May First
May 1st in Berlin is one of those dates everyone tells you about before you experience it—the street parties, the riots, the spray paint, the cops in riot gear, all of it supposedly happening at once in the city center. I went once, wandering into it almost by accident, walking toward what looked like a normal evening and finding myself in the middle of something else entirely. There’s something weirdly energizing about being caught up in that kind of chaos when you’re not looking for it, when you’re just trying to get somewhere and suddenly the whole street is packed with people in black hoodies and the air smells like tear gas and beer. It’s not fun exactly, but it’s alive in a way that nothing else quite is. The whole thing feels like a release valve that the city needs to let off steam once a year, and for one night Berlin just surrenders to the mess of it all.