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

Wandering down new streets

Its been a long time since my last post as I've been busy. Lots of photo's have backed up on the drive. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a bunch from various explorations in Berlin.

Loads of amazing lightning storms in the summer here.

Large Art Deco station in the metro.

This is a quiet Thursday evening near the closed Tempelhof airport, there's not much happening around here. Although much of Berlin feels this empty on more than a few occasions. Its still amazing to be riding down a large street and suddenly realize that there's no traffic around. A quick glance behind reveals cars way back there at a red light but even once they're released, its not a huge flood and you are back to having the road to yourself.

Not a museum but a bookstore.

A bookstore in the centre of Berlin, called Dussman's with many levels of books, DVD's and a central atrium of plants and trees. At the back of the store is this Egyptian sculpture. Behind that is a huge hanging garden with the store cafe downstairs. Water trickles down through the leaves creating very fresh air.

This is about 5 stories tall.

Staircase leading to a spa in the centre of Berlin

Nature strikes back

  There used to be a beautiful and large railway station called Anhalter Bahnhof in Kreuzberg. It was lost during an allied bombing raid and so the tracks were left and nature took back the land. Its been so long that trees are now absorbing the rails. This area is now part of Gleisdreieck Park in Kreuzberg and is therefore preserved as a reminder. I wonder if in another 50 years of this process, these rails may become airborne as the tree carries them with it.

Memories of a bygone time.

That's all for now.
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.

Kottbusser Damm digs in Kreuz'kolln

This is the view from my current digs on Kottbusser Damm, the border between Kreuzberg and Neukölln. Great area but the apartment is not what I had hoped for. Twice a week there's a Turkish market right in the centre of this photo:

Looking north towards the awesome Oranienstrasse area of Kreuzberg.

  A warm muggy night is perfect for generating a lightning storm.

Andy