Tourist Thing

Last Thursday was Ava's last day in Berlin so she insisted on going to the Ampelmann Store. After buying gummies shaped as the famed East German traffic light man, we thought we may as well get some more tourist activities completed. We walked to Museum Island and stopped in front of the Altes Museum where children were playing in the fountain.
It was at this museum that I first realised how much more public publc space was here in Berlin than it is in New York or Melbourne. One day during my first week in Berlin I stopped here with my bike for a rest. The Velvet Undergroung could be heard from the steps and as I approached I assumed there must have been a fancy art party taking place. However, once on the steps I saw a group of beer drinking 15 year olds sitting cross legged with a boom box. No one was stopping them from having a party here because it was taking place in public space.
Similarly on Thursday the fountain was being used as public stomping group. Many kids were splashing and laughing and keeping cool, until one boy, shown here squatted to take a shit. His sister was unhappy but nobody stopped him-public space.