It was a Wednesday morning when I decided to ride my bicycle to the City Hall of Schöneberg with the intention to get married in the same week. After I had prepared all the necessary documents with my partner, we sat down the evening before to check the calendar and set a date for the marriage ceremony. Only then did we realize that there would be no other date available for the time being except in the same week. In addition to the forthcoming artist residency in New York, I would have to leave for Italy next Saturday, so that the marriage would be delayed for quite a while. This sudden time pressure turned the already extraordinary occasion into a real adventure.
While I was on the way to City Hall Schöneberg, I had a chance to pursue my thoughts.
While I was cycling through Schöneberg, I realized how familiar the neighborhood was to me. My mother, originally from Berlin, had grown up in Friedenau and knew the area very well. I was able to experience it on every family outing. On these occasions, we were going to see some of her former high school classmates and friends who still lived here. I later visited them myself accompanied by my friends, each time enjoying their warm hospitality. Thanks to these experiences, I visited the town regularly in the 1980’s and that is how I learned to love and appreciate the city and its people.
As always, it was an exciting time! Schöneberg grew many times larger overnight. The usual paths were magically extended by countless pubs and bars, which opened one after the other and seemed to hide behind seemingly ordinary doors during the day. One literally stumbled from one atmosphere to another without having a clue of what to expect. The faces were never the same, although the same friendly neighbors were always around during the day.
