Berlin Misadventures - Day 5 - 'The toilets are no longer in service.'

I woke up this morning at 12.30 am.  One of the hotel guests decided this was a good time to have a bath.  Sleep deprivation meant that I spent the rest of the day semi-functioning.

I began the day with the mad idea of visiting the Aquarium at 9am when it opened followed by the Bauhaus Archiv at 10am (ish), prior to checking out of the hotel.  The Aquarium was great.  I finally came to terms with the fact that at heart, I like lizards...  Stealthy little beggars.  Also jellyfish rock in their upside down shower cap kind of way.

Are you looking at me?

Can you tell what we are yet?



 

As a casual frequenter of zoos and aquariums, I do enjoy seeing feeding time and the cleaning processes.  Out of nowhere, a mop appears in a water tank and the fish admire their new neighbour despite its lack of fins.

After the Aquarium, I went to the Bauhaus Archiv.  Amazingly, not signposted clearly and a very impressive building and the exhibitions were worth a visit.  The Bauhaus School was one of the most innovative art movements advocating a creativity borne of an understanding of the materials being used and indeed, the potential functionality of the object/work being created.  A very influential school and it's interesting to consider how the colour charts they used seemed to inspire the colour charts we use today when we frequent a D.I.Y. store.

Bauhaus Archiv - The perfect realisation of concrete and its application.  Discuss...

 

 

Then I checked out from the hotel and experienced the joys of Berlin Airport.  The vending machine in the men's toilet offering a mini vibrator, some kind of vibrating penis ring and a 'Travel Pussy' described as an 'artificial vagina'.  Additionally, a certain low-cost airline created their own Wall using their barrier tape to encourage the schism between those who pay a little more to board more quickly and everyone else.

 

Today has been another day of learning.  There is still so much I need to explore.  Berlin will serve as the cataclysm for these changes.  The local people were warm and friendly, laid-back and somewhere permeating everything is an unnecessary sense of guilt.  Atrocities were committed yet to have to carry that burden forever is criminal.  The horrors of the past must be replaced by the inspirational, the entertaining and the thought-provoking.

 

Berlin should be seen as the bright hope for the future.  It has a lot to teach the world at large.

 

Berlin - Religion, commerce and illumination in unison.

                                                 Barry Watt - Friday 13th September 2013.