Fahrrad in the city

Portrait of the photographer with sidekick.

One the runway of Tempelhof airport.

Some people here have names for their bike, such is the strong bike culture. I thought, as its black and white and a bit rough around the edges, Skunkworks was appropriate :)

Andy

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

Kulturpark Plänterwald

Visit any abandoned theme park in North America and you'd face locked gates to prevent anyone from wandering in and twisting an ankle, Lawsuit bait right... Well that is the case here too but for some (great) reason in Berlin they just opened it up for a 3 day party with live music, surreal surroundings and a torched "Burn Out Man". Its sort of like Burning Man but in a forest.

  Great place which used to be spooky but was cleaned up a lot for this event so the crunched dinosaurs are no longer in long grass, there was do not cross tape everywhere and some areas were off limits. Guards were annoyingly good.

I had to wait till late Sunday to get a shot without people in it :(

As I understand it: The Kulturpark Plänterwald started in 1969 as a socialist project but was liquidated by the Senate in 1989, and privately re-opened as Spreepark but then closed again in 2001 after the operating company went bankrupt. Thus the era of amusement parks in the city came to an abrupt end. In the middle of Berlin this property lies idle.
 Apparently, in the good years the park got 1.5 million visits but by 2001 it was down to 400,000 so it closed. Here the story takes a slight detour from the usual. In 2002 the owner and his family moved to Lima, Peru to open a new themepark. They shipped six rides from Berlin to Lima. It wasn't a success in Lima so in 2004 they came back. At this point the owner was arrested and sentenced to seven years in jail for smuggling 180 kg cocaine back from Peru in one of the rides....

Managed to get this shot before the guards found me.

  The Ferris wheel was the highight as its out in the middle of a pond which made for great pictures. The pond of course being stagnant and full of weeds (and frogs).

Right behind it was a kinda Viking ship (bizarre theme to this theme park) but that area was fenced off so couldn't see it up close.

Bizarre cars that followed a track off into the woods.

Roller Coaster

This video has much more:
www.berliner-spreepark.de/40_jahre_rummel_im_plaenterwald_fuehrungen.html

Andy

This day had 48 hours

Berlin is big on techno music and clubs. That would be an understatement of colossal proportions. One of these clubs was converted out of a concrete industrial building giving it a distinct bunker like feel. Last night Club Maria had its final party to say goodbye to the end of an era. This bunker club is situated right on the banks of the Spree river so if you take a break from the pounding beat there's a terrace that looks out onto the river. Its another victim of developers buying up the land to put up hotels and condo's. A bit like False Creek and the downtown east side of Vancouver :(

More info here:
www.exberliner.com/articles/obituary-maria-am-ostbahnhof

Apparently the lease on the world was up on Saturday according to an American radio preacher so on Saturday night a group of us headed over there to dance to mind bending beats and techno insanity. This began my introduction to Berlin's club scene. Absolutely incredible, a warren of hallways and seating connecting 3 big stages with 3 DJ's all packed with the Berliner masses. We were at the main stage for most of the night, big room, massive speakers and amazing light rigs. Right in the middle of this room was a collection of small and large disco balls (about 10 I think) all spinning but no spotlight on them, so the affect was rather muted.

Not from the night but that's the Maria vibe.

From Peter's iphone. No where near as bright as that most of the time.

Peter's iphone and the trippy disco death star madness.

   It officially started about 23h (11PM) but we got there at 1h when things were starting to heat up. What followed was an hour of techno dance from one of the pioneers of Berlin techno, Thomas Fehlmann. Apparently in his 50's now and other than the lack of hair you'd never know it :) The next few blur together and weren't as good but then the local favourite, Modeselektor came up and it was infectious rapture personified. Time melted along with each thump of the beat, the room, jungle hot, muggy and smoky thanks to massive smoke machines pumping out giant clouds that enveloped you completely. One moment you're in a crowd and the next your floating in a vapor cloud, confetti descending, then disappearing like tears in the rain (heh, had to get that in there) the girl in front, now a stunning vaporous apparition, a misty silhouette amongst the strobe-lights. I was powered by beer that night, nothing else:) Sometime later I went outside to the terrace to cool down, get some fresh air and water, its at this point that I discover its 5 AM and the sun is up. Back in for another hour or two and then we made our way to the exit. Nothing like mind shattering beats to keep you awake and fully aware. I could've kept going but this party didn't officially end until 6pm Sunday afternoon and that seemed a bit much. As it is, my ears are ringing and calf's are talking dirty to me.

  So I got home about 8AM Sunday. My usual task for the last few weeks was to head over to Mauer park to visit the only guy selling bikes who doesn't look like a thief. I should have bought one a few weeks ago but I wasn't getting there early enough…. I got that covered this time! So headed out the door after a quick breakfast and wash to see what he had to offer. Made it to the bike guy and there it was, the bike. Perfect combination of age and extras like servo powered lights, rat trap, 14 gears and a rough enough look that hopefully won't attract the thieves. I have wheels!!

  So now I have a bike, its a sunny day and I have to get it home. Ride of course. So what followed was a very cautious ride meandering through Prenzlauerberg, Mitte and Kreuzberg. And as if on queue, just as I enter Mitte I'm stopped along with the traffic as there's a bike race on through the Berlin city streets. A few blocks later I pass under one of the arches of the above ground S-Bahn and I hear a familiar beat. It seems there's a techno club buried under one of the S-Bahn arches, the only clue is the music escaping through the ventilation system, cool city. I was navigating via memory, what felt right and metro station names and did quite well I think. Now I just have to figure out how the 4 way stop intersections work as I don't see many stop signs! Gotta watch for Tram tracks too. The women here will prove quite a distraction as well, keeping eyes on the road will be tricky. There was a stunning brunette that morning, unless that was another vaporous apparition...

Andy