Berlin's 775 Geburtstag (Birthday)

In 2012 Berlin celebrated its 775th birthday. That age depends on when you consider Berlin to have been founded but the first documented mention of the town of Cölln in 1237 is considered a dependable date. However the oldest church still standing in Berlin (Nikolaikirche) celebrates its 800th anniversary this year.... and I come from Canada which began its formal existence in 1867:)

  A number of events were happening in the city and I went to see a fire performance around the old city centre. At the same time, the Titanick street theatre group had a number of performance areas in Alexanderplatz where they created medieval versions of the “beyond” as well as interpreting the nightmare world of Hieronymos Bosch and Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. I found this next to the French fire performance troupe, Compagnie Carabosse. I didn't follow what the theme of these performances was at the time so to come across this was interesting, surreal and curious.

I need to brush up on my Dante I think.

  Across the platz was an amazing looking fire and water creation with someone dressed in a large head dress. By the time I got over there it had finished unfortunately. Below is the stage with water cannons and fire mortars around.

 After the performance.

  Part of the fire performance area was in a large field next to the Berlin Dom. There were numerous furnaces with funnels operated by performers who would send giant fire balls into the sky.

Strings of fire pots.

A mechanical array of fire pots. It raises to this position and then unfolds down to a large circular shape.

  Titanick was interesting but if I knew the theme I'm sure it would have been better. The Compagnie Carabosse performances were visually great, I hope to see more of them another day. -Andy

Berlin Pillow Fight ( The Battle for Alexanderplatz )

  I borrowed my hosts bike to see Berlin by bike (SOOO much better, must get bike!) and also to set off for the pillow fight on Saturday afternoon. I so wanted to make this but was 15 minutes late and everyone had spent their energy by that time. A few sporadic bouts popped up like this one. I tried hunting down a disposable feather pillow but arrived sans ammunition.

The gory aftermath of the battle for Alexanderplatz: