Was?

Today I thought I would go to Potsdamer Platz because I had heard that there would be free music and lots of tulips in the Sony Center this weekend. My plan was to do some homework in the morning and then take the subway up. Since the sun has finally been out, I also wanted to walk home. Well…

When I got off the subway and up onto the street, there were no tulips to be seen. There was plenty of music and green though: I had stumbled into the middle of an anti-nuclear-energy demonstration. The street was filled with people marching, on their way to the chancellery with their signs and banners and drums. And of course they were taking the same route that I had been planning to take home. I followed for a bit, sometimes in the crowd and sometimes on the edge. The diversity of the protestors struck me immediately…well…after the noise and the vibrant colors did. I followed them until they turned toward the chancellery and off Potsdamer Str.

I continued on my stroll home, stopping in at a few shops to look for incense, Easter cards, and a sundress. The sun felt so nice though that I passed my home to go wander first in a Turkish market and then through a near-by cemetery. Now I’m home drinking tea and listening to some jazz I stole from my dad over winter break. I’m a little awestruck by the sound landscape of this day. To think that over the course of four hours I went from chants and techno of the protest to the calls of the market vendors to the whispers of the cemetery. I guess I’ll look for the tulips another time.