Latest / 20 Percent Berlin Podcast / #014: Lime Bike hack and a firework ban

Transcript

#014: Lime Bike hack and a firework ban · 20 Percent Berlin Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the 20% Berlin podcast.
0:08
My name is Maurice Frank and I'm joined this evening with...
0:11
I'm founder Andrew Boakley.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm a founder of 20% Berlin.
0:19
I'm also a founder and tonight we will be covering several
0:24
things in the Berlin news.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: But first of all, Andrew, please tell me how you're doing.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: No, I want to come back.
0:33
I like the fact that this podcast always starts off with a
0:35
little bit of tension
0:36
because you hate saying founder and everybody can hear it in
0:38
your voice and I don't
0:39
SPEAKER_01: mind it at all.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Awkward.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Banter, banter, banter.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Andrew, how are you doing?
0:45
SPEAKER_01: I broke two ribs.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: You were saving that.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing, man?
0:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm not darned.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm all right.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's nuts.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: It's a weird injury.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: You disguise that quite well in our preparatory meeting.
0:58
This is the first day for like four days,
1:01
and it made me feel generally sick.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, not that I had anything, but I felt ill.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Actually, this morning when I woke up, I'm like, oh, it's getting better.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: How'd you break down some weird sexual practice?
1:10
SPEAKER_01: Straight up, straight up Olaf Scholz, baby.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: I just Olaf Scholz-ed into the ground while on a run.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: On a run.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: You just tripped on a loose cobblestone.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: Stumbled.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: And then thing is, I've been stumbling.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like,
1:21
SPEAKER_01: when you next time you stumble,
1:21
SPEAKER_01: you've got to roll like a stuntman,
1:24
SPEAKER_01: like you practiced as a little kid,
1:26
SPEAKER_01: which worked out.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: Visualization worked out.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: I rolled perfectly.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: But I basically I rolled right onto my elbow against my ribs.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
1:33
I think that was the first time I've knocked the wind out of
1:35
myself since seventh grade.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Were you listening to a podcast?
1:37
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to my wife.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: On the phone while running.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: She was running next to me.
1:42
oh wow okay well that's cute couple runs yeah but have you ever
1:46
have you had the
1:47
wind knocked out of you yeah such a dumb feeling yeah yeah did
1:52
your computers
1:53
making noises your phones making noises yeah you know what that
1:56
is that's the 20
1:57
berlin whatsapp group just going going crazy you know it's
2:01
almost like you're a
2:02
founder over there the kinds of i did found the 20 berlin
2:05
whatsapp group you had to
2:07
SPEAKER_00: change it to a whatsapp community
2:09
SPEAKER_00: It didn't let me.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: WhatsApp didn't let me.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: In other 20% Berlin news, you'll please save the date.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: July 17th,
2:19
we'll be doing a 20% Berlin summer party in collaboration with
2:25
the Next Day Berlin
2:26
SPEAKER_00: newsletter.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: at Berliner Berg Brewery in Treptor.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: It's in the evening.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: It's in the evening, 7 p.m.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
2:35
We'll be recording a live version of this podcast with some
2:39
special guests.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: So please do... To be announced.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: To be announced.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: We'll be sending out a link on various channels within a week.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: Andrew, are you going to ask me how I'm doing?
2:51
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
2:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm okay.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: I managed to run 5K today without any accidents.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: It's a thing.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Burning the candle both ends,
3:01
SPEAKER_00: staying up till like too many drinks,
3:04
SPEAKER_00: getting up at 5.30 to play with my toddlers.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, living the dream.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Who are you having drinks with?
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Just friends.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: A great bar in Mitter called The Griff.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's called The Griffin.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Named after Andrew Griffin.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: You know that place?
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's nice.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: It's a real dive bar.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: It's great.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's a dive bar.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: It's like a trendy dive bar.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: Well, I have a story about it, but I can't tell that on the podcast.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Please tell.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, I did not partake, so I used to hang out there a lot.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Really?
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, several years ago.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: And Ben Becker would hang out there a lot.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Right.
3:42
German actor Ben Becker,
3:43
who's just notorious for not having his various vices under
3:46
control.
3:47
SPEAKER_01: So he was there.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: I didn't realize he had gone to the bathroom.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I walked into the bathroom.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: His dealer was in there with him.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: And then they're like, well, I guess you caught us.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: You need to join us.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: I was like, actually, I'm just going to pee.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: And then when I left, he tried to get me to get in the cab with him.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, Ben, I don't even know you, dude.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: Ben, don't sue us.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: This is a man who almost died from... There's nothing new about this.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: That's a great little story.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: So, getting to the headlines of the week.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Actually,
4:21
SPEAKER_00: first of all,
4:22
I'd like to talk briefly about something that has nothing to do
4:24
with summer.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: It's actually about last winter.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Remember New Year's Eve and...
4:30
the usual firework madness that included a tourist shooting a
4:36
bottle rocket into a
4:37
SPEAKER_00: child's bedroom.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: It's funny,
4:39
SPEAKER_01: actually,
4:39
SPEAKER_01: just today,
4:40
SPEAKER_01: for some reason,
4:40
SPEAKER_01: the Instagram,
4:41
the reel came back up over the guys using those huge round
4:44
bombs in Schoenbeck,
4:45
SPEAKER_01: blowing up the building in Schoenbeck,
4:47
SPEAKER_01: basically.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: Right.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: And anyway,
4:49
I got an email on Friday from my friends over at the GDP Police
4:54
Union because I
4:57
SPEAKER_00: signed their petition in favor of a firework ban.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: This is weird.
5:01
This is big news because I was the one that was against
5:03
fireworks and you were
5:04
SPEAKER_01: always for fireworks.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have been educated.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: I have changed.
5:09
SPEAKER_00: What was the epiphany?
5:11
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Who hurt you, Maurice?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: I just think it's not very nice to the foxes.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: To everybody.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: To everybody, yeah.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Because actually a majority of people are against fireworks.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
5:23
SPEAKER_00: according to this police union,
5:24
they also did a survey of 178,000 people across Germany and 97%
5:28
wanted to ban
5:32
SPEAKER_01: fireworks.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: It's just out of hand.
5:35
It's one of those things like if you hadn't pushed it so far,
5:37
it would still be the refine.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: It's just like out of hand.
5:40
And I feel like our readership and our listenership is also
5:44
largely in favor of a firework ban.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: So I thought I'd drop that here.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: It's also current news because next week,
5:52
SPEAKER_00: or maybe it's this week,
5:55
the interior ministers of the 16 German states meet in a castle
6:00
somewhere,
6:00
SPEAKER_00: and this will be on the agenda.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Could we have a summer event in a castle sometime?
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe that's next summer.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's see how this one goes in a modest little brewery in Taiptoe.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, moving on.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: So, yes.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: So, you know the Reichstag, right?
6:22
The building,
6:23
the Prussian building in which the German parliament,
6:26
the Bundestag is housed.
6:29
30 years ago,
6:29
an artist named Christo wrapped the entire thing in like
6:36
plastic sheath.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: It's not just Christo.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: It's Christo and his wife.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: What's his wife's name?
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Jean-Claude.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Anyway,
6:42
they wrapped the Reichstag and it was a big deal because they
6:45
wrapped it sort of
6:46
SPEAKER_00: before the renovation of the Reichstag,
6:48
SPEAKER_00: before it became the parliament as a way,
6:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
6:50
SPEAKER_00: it was supposed to somehow be cleansing the building of,
6:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
6:55
SPEAKER_00: the shit of history or something.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Can you, do you have a... I have nothing to say about it.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: You have nothing to say about it?
7:00
SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why they did it.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: Because Berlin was still insignificant.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Nobody was using the Reichstag.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: Let's make do art.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was this big thing.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: It was like this installation.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was okay.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: I was like, all right, whatever.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Um...
7:13
SPEAKER_00: This month,
7:13
SPEAKER_00: to commemorate the 30th anniversary of this wrapping,
7:19
they are going to be projecting a picture of the wrapper on the
7:23
building every
7:24
SPEAKER_00: night until June 20th.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: Great.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: I think there's sometimes... From 9.30 to 1 in the morning.
7:29
There's these weird things in Berlin where they try to relive
7:32
historical events
7:33
SPEAKER_01: that even the events themselves,
7:35
SPEAKER_01: only about half the people cared about back then.
7:37
And now most of those people that even cared about it aren't
7:39
even around anymore.
7:40
So I think most of the people who are under 30 going to look at
7:43
the Reichstag and
7:43
SPEAKER_01: be like,
7:44
SPEAKER_01: why are they projecting toilet paper on the Reichstag?
7:49
SPEAKER_00: A projection of toilet paper that's going to cost 500,000 euros.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what it looks like.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: Why is it so expensive to set up a bunch of projectors?
7:56
SPEAKER_00: Why are they putting a diaper on the Reichstag?
7:58
SPEAKER_00: A virtual diaper.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: That's the funniest thing I heard all day.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: That's literally what it looks like.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Right?
8:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, we have so much money, we don't know what to do with it.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Berlin's broke already.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: But it's like,
8:13
SPEAKER_01: that event is like some big part of Berlin's history,
8:16
SPEAKER_01: so you can't not support it.
8:19
Are we going to do that for like the 50th anniversary of the
8:23
wrapping of the Reichstag too?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just love anniversaries in this place, you know?
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, because Germans are afraid of change.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: They want nothing to be different.
8:33
So if you celebrate birthdays of things that have already
8:34
happened,
8:34
that's control.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: You know what happened.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: You've got it under control.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: We already know what the Reichstag looks like in a diaper.
8:40
So we can do that over and over and over again because it's not
8:43
challenging
8:43
SPEAKER_01: anybody's...
8:44
SPEAKER_01: It's already happened.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: It's been approved.
8:46
And it needs another diaper now because there's all this new
8:48
shit in there.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: I guess.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Certain blue-colored party.
8:53
I guess so,
8:53
but there was also that glass,
8:55
the glass couple,
8:56
is it called a couple in English?
8:57
SPEAKER_01: What's that called?
8:57
SPEAKER_01: A dome?
8:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, whatever.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: The dome, yeah, why am I calling it?
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that wasn't there.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Sir Norman Foster designed the whole thing.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: That was back,
9:05
that whole thing was back when my wife was still working for
9:08
landscape architect
9:09
SPEAKER_01: offices,
9:09
SPEAKER_01: so we had to go to architectural events,
9:12
SPEAKER_01: and all the little Sir Norman Foster people were always there.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: There was a big Berlin-wide architecture soccer tournament.
9:19
those dudes,
9:20
little public school boys from England,
9:22
were the most insufferable
9:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
9:24
SPEAKER_00: that said,
9:24
SPEAKER_00: it is,
9:25
SPEAKER_00: of all the sort of,
9:26
SPEAKER_00: like,
9:27
SPEAKER_00: post-war,
9:27
SPEAKER_00: post-reunification architecture projects in Berlin,
9:31
SPEAKER_00: it's probably one of the better ones.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what else is, there's nothing else.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: That's not fair.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, one of the only ones that just redid a building?
9:37
SPEAKER_01: It was just a renovation project.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but, like, are there any good new buildings in this city?
9:41
SPEAKER_01: The Paul Lüberhaus, I think, is great.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: Which one's that?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: It's the one across from the Kunstlamt.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's okay.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful, man, with the elevators going up and down.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of Star Trek.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's great.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Hauptbahnhof, ugly.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Nah,
9:54
SPEAKER_01: but how bad for trains,
9:57
SPEAKER_01: getting on trains,
9:57
SPEAKER_01: getting off of trains,
9:58
and getting something you need while you're getting off of
10:00
trains is really good.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: But then,
10:02
SPEAKER_01: like,
10:03
SPEAKER_01: you get off the train,
10:04
SPEAKER_01: you walk out the front door,
10:05
SPEAKER_01: and you're immediately confronted by taxis trying to run you over.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Who planned that thing?
10:11
SPEAKER_00: You know,
10:11
SPEAKER_00: now that we're on the subject of train stations,
10:13
SPEAKER_00: we have to mention that the Tagesspiegel said that Berlin needs to...
10:19
like shade like at its stations in order and one of the
10:22
stations it gave as a role
10:24
model was denver station like union station in your hometown
10:28
andrew your reaction
10:30
the problem is you maurice is basically a colorado coloradonian
10:35
as well yeah it's
10:37
uh it's just a shopping mall it's not even a shopping mall it's
10:39
like that's a
10:40
SPEAKER_01: luxury hotel there's two bars in there there's a hotel
10:44
SPEAKER_01: A few trains do stop there every day,
10:45
but they're also ignoring the fact that the entire neighborhood
10:48
around that train
10:49
SPEAKER_01: station got gentrified worse than...
10:51
SPEAKER_01: I had a great burger there.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: You can have a great burger.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Like 28 bucks.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: The whole neighborhood changed.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Back when I was a kid, that was like crack central.
11:00
And then by the time I was a teenager,
11:01
it was like everybody was going out there.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: It was one sports bar after another.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: They tore down all the old overpasses that made it so dark.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
11:08
Like,
11:08
okay,
11:08
I was in Paris in December,
11:12
and I arrived with my train in Gare du Nord.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: And they really spruce that up, too.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's, like, palm trees.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: There's nice cafes.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: There's, like, ambient lighting.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: There's, like, some fancy restaurants on the mezzanine.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: why don't we do that in Halpanov?
11:29
SPEAKER_00: It's just like cheap bakeries and I don't know.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: No, there's a Den's Biobark there.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: I love that thing.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: Right.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: But there's no,
11:35
SPEAKER_00: there's no like snazzy restaurant or like,
11:37
SPEAKER_00: there's no like traveler's lounge,
11:40
SPEAKER_00: you know?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, there is a few first class.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Where?
11:43
SPEAKER_01: There's the DB Premier Fruit Lounge.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: All right.
11:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I know what you're saying, but it's just a train.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm in it three times, four times a week, and it works.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy with it.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Three, four times a week?
11:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've traveled a lot lately.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah?
11:57
SPEAKER_00: What have you been doing?
11:58
SPEAKER_00: Comedy.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: All right.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: What do we have next?
12:04
SPEAKER_01: Something about bikes, Andrew.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, I have two bike items.
12:07
My favorite bike item,
12:08
it's made my spring a much better spring,
12:10
the Beeping Lime Bikes.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Because the youths of Berlin have figured out how to crack them.
12:17
So they're electric bikes,
12:18
so the electric part doesn't work,
12:19
but they can just ride them.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: They can just ride it as a bike.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: And that's why they're beeping the whole time,
12:23
SPEAKER_01: the alarm's going off,
12:23
SPEAKER_01: and the kids are riding them.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's just a big middle finger to capitalism.
12:27
I believe in capitalism,
12:28
I like capitalism,
12:29
but I don't think it needs anybody protecting it.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: No,
12:33
SPEAKER_01: you have to be protected from capitalism,
12:35
SPEAKER_01: and that's why I'm glad that the youths of Berlin have figured out how
12:38
screw them is it also next bikes no next bike next bike are not
12:42
electric those are
12:42
also okay but the berlin used to subsidize next bike and they
12:48
said they're not
12:48
going to subsidize them anymore which means that there's not
12:50
going to be those are
12:50
those you can rent them for whatever i don't know how it works
12:53
per minute or per
12:54
mile uh but berlin's not going to subsidize those bikes anymore
12:58
so they're going to
12:59
SPEAKER_01: basically not have them outside the ring how do i hack into a lime bike
13:04
SPEAKER_01: I looked up the things on TikTok.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: I tried one.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: It didn't work.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that belong to Uber now?
13:09
SPEAKER_00: Does it?
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Ugh.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: I think maybe it does.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, then it's even better.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it does.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it actually does.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Can you look it up?
13:17
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's going to make noises.
13:18
Okay.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I think I saw some two kids on my way over here.
13:24
I actually saw two kids on a line bike and I just spoke two of
13:28
them riding on one bike.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: And then after like 200 meters, they just ditched it.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: They didn't look at their phone or anything.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: They just ditched it.
13:37
It's funny to me because I've seen several kids obviously just
13:40
broken it and they
13:40
SPEAKER_01: were like nervous.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: You know how when you're 17, you're super afraid of the cops?
13:44
Like you don't want to get like,
13:45
like I respect the cops now,
13:46
but I'm not afraid of them.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: In Berlin, nobody's afraid of the cops.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: No, these kids were super like, we can't because it's making this noise.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: If we ride by a cop, they'll know we're stealing it.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: Wait, so the electric motor doesn't work.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't work.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: It's just a bike.
13:56
SPEAKER_01: You can pedal.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: So it opens the lock.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't turn on the engine.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: And then the alarm goes off the whole time.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
14:05
So I love it because you hear the alarm like a little ways away
14:08
and then gets
14:08
SPEAKER_01: closer and closer and closer.
14:10
Then you see the two kids like looking with a guilty smile on
14:13
go past you.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm all for it.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: I respect that.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: But so I looked up,
14:19
SPEAKER_01: it's called the Lime Method on TikTok,
14:21
SPEAKER_01: and they're like,
14:22
SPEAKER_01: the problem is once one of those things hits,
14:24
SPEAKER_01: all these people start doing other videos about it.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: They're just fake.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: They're just trying to get views.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: So you don't know which one works.
14:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: You are deeply in touch with youth culture, Andrew.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know I'm in touch with youth culture.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: I just know how to use TikTok.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know how to use that.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know how to enter something in the search bar on TikTok.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Moving on.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, also related to capitalism and the Berlin real estate market.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: What do you have for us?
14:55
SPEAKER_00: What's happening in Friedrichshain?
14:57
SPEAKER_01: So there's this crazy building.
14:58
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I only see, cause that goes the wall comedy club over, uh,
15:02
SPEAKER_01: on Helmholtz.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: What's the boxy?
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Boxy?
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Boxy, you know.
15:06
So when you're going down Warschauer Straße there,
15:08
there's this one building.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: It has a durnalad on the ground floor and then above it,
15:12
SPEAKER_01: the balconies are all buttressed with wood reinforcements.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: It's been like that for years.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: And apparently,
15:19
SPEAKER_01: like,
15:19
this building's just been neglected by the Luxembourg
15:21
Investment Fund that owns it.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, they don't care.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: And you can see it.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's why these things are there.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: They want everyone to move out so they can...
15:27
SPEAKER_01: I don't even...
15:27
SPEAKER_01: Like,
15:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't think...
15:28
SPEAKER_01: I think it's one of those funds that don't even care.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: They just want the money.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: They don't care.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: And so supposedly it's up for sale,
15:34
and then Berlin said we could exercise our right of first
15:39
refusal and buy it.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: We could buy it for you.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: And so the people that live there are like, oh, this is great.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Like the Berlin government.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: The Berlin government would buy it.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Basically,
15:47
every time a building comes up for sale in what's called a
15:49
Miljutschutzgebiet,
15:50
SPEAKER_01: where they're trying to protect the socialist fabric of the neighborhood,
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Berlin can buy it.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: Berlin can say, we want to buy it or not, before it can be sold.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: And so Berlin kind of said the Stadtrat,
16:02
SPEAKER_01: who's in Kreuzberg,
16:03
SPEAKER_01: the building minister of Berlin,
16:04
SPEAKER_01: said,
16:05
SPEAKER_01: we're going to buy it.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: We'll buy it for you.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: How do they decide which one to buy?
16:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they just buy every building in Berlin.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: This is the problem.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Every building that's for sale.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: So then they came out and said,
16:16
SPEAKER_01: well,
16:16
SPEAKER_01: the problem with that is if we buy it,
16:18
SPEAKER_01: it goes to Berlinovo,
16:19
SPEAKER_01: one of the Berlin governments.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: The state housing companies.
16:24
And the amount of work this building needs is not the kind of
16:28
thing that Berlinovo does.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't fit in Berlinovo's portfolio.
16:31
So there's no reason to buy it for Berlinovo because they can't
16:34
really do anything with it.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: It can't work.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: Like basically it would make like 50 tenants happy.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: And so,
16:39
and those tenants would get subsidies from the state that no
16:41
other tenants in
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Berlin would be getting.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: So it's just unfair.
16:45
Then it came out and turns out he's actually not the one that
16:47
gets to decide this.
16:48
It's actually the financial ministry of Berlin that gets to
16:51
decide whether they use
16:52
SPEAKER_01: the first right of refusal.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: And they haven't even thought about it.
16:55
So now what I think is interesting about just because of
16:58
hearing about this
16:58
SPEAKER_01: building that I've seen a million times,
17:00
also what's happening is this bureaucratic ping pong that we've
17:03
talked about that
17:05
SPEAKER_01: nobody knows who's responsible for what in Berlin.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: And so in the end, the right of first refusal expires like next week.
17:11
okay and so you have these two ministries in berlin trying to
17:15
decide who's
17:15
responsible for it even sort of interested in buying it sort of
17:19
interest not
17:19
interested in buying it and in the end it's just going to
17:21
expire and they could
17:23
both point the figure at each other and say well it was they
17:25
didn't act and the
17:25
other one could say well you didn't act and so just this
17:28
bureaucratic ping pong i
17:29
thought was a good example because we actually talked about it
17:31
before like two
17:32
weeks like what's a good example the bureaucratic ping pong and
17:35
that's it right
17:36
SPEAKER_01: there like so who's who's responsible nobody knows what their job is yeah
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Back to the right of first refusal,
17:43
SPEAKER_00: or Vorverkaufsrecht,
17:45
could theoretically the tenants band together and form a
17:50
collective and buy it and
17:51
SPEAKER_00: use that right?
17:53
SPEAKER_01: That was part of when they said they would buy it for Berlinovo,
17:56
SPEAKER_01: and then Berlinovo would sell it on to a cooperative of the tenants.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: And they said that Berlinovo doesn't know how to do that.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: It seems like a really piecemeal way of...
18:06
of trying to tackle the housing crisis i mean there's something
18:09
like a like a
18:09
million buildings in berlin and just buying one single building
18:14
at a time doesn't
18:16
really seem like i don't know it's like i thought about i
18:18
thought about exactly
18:19
that one day and i came on what i finally decided is yes but
18:23
you need a bunch of
18:24
solutions it's a huge problem and you can't think like this is
18:27
the one solution you
18:28
SPEAKER_00: need like 20 solutions that's just like spraying money at it though
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Well,
18:32
that's the whole problem with a lot of these things is you're
18:34
subsidizing the
18:35
SPEAKER_01: renters at some point rather than coming up with a viable,
18:38
SPEAKER_01: sustainable solution.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: You can have a law like you cannot let your building fall to pieces.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, that already exists.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: And people just ignore it.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, they're selling it, so it doesn't matter.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: And you have to enforce those things.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Berlin's not very good at enforcing.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Have you had a law, a legal case in Germany?
18:59
SPEAKER_01: Have you been involved with the courts at all?
19:02
SPEAKER_00: The thing is,
19:03
SPEAKER_00: the funny thing about enforcement,
19:04
SPEAKER_00: they're really good at enforcing a parking ticket,
19:07
SPEAKER_00: but like nothing else.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: They're not even good at enforcing a parking ticket.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Can I say this?
19:10
SPEAKER_01: They're not good at enforcing a parking ticket.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: I got a parking ticket.
19:14
I was working at Deutsche Welle one day and I just,
19:16
you can park on that street.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: They never check.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: So they finally check one day.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: The other day, my wife gets a yellow letter.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: Like yellow letters,
19:23
SPEAKER_01: if you don't know what yellow letters are,
19:24
SPEAKER_01: it means the government is mad at you.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you got a yellow letter, you should panic.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: You're in trouble.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: So my wife gets this yellow letter, freaks her out, opens it up.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: What it said was,
19:33
SPEAKER_01: your car,
19:34
SPEAKER_01: because our car is registered in her name,
19:35
SPEAKER_01: it said your car was parked illegally.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: We cannot,
19:39
it's not worth our time to find out who was driving it that day
19:42
to give them a
19:43
SPEAKER_01: ticket for parking illegally.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: So we've decided to just not pursue the legal case.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: But you're responsible for the costs of us up to this point.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: Up to this point, you're responsible for the costs.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: Like printing out the letter and the stamp?
19:57
SPEAKER_01: So it was 23 euros.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: And it was this big thing of like, we're not going to pursue charges.
20:03
It's cheaper for us to just do this rather than try to find out
20:06
who was driving.
20:06
Like all they had to do was send her a letter and be like,
20:08
who was driving that day?
20:09
And she'd be like,
20:09
it's my big dumb husband because he's the one that drives the
20:12
car.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: Wait, doesn't the car get the ticket, not the driver?
20:14
SPEAKER_00: No, apparently.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: This is so German.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Like just give the owner of the car the damn ticket.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Make them pay.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:23
And they,
20:23
but they had,
20:24
it was just hilarious of like this thing of like this huge
20:26
legal thing.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Like it's a big legal case,
20:28
but it's just better for us to just close the legal case and
20:31
you pay the cost.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: They probably spent like 15 minutes in a meeting about this thing.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: It has to be automated at this point.
20:36
But on the other time,
20:37
like,
20:37
cause then my parking permit ran out and I didn't realize it.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: So I got a ticket here right from my house.
20:41
They just send me a,
20:42
they're like,
20:42
pay the Fev Anung scale,
20:44
the warning,
20:44
20 bucks.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: You know,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: when you get a letter from the government,
20:49
SPEAKER_00: there's always like a five,
20:51
SPEAKER_00: six,
20:51
seven page printout of all the relevant legislation that
20:56
pertain to the case at
20:59
SPEAKER_00: hand.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: Does your wife, being a German, does she read all of that every time?
21:04
SPEAKER_01: She took a picture of it and said, why did I get a yellow letter?
21:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: Because I wasn't in town.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: She was like, what is this?
21:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: But so they do go after parking tickets.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just ridiculous what they enforce and what they don't enforce.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: But you're going to get, you're going to end up with that building.
21:19
You're going to end up in a legal case with people with deep
21:21
pockets and German
21:22
SPEAKER_01: courts are so slow and judges make bizarre requests.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: You're going to have to involve 50 experts that get paid.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, is the building really derelict?
21:31
That's,
21:32
they're going to hire an expert and the government's going to
21:33
hire an expert.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh my God.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: And so you've got six months to wait for the expert opinions on those.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, some renters living without a bathtub, you know?
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Right, and yeah, like rats coming up the drains.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: The other night at Temple Overfield,
21:48
SPEAKER_01: apropos of nothing,
21:49
SPEAKER_01: actually this was last night,
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I had a gig on,
21:51
SPEAKER_01: there's this cool open air venue on Temple Overfield,
21:53
SPEAKER_01: and we came out,
21:54
SPEAKER_01: and there's nobody there because it had rained,
21:55
SPEAKER_01: it was kind of cold,
21:56
SPEAKER_01: and there was a crow hassling a fox.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: Just down on the runway,
22:00
SPEAKER_01: a crow just like not putting up with,
22:02
SPEAKER_01: the fox actually was doing nothing.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: The fox was innocent.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: The crow was not having it.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: That's the spring.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: It was a beautiful moment on Tempelhofer.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: That sounds nice.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Wait, right in front of the stage where you were performing.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Was this after that?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: The stage is like, it's kind of enclosed.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: So it was outside because the show was still going on.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: I've already done my set.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: The wife and I were just going for a little walk.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: You want to name drop that venue?
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Die Luftschloss Tempelhofer Feld.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: It's unfortunately not.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there's any English events there.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it das Luftschloss?
22:32
Boah.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: Not die.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Da bin ich überfragt.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
22:38
Okay,
22:38
on that note,
22:40
that was already a beautiful moment that you shared there,
22:43
Andrew.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: That could have been my bear's knees.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, but now we're getting to the real bear's knees.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: Actually, a reader had a question about what we mean by bear's knees.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: Where does that come from?
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Could you explain that again?
23:04
Bee's knees is the same for the 30s or something,
23:07
which means something that's really great.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Do bees have knees?
23:11
SPEAKER_01: I think that's the joke.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: You don't really know if bees knees.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: So that's the bee's knees.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: It's the best thing ever.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what's a bear's knees?
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, because the bear is Berlin's mascot.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Right, okay.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Do you know why it's Berlin's mascot?
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: I remember we had,
23:27
SPEAKER_00: for a while,
23:28
SPEAKER_00: there were some sort of,
23:30
SPEAKER_00: the city had its own pet bears in this enclosure.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that was awful.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember that.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: It sounds like Berlin.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's it.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: That's the only reason.
23:41
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
23:42
Although the actual Slavic word it originates doesn't mean
23:46
Berlin,
23:47
it just means swamp.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Place in the swamp.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Place in the swamp.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Berlin, yeah.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: They just took bear Berlin.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Just a misunderstanding.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they just thought, nobody's ever cared in Berlin.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: Nobody ever cared about anything.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, have you seen a bear around here?
24:00
SPEAKER_01: I used to go, there was the little bear cage.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: It's down by Maxius Museum.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: It's an art gallery now.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: But there's no bears anymore.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: I was there when I... I remember seeing the bears.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Horrible.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: My living room is bigger than...
24:15
SPEAKER_01: Those poor bears.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: So that's where Bear's Knees comes from.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's still a bear on the flag of Berlin.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: There is still.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the Bear's Knees, back to the Bear's Knees section.
24:26
Things Andrew and I like in Berlin,
24:28
because we complain about a lot of things.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: This is what in the news business they call the,
24:36
SPEAKER_00: in the German news business,
24:37
SPEAKER_00: they call the Rausschmeisser.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Do you think?
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like the thing at the end of the news bulletin.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, which is a dying art form itself, news bulletin.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: But there's always some fun thing at the end.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: A feel-good story.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: So what's your feel-good story?
24:51
SPEAKER_01: There's this great Korean noodle place, Swordmaster.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: It might be Panko, not Prenzauberg anymore.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: I should look up the address right in front of me.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: Swordmaster.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: I could Google it, I guess.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Anyway,
25:03
SPEAKER_01: it's this great Korean,
25:04
SPEAKER_01: like with all these Chinese hand-pulled noodles,
25:06
SPEAKER_01: this is Korean knife-cut noodles.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: It's a super, it's like a neighborhood place.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: Wait, knife-cut noodles?
25:12
SPEAKER_01: That's a thing in Korean food, yeah.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: To cut the noodles with a knife.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: With like handmade noodles and then they cut them with knives.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Rather than the Chinese ones,
25:18
they like do this weird thing where they cover them in flour
25:21
and then flip them
25:21
SPEAKER_01: over and that separates them after a while.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen that?
25:23
SPEAKER_01: That's the hand-pulled noodles.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
25:25
When you pull them,
25:25
you put flour on them,
25:26
then they separate into separate noodles.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: And the Koreans are cut, or what, the Koreans.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: The Korean, they're just cutting the noodles.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: They're not like,
25:33
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, it's great.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: It's really nice.
25:34
And it's kind of like a nice,
25:36
it's sort of hipstery,
25:37
but it's like neighborhood-y.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's super nice there.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Great food.
25:42
I generally try to avoid seafood,
25:44
but I had the seafood spicy noodles tonight.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: What did it have in it?
25:49
SPEAKER_01: It had shrimp, clams, and mussels.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: Mussels are very sustainable.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's about the only seafood I eat anymore.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Squid, not so.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: I did not want the squid in there.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't mind shrimp because shrimp are just like whatever.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're not good for you.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: So I went out of my way.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: If it had octopus, I would not have had it.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: But it's just great.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: I've got to Google it here.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: But you know, we now have the Bear's Knees map on the 21st.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: So all these great recommendations you hear on our podcast,
26:24
you can just go to 20% dot Berlin and click on the Bears Needs
26:27
map and you'll find
26:28
SPEAKER_00: the address.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Dunkelstraße 30.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Dunkelstraße 30.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: All right.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: What's your Bears Needs?
26:34
SPEAKER_00: My Bears Needs is a little old place called the Hamburger Bahnhof,
26:40
SPEAKER_00: which is...
26:40
SPEAKER_00: What's that sound you make?
26:44
SPEAKER_01: No, the thing is like museums, of course, museums have curators.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: There's people picking the things that are in there.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: Before I moved to Berlin,
26:50
I lived in Frankfurt and I loved the Frankfurt MMK Museum de
26:54
Moderna Kunst.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Whoever's curating it is exactly my taste.
26:58
What I love about the Hamburger Bahnhof,
27:01
I think architecturally it's really nice.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: It's an old Bahnhof.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: It's an old Bahnhof, which is close to the Haupt Bahnhof, incidentally.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Now it's this beautiful modern art museum.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Anyway,
27:13
this week is the time to go visit the Hamburger Bahnhof because
27:17
this weekend they
27:18
SPEAKER_00: have an open house there from
27:20
SPEAKER_00: June 13th to June 15th.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be free all weekend.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: And even better, this Thursday kicks off the Berlin Beats series.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: It's like a DJ night.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, every couple Thursdays for the whole summer.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: It's so nice.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: It's so nice.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, long summer nights.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: You got a DJ.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: You're hanging out with an arty crowd amid some nice architecture.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: It just feels like so Berlin.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: It's nice.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: Are there going to be edibles?
27:50
SPEAKER_00: There will be food, not the kind of edibles you're hoping for.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: I thought maybe Maurice.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Then there will be street food.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: When Maurice is there, there might be some gummy bears.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on, man.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: See, I knew it.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Mr. Colorado.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: I saw Alien Aliens can be there.
28:06
Every time I go to an exhibit at the Hamburger Bonhoeff,
28:07
it's not art that I get.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand it.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: It's like boys.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Do you get boys?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't get it, but I like it.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: All right.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: It was with boys.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: All right.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great space.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the Berlin's best museums.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: I just like, you know, it's, you know, it's nice.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: Like you go there for the DJ,
28:24
SPEAKER_00: end up seeing some artwork,
28:26
but you don't have to take the artwork too seriously because
28:28
you've had a couple of
28:28
SPEAKER_00: beers and it's like,
28:30
SPEAKER_00: it makes the whole museum experience much more approachable.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you that.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: 100%.
28:35
I,
28:36
uh,
28:36
and there's some beautiful,
28:37
it's going to be some beautiful people there for sure.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Well, at our age, that's creepy.
28:44
you know what I mean beautiful like no I don't know what you
28:46
mean not beautiful in
28:47
that way like beautiful I don't know just like interesting
28:50
Berlin people alright
28:51
actually I do I kind of know what you mean you know what I mean
28:53
like like hip
28:54
people like hipper than we'll ever be that's what I'm hating
28:57
about our neighborhood
28:58
SPEAKER_01: now like it's so Pinsenberg is so boring these days
29:02
SPEAKER_00: You know,
29:02
SPEAKER_00: I went down,
29:03
SPEAKER_00: I spent some time in Mitte,
29:05
SPEAKER_00: just like a few hundred meters down that way from here.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: And just all these like amazingly well-dressed people.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: I've always identified more as a Mitte person then.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
29:14
But then I went to City Chicken on Rozenthaler Platz at like
29:17
one in the morning.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't eat meat.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been there?
29:20
SPEAKER_00: My God, that place is like, it's like a vegan's.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: nightmare.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: They make you wear gloves.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
29:25
SPEAKER_00: you have to wear,
29:26
SPEAKER_00: well,
29:26
SPEAKER_00: you don't have to,
29:26
SPEAKER_00: but yeah,
29:27
SPEAKER_00: you wear gloves while you eat your chicken in the middle of the night.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like this stream of like drunk guys going in there,
29:33
SPEAKER_00: just like ordering chicken like hundreds every hour.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Ugh.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, total hellhole.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, where do I eat it?
29:40
SPEAKER_01: I really, I like Rosenthalaplatz.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: That was one of my first places I hung out when I moved here.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Where do I eat when I go there?
29:45
SPEAKER_01: There's actually this nice little unassuming French bistro there.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: I should do that as a bear's knee sometime.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: Ah, that sounds très bougie.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not at all.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: That's the great thing about it.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: It's not at all.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: Which one?
29:54
SPEAKER_01: What the hell is that thing called?
29:55
SPEAKER_01: It's every time we're like... What, Torstrasse?
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Honestly,
29:59
SPEAKER_00: it's called something that begins with B.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And it's really like,
30:03
SPEAKER_01: you would think it'd be booty.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: It's not at all.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: It's just like, it's a half a step above a Kniper, really.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: With Tartar.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: I think another one.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: No,
30:14
SPEAKER_01: I admit to...
30:15
SPEAKER_01: We were in Kreuzberg last night,
30:17
SPEAKER_01: and I had to laugh because,
30:18
SPEAKER_01: you know,
30:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a big Kreuzberg fan.
30:20
And so we were eating in this place and these two women came in
30:23
and we were like,
30:24
SPEAKER_01: they look like kind of left-wing coits bag of people or whatever.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: They were the most uptight, annoying women.
30:30
Like first,
30:32
one woman comes in,
30:33
she goes,
30:33
is it okay if we sit next to you?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Because we're sitting on this bench thing.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: And she had a dog.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: And so I thought, oh, that's funny.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: She means her and her dog.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: So I made enough room for her to sit down.
30:41
Then about five minutes later,
30:42
this other woman comes in and stands right in front of me.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't say anything.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Just stands there.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:49
And all of a sudden I realized what she meant when she said,
30:51
can we sit next to you?
30:52
SPEAKER_01: She meant her and this woman, not her and the dog.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile, the dog is also sitting on the bench next to her.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: So I was just, I had half a glass of wine.
30:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm just being friendly.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Let me move over.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Let me move over.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: So I moved over.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And then like, it's pizza.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: They got pizza.
31:05
And she's like,
31:05
we've got to get,
31:06
we've got to get knife and forked before we can eat this.
31:08
She gets up and gets a knife and fork,
31:10
come back to eat the pizza with a knife fork.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Then she takes like four bites out of the pizza.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: She's like, this is not warm enough.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: And she stands up.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: She's like, you've got to warm this up again.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: It's got to be hotter.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: And just like, they were just annoying.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, this is Kreuzberg.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: They look like they vote for the Greens or even Die Linke.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: And then they're just the most annoying.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And they're probably professors or they work in the administration.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: I think they work.
31:30
SPEAKER_01: They look like low-level administration.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, this is so Kreuzberg.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I miss the children's party in Gerlitzer Park.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: The Carnaval de Cotone.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: I kind of want...
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of funny,
31:47
like a park where people are dealing all kinds of drugs in
31:52
broad daylight.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it just a kids' fest right there.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are... That's what I love about Gerlitzer Park.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: There are still families there.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: The streets around Gerlitzer are not so nice.
32:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh,
32:03
SPEAKER_01: yeah,
32:03
SPEAKER_01: that was,
32:04
SPEAKER_01: I want to actually,
32:04
SPEAKER_01: I kind of wanted to go to kind of other cultural,
32:06
but I had that gig last night and I had a bunch of other stuff
32:09
I needed to get
32:09
SPEAKER_01: done.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: So I couldn't, but I kind of, I kind of wished I had gone.
32:13
i'm not such a fan i don't know i'm not a fan of the thing
32:16
itself it just feels
32:18
like cultural appropriation from beginning to end people have
32:21
yelled at me for this
32:22
before they're like no there's actually all these real actual
32:24
immigrant groups
32:26
performing there and i'm looking at it rose but to me it felt
32:29
like cultural
32:29
appropriation like like german ladies called beata who yeah
32:33
like they have their
32:34
sort of like brazilian carnival costume that they take take out
32:37
once a year the
32:38
SPEAKER_01: brazilian drum circle
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: But I like a good street fest, you know, I like a good beer, beer wagon.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: You know,
32:45
SPEAKER_00: I have friends who live on the,
32:46
SPEAKER_00: the,
32:46
the kind of older culture and parade route this year in
32:49
Friedrichshain and they
32:50
SPEAKER_00: actually left for the weekend and got a hotel in Charlottenburg.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: It's also Fingst.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: It's also Pentecost weekend.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Like everybody was leaving for the weekend.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: What is it with Germans and Pentecost?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Like, why is it such a big deal?
33:02
SPEAKER_00: It's just a long weekend.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Like they have this, it's a special thing in the German psyche.
33:05
I actually know,
33:06
I know,
33:06
I know where the name comes from and I know what it is now.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: And then I was kind of proud of that this weekend.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm finally know.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: And then this morning I thought, who cares?
33:14
SPEAKER_01: Who really cares that you finally know?
33:16
SPEAKER_01: If I didn't,
33:16
SPEAKER_01: if there wasn't a holiday,
33:17
SPEAKER_01: I would never,
33:19
SPEAKER_01: my whole life,
33:19
SPEAKER_01: I would have gone my whole life without learning what Pentecost means.
33:21
If it was not for the fact that today is off,
33:24
we're doing this on Pentecost Monday.
33:25
Yeah,
33:26
I have yet to tell my children what Easter means beyond Easter
33:30
bunnies and chocolate.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: That's the better Easter.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Than people stringing up some skinny dude.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: What if he was pudgy?
33:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: What's your point?
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be funny if Jesus is up there with a beer gut?
33:49
SPEAKER_00: Who knows, man?
33:50
SPEAKER_00: He made wine out of water.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: I think it's time to wrap this up.
33:55
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for coming over.
33:56
Let me just tell everyone we have a bear's knees map on our
34:01
website in case you
34:02
SPEAKER_00: want to find the places that we were talking about.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Do we have an event coming up?
34:07
SPEAKER_00: We have an event coming up on July 17th.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Watch this space for tickets.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be super cheap.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: You get a free drink when you get there.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: It's at a beautiful beer garden in Teptoa called Berliner Berg.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: What else?
34:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, subscribe, comment.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Share.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Share.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: Read our newsletter.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: If this is the first time you've heard about 20% Berlin,
34:29
SPEAKER_00: this is also a newsletter,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: which you can subscribe and get.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you mentioned that at the end.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: Good night.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Bye.
34:51
Bye.