Fairs and Flea-Markets

I realize that after all that discussion about GETTING to the fair, I didn't really say much about it. In point of fact there wasn't really all that much to say, at least from my perspective. It was just like an American fair, really--you shell out a lot of cash for the privilege of eating food that makes you feel sick, going on rides that make you feel sick, and hanging around a big crowd of people who, well, you get the idea. But actually we had a good time. Everything was half price for kids' day, and we didn't go on the really crazy rides or eat the really greasy food items, so while we got tired out and stayed too long at the fair (as we McGraws always seem to do!) it was a good experience.

Today we had a different but similar sort of adventure. We went flea-marketing, looking to try to find some furniture for our as-yet sparsely furnished abode. How we thought we would get it home (remember, we have no car) remains uncertain. Yesterday Katy brought an armchair home on her head via the S-bahn, so I guess we would have figured something out, but as it turns out we didn't find what we wanted at a good price.

But I must say, whatever you needed you could find there. There were two that we went to, one the big one at Mauerpark in the northern part of the city, and one small one on the way. For the most part these are like an absolutely gigantic yard sale. It appears that people have cleaned out the garage and put everything in there on sale. Bikes, tables, clothes, what-nots, records (a vinyl shopper's paradise!), kitchen gadgets galore! Then there are people selling new items, a vast array of small household goods like rolls of tape, sewing kits, spatulas (bought one of those), plants, t-shirts...very difficult to go through and not see SOMETHING that you just have to have.

Most interesting to me was the crowd. Maybe it's just Germany, I don't know, but there was definitely more of an edge here than you'd find at a similar event in Boston. It was like the whole alternative-college-punk-GenX-coffeehouse-grunge population had come out to furnish their apartments, only they weren't buying stuff, they were just there for the scene. Tattoos, piercings, weird hair--all of which you see all the time here and which make the city fun to roam around--but the concentration of it at this spot today was more than I expected. It certainly wasn't Grandma and Grandpa Jones...though out back there were some decidedly aging hippy types who kind of looked as though they had spent a WEE too much time in Amsterdam...