The Brandenburg's and the Obama's

Back in June US president Obama came to Berlin for a photo op with the Brandenburg Gate. It was quite incredible how much of the city was disrupted by this. All kinds of restrictions on which streets you could use and when, many were closed off completely.

There he is, I think.

  Above is as close as you could get to the event. The gate is right next to the large park called Tiergarten and even this was full of fences and police. Behind those columns was the setting for the event.

  The US TV networks were comparing this speech to his first speech here in Berlin during his campaign through Europe back in 2008. Back then Berlin and most of the world seemed to think he was a saviour from the extremist right of the Republican Bush years. So that speech had a huge crowd but this one was much smaller. The networks used this as a sign that Europe had soured to Obama. What they failed to mention was that in 2008 it was a public speech by a senator whereas this was a private event for friends.

  So the crowd was an invited guest list of politicians, leaders and friends of various descriptions. All hemmed in to the Pariser Platz square. Impossible to fit a similar sized crowd.

Memorial

  As you look past Obama on the podium directly behind him was the gate and a long straight street leading to the Siegessäule (victory column). The site of his speech in 2008. Also on the street was the (above) small chunk of Berlin wall with the words "den opfern der mauer", the victims of the wall.

  This city has so many reminders of its recent history that I regularly stumble upon. This one for people trying to flee to freedom from an oppressive government. I wonder what will be left behind by Obama...

Andy

Memories of Spreepark

The happiest place in East Germany.... doesn't have the same ring as Disneyland's motto but a guy by the name of Norbert Witte tried to give this old park an American spin. In the 1960's, Spreepark was built under the jurisdiction of the GDR's Berlin, perhaps to showcase the east's capacity for fun. Spreepark was a very popular place in the heyday of its operation. It opened in 1969 under the name Kulturpark Plänterwald. After the fall of the wall in 89 Norbert Witte was selected to revamp the park and later modeled it in a more western fashion, thus creating Spreepark. A documentary was made to tell this story and there's a trailer here. Or if your German is good watch the whole thing.

  There's a video here recorded at the time of renovations. At about the 7 minute mark there are shots of the new mascot to the park, a more terrifying creation I cannot imagine.

  For about ten years it was quite successful but eventually attendance numbers dropped and the park went bust. Norbert Witte sent some of the rides to Peru where he said they would be "repaired". Later he and his son were convicted of trying to smuggle 24 million Euros worth of cocaine inside the rides when bringing them back to Germany. The German Government was not amused. The park is now in the process of being auctioned off to pay of old government debts taken out in its name to renovate in the 90's.

  If it is sold off then it may get torn down and converted into a housing estate or something. So this tour I took with a friend in June may be one of the last. It truly is a spookily spectacular place now. Everything is over grown and falling apart and yet there are happy cartoon characters amongst the rust.

  The tour was rather loosely organized and the group spread out as everyone was taking pictures. I ended up wandering around finding all kinds of things. The tour started at 11am and finished about 1pm. At this point, I handed in my tour vest, its Germany, you must wear the vest. No one said we had to leave so I wandered around until 5pm when some security guy found me. The place was teaming with other tours.

  I took a few (hundred) pictures:

The old layout from the day it closed.

The happy face that greets you at the entrance.

Dino lookin stylish with street cred tags.

Giant mushrooms and dinosaurs, it gets weirder the farther you walk.

Everyone getting their vests.

Train Ride:

  Yes there is a train that goes around the whole park but its a bit wonky now. The track seems to be levitating over the swamp below but hasn't collapsed just yet.

Train ride with the threat of a dunking in algae and frogs (perhaps a few missing dissidents as well?).

Lots of... character in these old tracks.

Roller Coaster Ride:

10 metres up and its rotten floor boards reinforced with old plywood :)

The ground, saturated with joyous screams, blooms anew.

Not sure what they were going for with the colour scheme.

  On the back of that cat head you can see newsprint stuck to the fiberglass which reveals his nationality. These are French papers so it seems the East German rides have a French heritage!

Of Swans and Men:

Apparently there was a daily stunt show happening on this boat with pirates and swashbuckling death defying feats etc. To the left is a pyramid shaped seating area where visitors viewed the show. Now its barely visible beneath small trees, shrubs and grass.

  The Swan boats are from some other ride (visible in the videos below) and have been scattered around the park making for some interesting compositions.

Dragon boats... or maybe, Viking?

This one may have developed a leak

The Ferris Wheel:

EVERYONE must wear a vest!

...didn't wear the vest.

It was tempting to go for a ride...

   This Ferris wheel has been left to rust for years. So with no oil on the axles and the wind slowly rotating it, this wheel made the most amazingly eerie, creaking, groaning sound. Take a listen here.

The Arcade:

The video game arcade has seen better days. Any hopes of saving that high score on Frogger have been lost.

Some Kind of Car Ride:

A car with a hat... Alice in Wonderland perhaps?

Las Vegas Country -Yes that's its name:

Dinosaurs, Pirates, Vikings, giant swans and.... an old west set. Blends well with the over all... theme?

Fitting image of the financial state of the place.

Old timers washed away like cotton candy in the rain.

Bordering the old west set, off in a corner, there was this strange dome nestled amongst the trees. Considering its made of some kind of weather proofed fabric, its in good shape.

It had once drawn a crowd...

It looks like something out of Dune or an Anime film.

Its very dark inside so I couldn't figure out what it was. Sadly now its a trash heap.

  Apparently it was some kind of inflatable theatre but that's an educated guess based on some web info.

Flume Ride:

The flume ride ironically now looks like its set in a Peruvian jungle.

The place where flume boats come to rest in peace.

  The hill that this ride climbs was constructed however at the top it transitions into fiberglass rocks...

Hollow mountain, tomb of memories.

The walls echo with bygone screams just before the final drop.

Like something out of an Indiana Jones mine car chase.

Thanks to time and mother nature, this fiberglass rock is looking realistic (well a bit).

Vines looking for any opportunity to climb have made much of the opportunity.

  As with so many structures in Europe, there's always a cellar with the potential for tunnels leading to something mysterious. While on the island for the flume ride, I stumbled upon a dark hole (above) surrounded by forest and ivy ground cover. My pulse quickened as I approached, scanning for a ladder or rungs that would lead me down to... a hidden layer for the mascot!?  clown dungeon! Nazi gold! stash of Cocaine?....naw just a bunch of pipes about 2 metres down, probably for the flume ride. Norbert's stash won't be that easy to find.

  Its interesting to watch this video of the park when it was open. You can recognize some of the rides from above. Its amazing to see how it was and sad that it all came to such an ignominious end. Check it out here.

Video of the park in winter.

  Here's my first visit in 2011 when a party event was hosted there.  There are loads more Youtube videos here, hard to choose which to view first.

Tschüss.

Cheers til next time.
Andy