Heute hier, Morgen dort

Back in Frankfurt. Three days here and three days of rain, but the warm muggy rain of early October is supplanted with cold rain today. Still, I could get used to this city. Great skyscrapers and logical street plan, manageable size, convenient to a lot of cool places (too many), and really, despite what I said about Berlin being multicultural, Frankfurt (and Köln, really) are more diverse, more like an American or Canadian city in the presence of huge numbers from OUTSIDE Europe. This was not as observable in Berlin, the parts I saw anyway.

So I go home tomorrow having completed this way-too-late-in-my-life vision quest to try, among other things, to recapture some of what made the world bigger and more inviting to me when I came to Germany at 17. It´s worked; I feel like I have a big demanding monkey off my back. The bloom is a bit off the rose though, not that this is a bad thing. Specifically, I found myself sick of Berlin as I was departing yesterday. Despite its being an improvement over Köln in the smoking area, it was still horrible and became unbearable the last few days when temperatures plunged (we even saw a tiny bit of snow), and eating outside was much less inviting. Germany has to contend with this. To have so many places of employment that specifically employ young people–bars, restaurants, and coffeehouses–100% smoking is forcing them to work in HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS, especially in a country with a double-digit employment rate. Don´t send me crap about “choice” because most employees have no choice on this matter there. Germans can be so progressive in so many ways but for Christ´s sake, this is a no-brainer, and with some exceptions (Frankfurt is mostly smoke free as of the day before I arrived), Germans smoke with a sense of obnoxious, ignorant entitlement.

I´ve also reached the limits of my tolerance with hipsters, and my neighbourhood in Berlin was practically pure hipsters. White 20-somethings who all look like Tegan and/or Sara (men as well as women). They all look alike, they ALL EFFING SMOKE, and they all carry themselves with this trust-fund air that I just cannot be around anymore. Also, their clothes look so damn uncomfortable, too-tight ugly-ass jeans, too-tight ironic t-shirts, all bundled up even when it´s hot, the damned detestable cigarette as fashion accessory. I am so over this world-weary pose. There were fireworks the other night in Berlin, not sure why but it was spectacular, and while I´m taking it in on the street this group of typical Prenzlauer hipsters were gabbing away on the sidewalk making an obvious point of not even LOOKING at the fireworks that were exploding all around the Fernsehturm. That´s the kind of pose that I´m talking about. Too cool for fireworks. “Puff puff, what club are we going to, puff puff, what are all these idiots looking at,” repeat.

Of course none of this is to say I haven´t had a great time, but it´s important not to idealise every place you visit. I could live in Berlin (if Brian could learn German), but it would have to be on my terms and all that. That´s all.

I´ll miss a lot: bread that puts ours to shame, their amazing take on doner, trains, the resplendant green of this country, the parks, the buildings of course, the opportunity to speak the only foreign language I ever learned formally. It´s been a tremendous experience, my first visit back to Europe since 1981. But I want to go home now.

Next post from Calgary, with lots of pics!