Tag: Deutschland

  • Beelitz-Heilstätten

    Beelitz-Heilstätten

    I went on a bike trip from Berlin to Beelitz-Heilstätten, an abandoned military hospital. This was where Adolf Hitler was unfortunately repaired after having his ball blown off during World War 1. Later, it was used as a Nazi military hospital, and afterwards served as a military hospital for the Soviet Union until the 1990’s. Now it is simply a collection of spectacular ruins.

    View through the fence into Beelitz-Heilstätten
    The view through an outer fence into the Beelitz-Heilstätten grounds.
    Stairs. Most of the stairs seem fairly stable, but explorers should be darned careful.
    Stairs. Most of the stairs seem fairly stable, but explorers should be darned careful.

    Most of the windows are broken.

    Me standing in a hallway. Thanks to Hanna for taking the photo :)
    Me standing in a hallway. Thanks to Hanna for taking the photo 🙂

    View from the outside

    An intrepid Danish explorer

    Robinson taking a photo through an upstairs window
    Robinson taking a photo through an upstairs window

    We were told that we wouldn’t be able to go in as the area was blocked off and not open to individuals. But we just kept walking on into the grounds expecting to see a sign or fence indicating where we weren’t allowed, but never saw anything of the sort.

     

  • Crazy drones

    I got to see some crazy looking drones at the Berlin airshow earlier this year. In another life, I could imagine having become a drone developer. I think it would be quite fun to build a little gizmo to go cruising around taking photos, dropping off mail or whatever other interesting uses I could think of.

    drone-1

    drone-2

  • Tempelhof heat

    Tempelhof heat

    Now that we’re into some cooler weather, I thought I’d point out the day some idiot (me) decided it was a good idea to go test out his new inline skates at 34° C! This was the hottest day of the year so far, and I think I’ll go find some place with shade or water next time 🙂 Whizzing around on searing hot asphalt doesn’t lend itself well to staying cool 😉 Thanks to Robinson and Anna for a great day out though 🙂

  • More planes

    Some more photos I took at the Berlin airshow earlier in the year …

    a10-1

    acrobatic-1

    acrobatic-2

    dornier-do-28d2

    fuel-tanks-1

  • Luftballons mauerfall

    Luftballons mauerfall

    Berlin celebrated 25 years since the Berlin wall fell, by launching 8000 lighted balloons from an 11 km section of where the wall originally lay.

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

    Berlin mauerfall balloons

  • Mountain climbing in Berlin

    Mountain climbing in Berlin

    I cycled up the tallest, most fearsome peak in the whole of Berlin at midnight last night. Teufelsberg is a 120 m high mountain in the former West Berlin, built from 75,000,000 m3 of rubble deposited there after the war. Buried underneath the mountain is an incomplete Nazi military-technical school designed by Albert Speer.

    The USA’s NSA organisation decided it would be a great idea to build one of their largest spy installations on top of the mountain during the 1960’s. The original spy domes and their protective fencing are still there.

    I can neither confirm nor deny if someone may have breached the outer perimeter to inspect the domes at close range 😉

    The dome
    The moon was so bright that we could barely see any stars out.
    The entrance to the domes
    This is the entrance to the facility.
    Our group of explorers
    Our group of explorers admiring the domes in all their moonlit glory.
    Barbed wire surrounding the dome
    There is double barbed wire fencing surrounding the top of the hill to protect the domes. Guards roam the grounds 24/7, so anyone entering after hours should be super careful.
    The dome
    The domes looked beautiful in front of the full-moon.
  • Eurofighter

    This crazy looking aircraft is the Eurofighter. The most advanced fighter jet currently in use publicly within European air forces. I took these pictures at the Berlin airshow earlier in the year.

    Eurofighter Eurofighter Eurofighter

  • More F16 pictures

    Here are some more photos of F16‘s at the Berlin airshow earlier in the year.

    F16

    F16

    F16

    F16

  • F16 Fighting Falcon

    F16 Fighting Falcon

    My bedroom back in the 1980’s was adorned with multiple models of the F16 Fighting Falcon, an American fighter jet which capture my imagination after watching the overly cheesy movie Iron Eagle. Fast forward quite a few years, and I eventually got the chance to see some first hand at the Berlin Airshow earlier this year. The sound of them flying is incredible, as is the phenomenal acceleration.

    F16 fighter jet against the clouds

    F16 fighter jet on the ground

    F16 fighter jet against the sun

    F16 fighter jet

    F16 fighter jet

    A steep climb, including dropping counter measures, with extra photoshopping to show the plume better
    A steep climb, including dropping counter measures, with extra photoshopping to show the plume better
    A steep climb, including dropping counter measures. I did some "Photoshopping" (I actually used the GIMP) to show up the exhaust plume and counter measures better.
    A steep climb, including dropping counter measures. I did some “Photoshopping” (I actually used the GIMP) to show up the exhaust plume and counter measures better.
  • My new apartment 🙂

    I learned a valuable lesson recently. You should never agree to move into a new apartment without seeing it first, no matter how temporary the arrangement may be! I was intending to stay somewhere for a month until I found somewhere more permanent. I didn’t have a chance to see it before moving in; the pictures looked fine though, so I figured it’d do. On moving in, I found out that it came with a screaming child covered in filth, a kitchen full of rubbish and dirty diapers and the bed in my room was full of food and dirt. I stripped the bed down to the mattress, cleaned it as best I could and tried to go to sleep. I then began puking my insides out (food poisoning) and bailed off to a hotel around lunch time where I stayed for two days until moving just out of the city to a house kindly lent by my friend Caroline. I told the landlord that I wasn’t intending to stay there because it was too dirty and that I’d return the keys some time before October 19th, when my rent was paid until. She was furious and demanded I return the keys immediately. Somehow she missed the logic that I had no reason to return keys for a room I was still paying rent for. I won’t bore you with the whole conversation, but here’s the highlights …

    Tomorrow my husband will be be here. We will find you anyway, you cant hide … I
    have all details from you. We will find you anyway … Pray to god that we will not find, you you dont know us!
    Edited for Grammar and spelling corrections

    The police have now had a chat with her and have asked her to come to the police station where she can pick up her keys (which I left with them). Sheesh.

    After that debacle, I moved into an AirBNB place for a few days before moving into my much newer, much cleaner, and all round awesome little apartment 🙂 I have three rooms, one is more of a hallway, a living area and my bedroom (which is oddly triangle shaped) and a shared bathroom/kitchen. A quick trip to IKEA had me fully kitted out with furniture. Awesomesauce 🙂

    ringbahn-living-room

    ringbahn-bedroom

    If you have any advice on how to fit a rectangular bed into a triangular bedroom, please let me know in the comments 🙂