Berlin, Day 3

a blossoming tree hangs over a simple white wall with a door. it's marked '21'. the trees petals scattered on the sidewalk
35mm Summicron ASPH / Leica M10-P

We slept in a bit as the previous day wiped us out. Had a good sized brunch before doing a guided queer history tour in Schöneberg. Our guide Tobias is a walking encyclopedia of the area. A lot of the tour showed and talked about how the rise of the Nazis and WWI shaped queer life in Berlin. Very much recommend it.

At one point we came to this walled garden that looked to be very Japanese-inspired. I admit I kind of tuned out the tour and just started taking photos of this wall (and door. More doors!) Turns out it’s Das Kleine Grosz Museum (The Small Grosz Museum), which seems to be a small museum dedicated to George Grosz' work . And boy do I regret not visiting later. Next time!

Afterwards we explored Schöneberg and the shops. Berlin (and probably most other European cities with a scene) have legit gear shops. There were so many leather men outfitted head to toe. I think I might be into leather. Tried on a shirt and it kinda felt right. Goes to Berlin once…

We had dinner at Da Lucia again which is sandwiched between Prinzknecht (a leather/gear bar) and WOOF (a bear bar), so the outdoor seating was a mixture of leather men in full gear, groups of pups, bears, and straight couples. I had Spaghetti Bolognese this time, and would definitely have it again.

A short side note of something I observed a few times in Berlin. Dogs are rarely on a leash, which I don’t agree with, however, I have never seen more well-behaved dogs. They always stayed by their owners. We even saw a lady go into a grocery store, and her dog stopped at the door, sat down, and waited.

While at dinner, an older, well-dressed gentlemen, rode up on his bike. There were a lot of well-dressed older people on bikes (just another observation.) Anyway, he had a small dog in his bike’s basket. He placed the dog on the ground and it went with him to their table. A little later, completely on it’s own, I see the small dog walk over to a tree on the sidewalk. The dog relieves himself on the dirt, not the tree or the sidewalk, and then just walks back over to his owner and lays down. Children aren’t even that well-behaved.

WOOF was packed. Was sweating my butt off in there. We met some nice guys. I was chatting with a nice ozzie gent for a while about his leather suit. He had to be dying in all that, but seemed comfortable enough.

It was a fun night, even though I couldn’t really move for hours. Everyone is super nice.

  • the leaves of one tree bunched up next to the blossoms of another
  • a napkin with a print that reads 'romeo und romeo' sits on a cafe table next to coffee and an empty plate
  • looking straight onto a non-descript metal door. an address number of '10' mounted to the far left
  • a view of the side of a very small four door car parked on the street
  • a cropped image of a door and wall creating an abstract composition
  • the side view of a small, vintage car parked on the street
  • a very large group of men socializing outside of a bar named 'prinzknecht'
  • a view of a very crowded bar. people are in line to order drinks, there are four bearded men working on the other side of the bar
  • a man takes a photo of himself and three friends in a mirrored elevator