Berlin, the Gritty underbelly, of a Bankrupt city

Yes, to my surprise I found out today that Berlin, as a city is actually bankrupt, it is crazy, the Capital of Germany, designed to handle 7.5 million + people, has a population of 3.5 million, with parts of they city running at 20%+ unemployment, People squatting in buildings (well there are so many not used), Rent and food is really cheap here... people collect bottles off the street to take to the supermarkets to get a few Euros for recycling, seems so strange.

Anyway, I spend the day, on a 3 1/2 hour tour of the gritty underbelly of Berlin, I wasen't sure what to expect, the weather has been crappy, first time on my trip, raining & cold, much like Auckland in winter, sucks...

Interesting Berlin, It is legal to drink in the streets, (well appears to be the same everywhere in Europe), nightclubs have no limits, well until everyone is gone, it is legal to do so many things that are illegal in NZ, it isn't funny, Yet, Graffiti, it is a 10,000€ fine, so they have moved to putting up posters or sick on bits, this is a lesser offence, 50€ fine if your caught. It still dosen't seem to have halted much, it is EVERYWHERE, but I guess, what do you expect from a city that has such high unemployment, and a huge younger population.

One of the things I have been taking photos of since Paris, has been the Graffiti

Ok, this is something famous, something about the split between the east & west of berlin.

me standing on the edge of the wall

Some Art, notice the fingers, one is east berlin sign, the other is west.

This was inside a squatters art studio, you could smell urine, surprising the art inside was inside

2 People Boxing, but never laying a punch.

Famous tree house, notice the table is cemented to the ground

Spaceman, at night, the light from the car yard across the road shines the flag into his hand

This is where some of the trendy clubs are