Now I've Seen It All #246

Last night, Mike, of Radio Free Mike, had his monthly Stammtisch, which can basically be described as a get-together for bloggers, readers of blogs, friends of Mike, and their friends. It was held at the Cafe Krüger in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, which is largely populated by people cooler than me.

At any rate, the beer flowed, as did the conversation, and at one point, I realized the beer had to flow out, so I went off to the men's room. There, I noticed that the toilet -- the sit-down one, as opposed to the stand-up ones -- had a table next to it. On the table was a slice of cake, a cup of coffee, a small glass containing a couple of cigarettes, a pack of matches, and an ashtray. I couldn't believe they were real, so I approached and very gingerly touched the top of the cake, a chocolate-looking thing (the lights were pretty dim) with a white layer sandwiched in the middle. It yielded, and was a bit sticky, although by no means fresh.

"Oh, yeah," Mike said, "sometimes there's a glass of wine instead of the coffee."

"There's a similar set-up in the women's room," I was further informed.

Germany has cranked itself up to celebrate Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday this year, so I'll leave the analysis of this odd art installation to the professionals.