Berlin-Splitter

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Well, that was a pleasant week. Sunny but not too hot, and it looks like it might continue that way for a couple of days more. Meanwhile here are some more factoids from the last seven days in Berlin.

The Tiergarten Tunnel, the north-south road tunnel under the Tiergarten which opened earlier this year after many delays, is becoming more popular with Berlin's drivers - in the six months since opening more than 4 million vehicles have passed through it, according to Berlin's traffic bureau.

The French are suffering from US foreign policy again: the new American embassy, located on Pariser Platz, will be protected in part by some solid bollards in the ornamental rectangular flower-beds on the square itself. For reasons of symmetry Berlin's gardening heritage people have insisted the same pollards be build on the square's opposite side too, "protecting" the French Embassy in Berlin as well. (Why the Americans didn't build their embassy on one of Berlin's many islands is a mystery to me - it'd be much safer for all concerned).

Friday, September 8, 2006

Once more Friday comes round: time for another blob of useless Berlin news.

A 20 year old Russian was kidnapped and held hostage by compatriots in the middle of the city for 10 days, until his parents coughed up a million Euros in ransom. The police are now looking for a building, thought to be in the Tempelhof area, with distinctive red windows in the Hinterhof (rear courtyard).

The BVG's "Metro Line" project, where some of the more important bus and tram lines were declared as so-called "Metro Lines" and given an M-number, much to the confusion of everybody, has turned out not to be quite the lucrative money-spinner it was supposed to be. What a surprise. The idea was that the new lines would be easier to use, attracting new passangers and more revenue.

Being generally broke and after having spectacularly failed to secure the 2000 Olympics, you might have thought the city has better things to do with its energy. But no - the successful World Cup has got everyone excited, and all the main political parties have agreed that Berlin should apply for the 2016 or 2020 Olypmics.

Friday, September 1, 2006

It's Friday, it's raining, time for some more Berlin factlets of little import to the world at large.

Summer's officially over (in case you hadn't noticed) - at least for open air swimmers. Most of the municipal Freibäder (open-air swimming pools) have now closed for the winter. For those brave souls who enjoy swimming in the rain the pools at Kreuzberg and Olympia Stadium will remain open until the 10th, and Strandbad Wannsee is open right through September. After that you'll have to find your own lake, and possibly something to break the ice with.

For some warmth on the water there's always the sauna obscura on the Weißensee: a floating sauna with a built-in camera obscura which projects pictures from the outside onto the sauna's walls. Apparently it's some kind of art project, but it's open to anyone. Daily 12 - 9 pm until October 29, entrance €5, bring your own towel. Some photos here.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Friday again: time for some more useless Berlin information.

Some good news for the local aviation industry: in May Berlin's three airports have between them processed more than 20,000 flights with around 1.7 million passengers: a record.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Well, it's Friday, which means time for some more Berlin Splitter.

First some good news for the German supermarket industry: Walmart is pulling out of Germany, citing continual losses as the reason. And good riddance too. Aldi is good enough for us Old Europeans. The stores have been sold to the Metro Group and will likely be integrated into the Real chain.

If you're still looking for a bargain though, the Tierheim (animal rescue place) has a cut-price deal on cats: until August 6 new and used pussies will cost €20 instead of €80. vaccinations and de-worming included. Apparently over 600 moggies are waiting for a new Dosenöffner (opener of cans, as German cat-owners refer to themselves).

According to new statistics Berlin's busiest shopping street, the Tauentzienstrasse, ranks at number 10 for pedestrian frequency: with fewer than 9,000 passers-by per hour it trails a long way behind Cologne's Hohe Straße with over 17,000 shoppers an hour and is even beaten by Mannheim's "Planken" (whatever that is). (What the study doesn't take into account though is Berlin's very decentral nature: unlike the provincial in the list, Berlin has no one main centre, with areas such as the Friedrichstraße and Potsdamer Platz vying for shopper's euros).

Talking of Potsdamer Platz, the IMAX cinema (Discovery Channel IMAX Theater) will be closing on Saturday - due to either financial difficulties of its management company, and / or disagreements with the building's owner, Daimler-Chrysler. The spherical auditorium is to be turned into a musical theatre, although it's not clear how. (Note that the other IMAX cinema, in the Sony Center, is not affected by this).

Another bulding with a spherical element, the Reichstag, is not in danger of immanent closure and has according to recently released statistics recently registered its 3 millionth visitor.

And finally: if the Reichstag sounds too crowded for you, check out the Tierpark Berlin's late night special: tonight it will remain open until midnight, with special illuminations and music, and also a lot of rather hot animals.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Well, it's Friday, and it's still hot (btw according to today's print edition of the Berliner Zeitung yesterday broke the 37°C barrier), so time for a mixed bag of useless information under the title Berlin-Splitter, "Splitter" meaning in German literally "splinter" or "fragment", but in this context means, well, "a mixed bag of useless information".

Straight off: a study by health insurers Kaufmännische Krankenkasse puts Berlin in 4th place among Germany's 16 Bundesländer for cases of acute alchoholism per head of the population. Only Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein have proprotionately more alkies.

Get some free cinema at the Balkonkino (balcony cinema) in Hellersdorf (way over on the eastern outskirts of the city) on the Cecilienplatz. It's one of those Plattenbau areas - vast estates of prefabricated apartment blocks put up towards the end of the GDR, and the companies that run them come up with all sorts of ideas to make them attractive. In this case by offering free open-air cinema: open to all-comers, though you have to bring your own chair if you want to sit down. July 22: "NVA" (Germany 2005); July 29: "Hitch, der Date Doctor" (USA 2005), August 5: "Alles auf Zucker" (Germany 2004) and August 12: "Die Legende des Zorro" (USA 2005) (all in German, start time: 10pm). Link.

Ever wanted to get lost in a maze of sunflowers? Check out the Sonnenblumenlabyrinth in Lichtenberg, open from July 21 - September 6. Entrance is free, and there are 100,000 sunflowers to get lost in.

Have a favourite place in Germany: the ZDF is running a competition to find Germany's 50 favourite places: http://vote.orte.zdf.de/