Stormy weather

Having lived most of my life on the west coast of Canada I haven't witnessed too many lightning storms, especially in summer. Berlin on the other hand is chock-a-block with storms every few weeks and its a treat to bike in warm rain (an almost unknown entity in Vancouver). Over the last few weeks I managed to capture more than a few storms on camera:

I see a plasma figure walking through Kreuzberg

Plasma man has found his date for the dance.

Ciao for now,
Andy

A few faces in the crowd

Just a few folks in the crowd from this years May Day party on Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg

To each their own.

Like it says, Berlin Hustles Harder.

Caio for now
Andy

Prinzessinnen garten in Kreuzberg

In the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg there's a corner plot of land that was left untouched for many decades. Its right on the corner of a major roundabout and Ubahn station (Moritzplatz) and on the main drag of great cafe's and bars. You'd think because of this that it would have been snapped up by developers and built on years ago, sadly that is a possible fate in the near future... But for the past few years its been the site of a community garden called Prinzessinnen Garten a great example of urban community gardens. They have developed a brilliant system using beer crates as planter boxes which provides enough soil for the plant but is also portable. Lets also not forget the history of this city and the fact that no one really knows what's in the soil in any location so planting in the ground is risky unless you can afford to have it tested and potentially cleaned.

 
 As it was an empty lot, a good number of sapling trees have grown up and provide a great shady spot in summer. There is a small stage, cafe and restaurant amongst the trees. The food is made from seasonal ingredients that have traveled about 20 metres :). So its fresh, good and virtually carbon free.

Vertical thinking for limited space:)

  In December, with the growing season over, it becomes a Christmas Market and circus for the alternative (less commercial) side of consumerism. -Andy

The new apartment

Thanks to Rob, an expat Canadian from Toronto, I have a sweet deal for a small one bedroom apartment in Kreuzberg.

  Its one of the newer buildings so it has low ceilings and is a bit small but I'm not complaining. It has a great balcony with loads of sun. One of Berlins beautiful old buildings is right across the street taunting me with its high ceilings and architectural details.

Makes for a nice view.

  Rob uses the apartment as his recording studio on occasion, he writes lyrics and composes music professionally. That's the"couch" on the left. In exchange for cheap rent I look after the plants.

Its a tight fit.

Did I mention its rather small. Half a square metre of floor space to get what ever is needed, efficient!

Yep, one of those annoyingly small fridges.

Lightning a few months ago.

3pm and the skies open up.

and at 5pm its back to sun.

Out back it looks a bit like an orchard.

  I'm curious to see how cold it gets this winter and what the heat is like in this building. The pipes are old so the water pressure is very low, so far so good.

A quick update with autumn and winter:

  This will be a good base to make a life in Berlin.

Karneval der Kulturen 2012

My second year at the Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin back in May. Amazing time again and loads of good music, friendly people and great food. Last year I missed the Jamaican jerk chicken, not this year. REALLY good, best thing to come out of an oil drum ever.  And a few strange folks dressed up for the occasion, see below:

This guy was not part of any parade. He was just sitting on a bench in the middle of a park with the Karneval all around. An example of the bizarre side of Berlin. He was holding a bike pump handle and pumping it which seemed to be inflating his helmet....? Gas mask, webbed flippers and not a word said to anyone. I doubt anyone would get away with this kind of outfit in this situation in the UK or USA.

All over for another year...
Andy

May Day 2012

This years May 1st was relatively peaceful, certainly it was on Oranienstrasse anyway. It was about 8 square blocks of closed roads with live music in the street. Great vibe and atmosphere. Local store owners setup temporary bar's out front of their stores, beer or mixed drinks for a fairly decent price. To those in Vancouver, dream on....

Wow, once again Berlin shows how a street party should happen. More photo's at the Flickr site.

Tschüss

May 1st in Berlin

So I went from moving into my place one day to a massive street party the next day. May 1st in Berlin is amazing, not to be missed.

Oranienstrasse in the heart of TRUE Kreuzberg. This street is awesome, a great collection of bars, cafe's, turkish cafe's and clubs, what Bergmann used to be I think. Many streets around this whole sector were closed to traffic and turned into a huge outdoor club. The smoke is either kabap shops cooking on bbq's in the street or residents doing the same to make a few bucks or bars with smoke machines and pulsing beats.

These stages are setup on every other intersection with many different kinds of bands. These guys were very heavy death metal.

This bar/cafe was an awesome quiet spot to stop and enjoy a beer and doodle in the sketchbook just 2 days before. Today they have huge amps and speakers with a DJ spinning club beats to a crowd who were very much into it!

Right above all that action.

Pink elephants, unicorns its all good here, a bit crowded though.

  So, no this isn't the traditional May day riot event nor even anything to do with the meaning of the day. This massive street party was (apparently) cooked up by the local government and police, I think in an attempt to calm the streets from violent ideas and to make it a party instead. I heard many distant booms and bangs the night before and there were armies of police vans lining the streets EVERYWHERE on the way to this party. Clearly something happened somewhere but I didn't find it.

Andy