Berlin Alexanderplatz

Berlin can be vibrant, on a Saturday morning, when you cross Alexanderplatz and the sun is shining, a guitar duo is playing on one corner, somebody is bungee-jumping from up the Park Inn and there's people everywhere. You go down the subway and a wonderful accordion player sounds like a whole organ.

Berlin can be sad, on a Saturday evening, when the same guitar duo is still playing, but the sun is not shining anymore and they look cold and tired, still trying to give the people the energy they need to leave a few coins. Berlin can be sad when you look around and now that the sun is not there you can only see the lights of Western chains and malls, which remind you of the saddest Western global streets of the city. You go down the subway and the accordion player is still there, still sounding like an organ, yet you know he has been sitting there for almost ten hours, and there's nothing romantic, there's nothing bohemian, there's nothing fascinating about that sound anymore. It's just the sound of misfortune.