This weekend is the second of two long weekends in a row in Germany, and as is tradition for Pentecost weekend, the Karneval der Kulturen parade took over western Kreuzberg, from Hermannplatz to Mehringdamm and the surrounding streets. For the last three years, I've watched this parade with various friends, taking photos of the outlandish floats and the dancers in feathered and glittered costumes, drinking capihirinas and strawberry punch all afternoon in the sunshine. This year though, especially since almost all of the friends I had previously visited the festival with had left Berlin, I decided to forgo the crowds of teenagers in skinny jeans and Ray Bans and families trying to push strollers through the hordes of people, and went up to Mauerpark for a spot of karaoke instead.
I've been working on a post on Bearpit Karaoke for a while, but the short version is that between April and November, Dubliner Joe Hatchiban loads his laptop and amplifiers onto his cargo bike and cycles over to the stone amphitheatre in Prenzlauer Berg's Mauerpark for several hours every Sunday afternoon, where Berlin's residents and visitors alike take to the stage and belt out all manner of karaoke classics. From tongue-in-cheek 80s number to Idol wannabes showing off what they can (or can't) do with Whitney and Mariah tracks, and rockers who don't care if they can't sing getting everyone singing along to Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith and the Stones, there's something for everyone.
In the last few weeks, the fun police known as Berlin's city council has decided that karaoke should be restricted to a mere twelve Sundays per year, rather than every weekend. (There are plenty of German-language articles on it - this is one of the few English-language ones). Either way, watching and paticipating are completely free of charge, and it is one of my favourite ways to while away a Sunday in the sun. Considering this Sunday was one of the rare pre-announced karaoke dates, I had to go.
And that is how I spent my afternoon - in the sunshine at Mauerpark, with a Tyskie in one hand and a pen in the other, listening to Australians, Dutch, Germans and a surprising number of French singing all manner of songs. No one cared if they were in tune - as long as the crowd knew the song and the performer put in some effort, they were unanimously well received.
Toward the end, as people began to leave, I noticed that my favourite seat in the house had become vacant. A hill runs along one side of the park, and along with this being the location of the amphitheatre and a great place to toboggan in winter, there are also several large stand-alone swings along the path, one of which is directly behind the amphitheatre.
These were my favourite moments of yesterday, and possibly of the weekend: swinging high above Mauerpark, the golden sun sinking slowly into the northwest horizon, the sweet smell of heather and shisha on the breeze and the sound of someone belting out "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the stage below.
Bliss.
