Ja, Seba and me left the European rainbow gathering on the evening of the full moon. We drove four hours underneath the eclipsing moon until I found ourselves a spot for the night at the end of a dead end in a little village. After a moment there a man arrived in a car and looked suspiciously at my car. I greeted him, introduced us and asked if we could stay. He was very friendly and we had a quiet night and beautiful morning walk in the surrounding nature.
In the morning an elderly woman (supposedly the mom of the guy) comes out and tries to talk to me in Polish. After some failed attempts she waves me inside where she hands me a bottle of water, tomatoes and bananas. She proceeds to give us bread and cheese and asks the three of us – as Seba and Ja had made their way in in the meantime as well – if we wanted tea or coffee. The Italians almost had their eyes fall out. Shortly afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on the front porch of this family, sharing travellng stories and contacts with the son, who had introduced himself as Krzysztof. The mother leaves by bike and comes back, handing us a whole loaf of bread.
Happy and really grateful we continue our journey west, interrupted by a break, walking through west Polish forests, swimming in a river and collecting beautiful rocks.
After many hours of driving we have a stopover in my former shared appartment in Potsdam. We leave Raki there and continue with the train to Berlin. There we dive into the night of the big city, riding on waves of the aftermath of Berlin’s Christopher Street Day surrounded by glitter and colourful people. We meet up with more Italians, one of them Alessandro, an old friend, schoolmate and fellow musician of Seba and Ja, another one beautiful, joyful Charlotta who we met at the rainbow. We spent hours of joy, chatter and game before I ride the train to what once was my home and still is in some ways.
The next day is Sunday – with the legendary Mauerpark calling us. I take Raki and the car and we ride into the big city, finally arriving in the heat of summer.
I feel instantly back home at this colourful and international place – the Mauerpark. Raki and me walk around, marveling at handmade jewellery, listening to singing people at the Karaoke held in this wonderful outside amphietheatre and talking to a Canadian couple, drinking a shot with them (me, Raki didn’t get one).
I continue walking around and stumble upon this guy singing about Italian wine while drumming on pots, buckets and a metal iron board. He is catchy and I dance a bit. Around him a few more people. I sit down and we chat, make music, enjoy.
Ja, Seba and Alessandro wanted to meet me at the Mauerpark and I tell them where I am. I tell the people around me about those three talented musicians and everyone gets excited.
What follows is the most epic jam session. Everyone there had come with no expectations, some just out for a lazy sunday afternoon walk. The more grateful we all were for this diverse, international get together of talent, passion and joy. We sang, played and danced together until it got dark. Then some of us went and enjoyed some shawarma.
Me, Seba and Raki spent a quiet night in the Beast in the streets of Berlin. The others – Ja, Alessandro and our new found Italian friends Fede and Pietro enjoyed showers and a crowded night in Fedes student appartment.
The next day we all – Seba, me, Raki and Ja, Alessandro met up again. We have lunch with Charlotta and say goodbye to her. Then we proceed to walk to Alexanderplatz to meet Fede and Pietro for some basking.
Our journey there is one of a kind. The cart for Alessandro’s amplifyer breaks, we try to fix it a few times but with little success. We find a shopping trolly in the street and take that. It has a safety on one of the wheels and we continue on our way, very loud and with a lot of MacGyver action.
We spent some awesome time in the middle of the crowded Alexanderplatz, surrounded by a crowd, making music, dancing in the heat of the big city summer.
It is already late when we drop of Alessandro at the bus station – he goes home to Italy and the rest of us ride the empty Berlin city autobahn back to my former appartment in Potsdam.
A journey, a lot lof music, many kilometres, many wonderful people. What a blast we had. Now we were tired and we spent the day doing resting, repairing drum tired hands and saxophone carrying backs, cooking Italian food.
The next day I drop my two Italian friends off at Autobahnrastplatz and we say goodbye, knowing we’ll meet again somewhere, some place.
They go South – destination Spain, I go North – destination Ideenwiese.
Thank you! See you next time.
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