Metal and Morgenrot

Tuesday, July 5

1. I got my tattoo yesterday.
2. It is not of Brian’s face.
3. During my tattoo, Tobi showed up at Loxodrom, having hitchhiked into the city and taken a tram right to the shop instead of having to find an internet connection to contact me with - happy surprises!
4. With my ever-improving German language skills, I can now state the following, with some proficiency:
“Excuse me, do you have the hiccups?  Or maybe a tramp-stamp?  No?  Well that is very boring, but stay optimistic - my shirt is moisture-wicking!  I don’t understand why you are doing that with your eyebrows - that is quite confusing.  Ah, now I see, you are a smart-ass.  But it’s ok, you get what you ask for!  See you later, shithead!”
4. I would feel incomplete if my experience in any given city did not involve a bike cafe.  So I found one here in Berlin, only a few blocks away from Fuer Immer Tattoo in Friedrichshain.  Unlike the chain bike-rental style shops that pop up all over the touristy areas, this one is an actual hangout among local messengers and alley-catters, as well as the ubiquitous crowd of roadies.  The front door was partially obscured by scaffolding, and on top of that, the only signage on the outside was the name of the shop in Japanese characters.  BUT I found it, and thus befriended Mortimer, long time messenger, racer, and friend of B-rad and several other Minneapolis and Chicago cyclists.

 

5. If you took Hard Times Café, picked it up, shook it a few times and dropped it in Europe, you would have Café Morgenrot, the vegetarian/vegan worker-owned collective where I have been eating brunch every day.  The first day I spent at the tattoo shop, I got antsy and decided to walk around exploring the city.  I got across the street and haven’t left.

Morgenrot has great coffee, great people, and a vegan breakfast buffet, not to mention the fact that the basement turns into an underground (literally) punk venue at night.  I went to a hardcore show on Sunday (that had free vegan sausage stew and cornbread muffins!), and met my new friend Laessie (like the dog, except spelled like his last name, Laessner).

He’s a nurse who works in various hospitals around the city, and happened to have an empty room in his flat.  I stayed there on Sunday, and after Tobi showed up, we both stayed there again last night.   

Today, we’re going to head out to Dresden, where Panke’s brother (a painter and graffiti artist from Mexico City) has a show opening this weekend.  He needs a hand with some of the details, so I have been enlisted as an assistant for a few days.  Don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing, but I assume it has something to do with painting.  We’ll see!

As for the tattoo, no before pics, but...

 

during...

...and after!

          

Final photos to be posted after healing is underway.