Art School - The Jam - In the City - 1977

With our bellies full of schnitzel, we walked from Alexanderplatz back to Museum Island, enjoying (and photographing) of the city as we walked. By the time we reached the museums it was nearly 4PM and we realized that we only had so many hours of daylight left in Berlin and that we were rather enjoying walking around the city more than we'd enjoy spending the time inside of a building viewing old art. As such we made the decision to just do some walking.

Anand wanted to get a chance to photograph the Brandenburg gate during the daytime. Additionally it had occurred to me that we'd spent all of our time on the east side of Berlin without seeing the West at all. So off we went.

In the middle of Berlin there is a rather large park shaped like a sideways oval, The Brandenburg Gate/Reichstadt/Museum Island forms it's eastern border while the West Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenberg is the western border. As there is a palace from the time of Fredrich the Great in Charlottenberg this seemed like a good way to both check out some of West Berlin and to get in a good walk.

The park itself was really beautiful, and it was interesting to see Berliners in there day to day life. It probably took us 2 hours to walk the width of the park, during which time we saw the locals doing what they would do on a cold and snowy late afternoon Friday. Some were walking dogs, others jogging, a few young couples strode by holding gloved hands. As with everything in the city, there were tons of statues, monuments, sculptures, and bridges to beautify the already beautiful natural landscape. During the times in which we were in the woods to the point where we could not see the city, it was easy to imagine these woods in Roman times. Centurions marching through to put down the Germanic tribes, the first step towards a German national identity. The history dork in me smiled.

Finally, we emerged on the other side, with the last bit of sun setting in front of us and a new neighborhood to explore.

As I've stated before, The Jam is one of those bands that I find easier to admire than to enjoy. This song has abundant energy and attitude, and maybe even a little more melody than usual...but considering this is from their first album, it's hard not to view this as a simple Ramones copy cat song.