It is sunday and that is the perfect day to write some words about the “Ladenschlussgesetz” - the “you have to have your shop closed at certain times law” - one of the oddest things about Germany. While it forbids to have your shop open after 8 pm on working days - which is stupid - it forbids to have your shop open at all on sundays - which is also stupid.
The two main arguments against opening the shops on sundays are ridiculous:
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There are many places that want your Berlin pictures at the moment. For instance you can send in your photos of the Festival of Lights to its website. Or you can send in a photo to the “Berliner Fenster”, and if they pick it anybody driving in the subways can see it for a while on the little advertising screens inside the subway cars. But the chances for them to be published is very small considering the big number of entries. This and the fact that I read an article about two finnish painters who paint not the usual tourist sites in Berlin but the ones that are regarded as the ugly ones - and they make them more beautiful - made me go through my collection of Berlin photos and pick out my favorite ones of buildings and sights that are not ugly, but they are not the typical tourist sites either.
I will update this album from time to time.
It is somewhat amazing to see how many Berliners own a tripod. Now that the festival of lights is happening (see one of the last posts) it seems that everybody who owns one got out and is walking around downtown to make some photos of the illuminated buildings. There was such an enormous traffic for instance on Unter den Linden, it seemed like during rush hour. On the one side this is understandable since this is the only weekend during the festival where people have a chance to make photos, on the other side I wonder if this is the only time these people go downtown to look at interesting sights there. Because there are many other interesting things to see too and there is always something new there.
I am not quite sure but I guess this lightcube here near the Dom Aquaree is not a part of the festival, it is new and hopefully it will be permanently there. I like it a lot especially since it changes its colors all the time. So, come on guys, visit downtown from time to time and just look around and you will find something else interesting.
Here are more photos .
Addition, 28th of October 05: Yesterday I saw that sadly the lightcube is gone. If it was a part of the festival of lights and why it couldn’t stay - I understand that the different lighting of the buildings had to go away - and who designed it I don’t know. So I asked the people who organised the festival in an email. When I have answers I will add that to this post.
The PR machinery of the city worked well and we all came out to see what they wanted to show us at the Festival of lights.
So, there we were, hobby photographers, professional journalists, old people, young people - and me.
I must say that I appreciate any kind of action that the city plans in order to get the people of this city and tourists into the city center, so the festival had already a big plus by me before I even visited it.
The illuminated buildings and places were definitely worth the effort of running around a lot, they literally appeared in a different light than usual. It is quite obvious though that the favorite color of the guy who planned the whole thing and his company is blue.
In my view some of the illuminations can stay permanently, for instance the victory pole or the trees at Kurfuerstendamm while others didnt really improve the look of the buildings. There I noticed for instance the philharmonic and the city hall.
All in all this was a very good concept that should be repeated.
Here is a gallery with much more photos of illuminated buildings.
So, its been three years now since we moved to Berlin.
What are the most significant things that I noticed about this city during that time?
There is so many, it would probably fill up a whole book to write them all down. But let me point out three main points:
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I guess the big majority of Berliners would say that the last summer was somewhat mediocre and there were not many opportunities to enjoy the good weather. This opinion must be known up in the skies cause now we get a big encore with a long period of warm and sunny weather. And the winners of these conditions are the overwhelming majority of cafes and restaurants who didn’t put their outside tables and chairs away for hibernation. What I noticed about this city is that the gastronomy here anyways waits very long until they do that - some owners might even wait till the first snow falls - and the use of these outside gas heat lamps helped here anyways.
So, the streets and plazas are full with people eating and drinking outside and even when its getting dark and quickly cooler, they have the endurance to stay outside.
You know, normally I don’t have anything against monument protection. I understand that there are historical places and buildings whose simple existence in the way that they were created needs to be conserved. Nothing should be changed so that generations after us can still look at them and enjoy their sight or recognize their importance that they used to have to or that they kept.
But why on earth does an ugly looking fence like this one at one of the university buildings downtown need to be protected like the sign says at it? What is so special about it, did Einstein or Humboldt lean against it while they were here?
Because, it can not be the look of this fence.
The Berlinale ended and its not only me who is ok about that. Me, because I found nothing interesting in the movie-program being offered this time. The few interesting movies that were happening start anyways soon nationwide so why should I stand in line for tickets and see that I get an acceptable seat in the theater? Additionally I am interested in watching Oscar-nominated movies in the original version but during the Berlinale the normal program of the movie theater that plays original versions was on a pause due to Berlinale movies.
There are some other creatures who are even relieved - its those swarms of crows that reside on the trees at Potsdamer Platz at the moment. They have already enough stress with the normal traffic and “going-out”-groups passing them by at normal times. But during the Berlinale its so hectic that they hardly can get some rest.
The eager customer walking down the shopping streets of Berlin has a tendency to look at neon signs advertising for shops, noticing big writings telling him to come in or screaming “CHEEEEEAAP”.
But sometimes a change of this behaviour can have interesting results. Looking down at houses can lead to surprising discoveries that will empty the pocket easily. Especially in Berlin-Kreuzberg, speciality shops found their hown in basements of older houses and while these shops might not be big, they often offer goods that the shops at eye level don’t sell.
As one example I want to mention the “Senfsalon”, a shop that for instance offers a big variety of selfmade mustards and chutneys.
Generally, living at a big street is not really an advantage besides the effect that the public transportation provides these streets and you won’t have it far to the next streetcar or bus stop. There is often heavy traffic and noise bothering the one having an apartment at such a street - unless you have some good windows that absorb the noise. But in these wintry times one unbeatable advantage pops up, something special that little side streets cant compete with: They are free of snow and ice. The big streets and their sidewalks are the ones that always are cleared off first and very often only those are cleared while on little side streets slippery ice reigns. I don’t want to know how many people fall down in these neigborhoods but you just need to look at such streets and imagine how hard it is for people to walk along there.
