Berlin actor Jannik Schümann in Paris: “Why does the city of love smell of piss?”
Kreuzberg-based actor Jannik Schümann ("Charité," "Sisi") is shocked by the urine stench of the city on the Seine. Is "Emily in Paris" to blame?
Jannik Schümann was on vacation in Paris , around the Fête de la Musique. On Instagram, he posted pictures from the Marais, in front of the Louvre , of the Jeff Koons tulip bouquet sculpture, on a Lime rental bike, and even smooching in front of the Eiffel Tower with his boyfriend Felix Kruck.
All in all, it seems to have been a wonderful vacation. However, there was a slight tinge of wormwood, or rather, urine: "Paris is sweet, but why does the city of love smell of piss everywhere?" Schümann captioned his Paris photo gallery. " Berghain under the open sky," one fan commented – presumably referring to fetish parties at the Friedrichshain techno club, which left a more or less subtle smell of piss in the Berghain walls (especially in the Lab).
And it's true: Piss doesn't fit the champagne-croissant, perfect-world Parisian image portrayed by ABBA ("Our Last Summer") and especially the beloved and hated series "Emily in Paris." On the other hand, that only has a very limited connection to the real Paris. In Japanese, the pop-science term is "Paris Syndrome": Japanese people who come to Paris for the first time are usually shocked by how loud, smelly, and chaotic Paris can be.
Paris stinks of piss everywhere: Baudelaire, Céline, Modiano, SüskindOf course, one could know better: Paris in literature is permeated with bodily fluids in the worst possible way, at least since Charles Baudelaire ("The Flowers of Evil" of 1857) and Louis-Ferdinand Céline ("Journey to the End of the Night" of 1932) to Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano and Patrick Süskind's bestseller "Perfume" (filmed by Tom Tykwer). Or even in the wicked chansons of Serge Gainsbourg.
A flaneur in Paris has to expect a stench. That shouldn't really bother a Kreuzberg resident. On the other hand, Berliners naturally want to take a break from Berlin and its nuisances. Although, in "Palermo," Ski Aggu just rapped about how, after a few days on vacation, you can still miss the Berlin filth.
But we can reassure Jannik Schümann a little: There's actually a lot less urinating in Paris than here in Berlin. Wege beer and Wege wine are a no-go there anyway. Paris stinks more of its aging sewer system. C'est la vie, pas le paradis. Unfortunately, Emily and her Parisian champagne clique never discuss this.
Berliner-zeitung
