plus, considering the city's nightlife is the stuff of legend.

As far as busking goes, I set myself up in Mauerpark, a 17 acre strip of grass that once formed part of the death strip between the borders of East and West Berlin. Every Sunday, thousands of people flock to this park to relax and enjoy a wide range of free entertainment. Needless to say, a good place to busk.

Originally I had intended to set myself up in the markets immediately adjacent, as I thought that this was the main site of activity. It was only after I was unable to find a place in the market that I set myself up on the grass, next to a path that ran the length of the park. As it turns out, this was probably the best place I could have set myself up, and I played happily for most of the day to a cheerful crowd of passers-by, with a festival feeling in the air.

"The smile on your face..."

That's truly what the Mauerpark market is. It is a weekly festival. To name one of many attractions, there is what could possibly be the world's largest open-air karaoke. Here I stopped to listen to a guy belting out Ronan Keating's "When You Say Nothing At All", which the crowd of well over a thousand people received with much screaming and applause.

Wonderful.

It's even made me consider returning to Berlin on the occasional Sunday, just to be there again. Unfortunately, though, I think the weather will cause things to start calming down. I was very lucky with the weather on Sunday, it was beautiful.

So that's my Berlin experience in a small shell of a nut. At present I am based in Hamburg in Germany's north, relaxing while the weather worsens. If I get a clear spell I'll venture out into the streets of the city's centre. I'll let you know how that goes.

:)

Tim