My love for political science was overpassed this week by travel, rest and cooking priorities and I did not succeed to follow closely the electoral process in Germany. The only direct contact with the voting directions was made through the billboards crossing my eyes on my eyes from and to different locations in Berlin. This is for the third time when I see the samples of electoral marketing in Germany and as usual, I was not impressed by the ideas or the photos. And in the case of some electoral messages, my outrage was too big to let me think in peace about some political evolutions. As in a couple of hours the result will be known, I will have the inspiration for writing more about my first writing love.
Till then, I decided to enjoy the 18C outside and have some good time.
Not extremely keen to see too much action, after three full days of rest and reading, we decided to walk in our Western side of the city. At moderate walking speed, we went by foot till Roseneck, observing once again the clear signs of the autumn.
Many restaurants and bars were open inviting to a last meal or cup of coffee outside before the rainy and snowy season. We did not see or hear anyone talking about elections. Everything was business as usual on a Sunday afternoon. We continued our trip by bus for a couple of stations, till Zehlendorf S-Bahn, an area where I've been before and loved the Jugendstil architecture. Surprisingly enough, there were more shops open. The sacrosanct rule of keeping the businesses closed during the Sundays is about to be broken.
From Zehlendorf, I wanted to see and try something completely new and thus, we took the S-Bahn 2 stations till Mexikoplatz, where I discovered the most interesting and cool flea market in town. A lot of hand made clothes and home products, some of them unique and colourful.
As my plan was to be back home around 6pm, to continue with some reading and blogging, needed to hurry up to the next randomly picked-up destination of the day.
On an electoral day, what else can suit better the reality than going to an exhibition called: Either/Or. The name may remind of a coffee in the East Berlin, but the real inspiration is a work of Kirkegaard, that I did not frequented since the high school and did not feel guilty for that ever since. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Kirkegaard, the exhibition that ended yesterday was aimed to gather artists trying to illustrate his deep ideas about the tragic human existence.
Those not accustomed with the subtleties of the modern arts and philosophy had the chance to make a tour of the Haus am Waldsee, that hosted the exhibition till today. Looking forward to see what the next exhibition will be about.
My life is full of contrasts and this Sunday was not different. The next and final stop of my journey on an electoral day was at the Domäne Dahlem, where happy families were celebrating the 'Potato'! The big excitement was to pick up your own potatoes from the field, gather in some orange bags, weight it and, if enough time and fun, eventually prepare them on the hot charcoal.
The ambiance at Dahlem was as hot as the potatoes, but in the agricultural sense. Children were running erratically feeding the goats, or the hen or other local animals. Their parents were buying honey or salts from the fair, or even some horse meat proudly presented at a kiosk. (How can people eat horse, by the way?) Before leaving, after using my German to find out about diverse types of potatoes for my foodie blog, I admired the creative hair cut of a bored alpaca.
My trip ended up a couple of minutes late than planned. Time to run back home, Cinderella! For the German politicians, the long night is about to begin!
