Berlin Notes: Undsoweiter

Friday, May 11, 2007

The U8 has always had a bit of a dodgy reputation, linking as it does some of Berlin's more, err, working class districts such as Neukölln,Kreuzberg and Wedding. Particularly the stations on the southern section between Moritzplatz andHermannstraße have become notorious as a meeting point for dealers and their customers. Now, official statistics have revealed that it's the line with the most stations which are regularly used for dealing drugs, with every station south ofOsloer Straße affected.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

No, it's not Deutsche Bahn's newest customer service employee: it is a genuine dinosaur skeleton replica, which is around 100 years old and has just been restored. It belongs to the Naturkundemuseum (Museum of Natural History), which is being renovated.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Visitors to the Zoo yesterday were disappointed - halfway through his afternoon "performance", it became apparent Knut wasn't feeling very well, so his keepers removed him for further investigation. It looks his first adult tooth is coming through, which is causing him some pain, but otherwise Knut is in good health. It's not yet known whether Knut will be "on display" today (Wednesday).

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Latest baby polar bear news: due to the enormous number of visitors who want to see Knut, the Zoo has restricted viewing time to just seven minutes per person.

For an alternative view on Knut, check out YouKnut.com - an alternative Knut fan site. It's in German, but mainly pictures - don't take them all too seriously, everybody loves Knut really.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Knut mania continues: not only can you buy your very own Knut (courtesy of Steiff) but thanks to Gummibär specialists Haribo you can also eat him too. They're bringing out their own range of sugar puff baby polar bears - a handy between-meals sugary pick-me-up. The new product will be available in stores from around the middle of April, and Haribo will be donating 10¢ from every box sold to the Berlin Zoo for the real Knut.

(By the way if you think it's cruel to eat Knut, just think about what cute darling creatures real polar bears in the wild eat ;-). 

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

It seems that Berlin's little polar bear Knut is becoming famous - judging by the number of people finding their way here from around the world. So here's a round-up of the latest pictures of Knut, the baby polar bear from Berlin, Germany. (Most of the pages linked are in German, but the photo, videos etc. are easy to find).

• Berlin's Zoo has a page full of Knut pictures and images here
• Knut's "homepage" - at local TV station RBB - is here
• Knut's blog (also at RBB) is here
• and there are some desktop backgrounds here
• A local newspaper, the Morgenpost, has another picture gallery here
• Another newspaper, the Tagesspiegel, also has a picture gallery here
• Yet another newspaper, Welt: here

Added: some recent amateur photos

Added: Youtube videos of Knut

Update: Knut is currently on show at the Zoo. He can be visited daily between 11am and 12pm, and 2pm - 3pm. Note that he won't be with the other polar bears; instead you can see Knut at the spectacled bears' enclosure (Brillenbärfreianlage). Just follow the crowds.

Added: recent Knut pictures

Update: get your very own Knut EC bank card from the Berliner Volksbank. More info (in German) here.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

It seems that Berlin's little polar bear Knut is becoming famous - judging by the number of people finding their way here from around the world. So here's a round-up of the latest pictures of Knut, the baby polar bear from Berlin, Germany. (Most of the pages linked are in German, but the photo, videos etc. are easy to find).

• Berlin's Zoo has a page full of Knut pictures and images here
• Knut's "homepage" - at local TV station RBB - is here
• Knut's blog (also at RBB) is here
• and there are some desktop backgrounds here
• A local newspaper, the Morgenpost, has another picture gallery here
• Another newspaper, the Tagesspiegel, also has a picture gallery here
• Yet another newspaper, Welt: here

Added: some recent amateur photos

Added: Youtube videos of Knut

Update: Knut is currently on show at the Zoo. He can be visited daily between 11am and 12pm, and 2pm - 3pm. Note that he won't be with the other polar bears; instead you can see Knut at the spectacled bears' enclosure (Brillenbärfreianlage). Just follow the crowds.

Added: recent Knut pictures

Update: get your very own Knut EC bank card from the Berliner Volksbank. More info (in German) here.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Most blogs about Berlin are written by humans, but one exception is disgustingly cute polar bear baby Knut, who at the tender age of just three months is already posting regularly to his own blog on local TV channel RBB's website. Even if you don't read German, the pictures speak a thousand words.

Link: http://blog.rbb-online.de/roller/knut/

For more cute baby polar bear images including videos, check out this page: http://www.rbb-online.de/knut/

Update: Knut can now be visited at the Zoo daily between 11am and 1pm. He won't be with the other polar bears; instead you can see Knut at the spectacled bears' home (Brillenbärfreianlage).

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

A Berlin court has decided that a German of Egyptian origin, Reda Seyam, can legally call his son "Dschihad" - the German spelling of Jihad. The bloke in question appears to be a bit of a holy warrior - in a recent TV documentary called "Der Gotteskrieger und seine Frau" (link, German) he praised the Taliban and defended the practice of stoning unfaithful women.

Evidently his disgust at German society doesn't go as far as rejecting its material benefits: apparently he and his wife along with their five other children live on "Hartz IV" unemployment benefit.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Google's map service is technically very well implemented, but the geographical information it contains should be treated with caution. Not only will it happily direct you to the wrong address for major tourist attractions, it also seems to be using a different map of Berlin's U-Bahn system to everyone else, as demonstrated by the apparent existence of an U-Bahn station at Berlin-Ostbahnhof:

(direct link to map)