The Long Night

Well. That was possibly the best evening in Berlin so far.

'The long night of the museums' they call it, and as I got home at 3am, a long night indeed it was. We started at a museum of twentieth century German expressionism where we came to see a saxophone quartet playing a seriously wide repertoire - which included Macedonian folk music from 1400, pieces written this century and, of course, Bach. Highlights included them walking around the museum throwing notes at each other - it was like watching an audio-tennis match! 

But as our next stop was a short u-bahn ride away and time was pressing, we skipped the free drinks and pretzels and headed for the Simon Bolivar room to add ourselves to another completely packed hall where a lone drummer was doing his Brazilian thing. I headed up into the library/museum section and looked at maps for half an hour - during which my friends had joined the dancers (and everyone else in the audience under 85) in grooving away, Samba style.

Two down, two to go. Opposite this library is the KulturForum, of which a huge art space is part - housing the Neue National Gallery. In we went, most of it looking like a mix of WW1 trenches and the Berlin Wall itself. Coal, old winter coats and sacks of beans dotted the building, and after dancing around the outside of it, we entered the labyrinth. I often feel outwitted by modern installation art, so I try to outdo it even more. And did we. Even the guards were drawn into our discussion of gender in a post-colonial context. (And this from an egg, surrounded by coal.)

But there was more! The Museum of Musical Instruments had been on my to-do list for a while, and so we saw a huge variety of pianos, harps and things that looked like a cross between the two. But in the main open-plan area of the museum - totally in rapture, sat a 300 strong audience laughing, biting nails, watching 'Safety Last!', a silent film from 1923, accompanied by a maestro on the Wurlitzer. I'd forgotten how awesome those films were!

Finally, and by this time its 1am, we moved into a smaller auditorium where we were treated to some of the young talent from the music school here. Ranging from the youngest (aged 11 or so) to full grown concert pianists. Not forgetting the first ever performance of three people at the same piano! Amazing!

 

And all of this was preceded by a vegetarian haggis and Scottish poetry and song at a (one-day-delayed) Burns Night celebration. I had prepared a traditional dessert Cranaghan - eyed up enviously by my fellow u-bahn passengers, may I add!

The very best thing about this evening, though, was the electric buzz you could feel everywhere you went. Pedestrians ruled the night, young and old enjoyed the density of culture and activity - and wherever each of us was enjoying ourselves, we knew there were at least another two hundred other places where others were engaging, learning and enjoying the creativity this city has to offer.