Karneval Der Kulturen

A few blocks from the flat was the huge annual 4 day cultural festival celebrating the blend of people in Berlin. Huge turn out with loads of stalls selling food (lots of BBQ), beer, art, crafts etc. Big parade on Sunday.

There's 1 BBQ for every 3 people attending :)

This woman can SING!  First group in the parade, Brazilian's know how to get the party started.

Amazing group of puppeteers.

Some really amazing sculpts from this group. I'm not sure what they're all about but it looks great. They're something called Körschtal Hell Guard.

www.koerschtaler-hoellenwaechter.de

Amazing work and very detailed.

That last shot is from a display of Mexican artists work at one of the stalls. Some figures from day of the dead festivities but this skull (and a more from the same artist) is truly amazing in its design and intricate detail. This skull is about the size of a softball so the fine lines are done with very small brushes and controlled strokes. The pigments are ground by the artist and made from natural sources. Unfortunately they're very expensive but I'll keep these in mind should that lotto ticket hit.
laceiba-arts.de

Cheers
Andy

Critical Mass' bigger brother, Sternfahrt 2011

This past weekend was the annual Sternfahrt bike rally to promote bike awareness on the streets of Berlin (and protest highway expansion). I've ridden in the Critical Mass in Vancouver and it felt big but this was big. The rally had 19 starting points all over the city and as they wound there way along the route they slowly joined together to make one huge train.

This was the view in either direction as far as you can see.

  At one point (above) we came to a halt. I couldn't see why until we got closer to the problem. In the far distance is an over pass for the Autobahn and we were feeding onto it. Unfortunately the on ramp was very narrow so it bottlenecked. The organizers and the police had shut down the highway for bikes to use for a few kilometers. The best part was the tunnel.

The signs are looking good for this ride.

  Amazing sight to see thousands of riders gliding down half of a 6 lane highway tunnel.

Solid bikes in front and behind.

The ultimate goal for all the bikes was Tiergarten and the Brandenburg gate. Loads of vendors, music, drinks etc. It was perfect weather and the crowd was huge. The official count of the number of participants was 150,000. Not too shabby.
adfc-berlin.de/aktionenprojekte/sternfahrt/sternfahrt-2011/1034-sternfahrt-2011.html

Andy