Totally inappropriate behaviour

Is this just me, or is this totally inappropriate behaviour for in front of a church?

Rediscover rap

We were walking through the old east end of Berlin when I came across this wonderful sticker posted on a doorway.

Fuck hip hop, rediscover rap.

They must be joking right, I was amazed. To be honest, I do not know the difference between the two, both are extraordinary bad, I thought they were the same. Needless to say, I hope some new genre comes out of the United States soon and this form of torture is relegated to history.

Kraut Street

We had caught the S75 to East Station after getting off the S1 that had brought us into Berlin. We had the plan to slowly walk back to the centre of the Berlin capital following the Spree River, it is very scenic around the waterways. Then we came across this wonderful gem of a street sign, Kraut Street, I had to get a shot of this.

I wonder if they see the joke?

East Side Gallery

A Sunday in Berlin, the first day of summer was cold, rainy and miserable, who would have guessed?

After a nice long late breakfast at a local eatery, the late afternoon was spent at the east side gallery.

This is a section of the former Berlin Wall left intact that has been painted by both local and international artists as a reminder of the division of Berlin.

The artwork is very contemporary and avant garde,  some of the work, I just diddent get whist others I liked greatly, such is the nature of artwork.

Different artists are given sections of the wall to paint; the artwork is changed on not so regular a basis, the last repainting in 2009.

One of those days

It was one of those days, I had a rain jacket on, no, too hot now and the rain has stopped. Jacket off, ten minutes later, I am cold, jacket back on. Welcome to a Berlin summer.

I was sitting close to Alexander Platz, just put my jacket back on, feeling cold, grey clouds everywhere, grab my tablet to belt out a few lines, look up, sky is blue again. Elapsed time, well under fifteen minutes, jacket back off, heating up again.
I do not live in Melbourne for a very good reason, if I ever questioned why, now I know.

Watergate club

I have been to Berlin numerous times since about 2004, I recall coming here for a week when I was staying in Zurich. It was during the Christopher Street Day Festival. I was never going to live that one down amongst my friends, flying to Berlin for the gay marde gras, its like flying to Sydney for their gay street parade.

We had been catching trams around from different bars, so we were in the former GDR, before heading over this bridge to a nightclub right on water level, the GDR still had trams, West Berlin did not. When the wall came down, they left the tram system of the former GDR intact.

We were at the East Side Gallery, a still intact section of the Berlin Wall covered in artwork from numerous artists. I recognised the bridge we crossed back ten years ago late at night, the rubbish from the parade still littered the footpaths.

The nightclub was interesting, a large plate glass window was almost at water level, the view over the waterway at night was sensational, I was less impressed with the music, Watergate is a techno club - so much for rock and roll.

illy or Starbucks?

We got off the S2 train from Lichtenrade at Potsdamer Platz, walking up the stairs from the underground station to be confronted with the choice of superb illy coffee or that horrible watery American rubbish from Starbucks, the McDonalds of coffee - no choice really.

Mind you, Noriko walked in and stood around for a while, after being ignored for a while, we were then huffily met with drink here or take away? It was drink here so we were told to take a table where we would be served, not in the nicest possible way either. Taking a seat outside, the WiFi connection didn't work and we were told by the Haagen Dazs staff to jump on the Starbucks WiFi connection, they told me it might be a little weak. Who would have guessed?

The Sony Centre

The Sony Centre is a modern structure in the heart of Berlin, in close proximity to Potsdam Platz.

Whilst you can't really say Berlin is old, as much of the city was destroyed during the second world war, the old bombed out materials were reused to rebuild the city in pretty much the style of the old city. After all, it is what they knew and much of Europe is built in the same style throughout.

The dome is an elegant structure housing a series of shops and restaurants on the lower levels, one being none other than Sony Corporation, the Japanese tech giant. I found out much to my displeasure on a rainy Berlin summer's day, the dome was not designed to withstand the element of precipitation, strange for a city that rains so much.

Berlin street art

Apparently these artworks just show up in random places in Berlin in the morning, it is not well known how or who creates them, they just appear on walls from time to time.

You have the know where to look in your daily commute; a small seahorse on a wall, a tiny figurine atop of a street sign or a huge mural on the wall of the building might just show up one morning. The contemporary art scene is thriving in the metropolis of Berlin, the German capital of over 4 million inhabitants is once again the place to be.

First day of summer

As I looked out the window of Babette's apartment towards the now disused gas tower not too far away; the gathering rain clouds, cool wind and generally miserable day marked the first day of summer in the German capital. Looking down on the road below from the 4th floor I wondered

The scourge of Europe

The scourge of Europe isn't immigration, although that is an issue worth debating, it isn't the rise of Islam in the Christian continent, nor is it the threat of socialism anymore. It is cigarette butts littering the streets, paths, footpaths and parks of Europe. Washing into drains, finding its way into the waterways, rivers, lakes and eventually the seas of Europe.

They are everywhere, it is disgusting,  they are not only an eyesore, the environmental damage is widely felt too getting into foodchains and taking long periods of time to break down. Why don't the authorities clampdown on such blatent littering? Surely it would be financially possible to do so, empower police, train station personnel, council workers and other governmental staff to issue on-the-spot fines for perpetrators,  no need to go to court to challenge, just pay the fine at an appropriate government office.

Working real hard

I was watching with interest the commercial vessels at work on the Danube River, the Devin Castle provided an ideal vantage point to see the workboat working at full throttle to push the barge against the insanely strong current. The two vessels were hardly moving forward, I was listening to the exhaust note of the diesel engines and watching the wake from the bow. The appearance of moving rapidly through the water is created by the current rushing past, taking a good look at the stern wake, full throttle for minimal movement.

Notre Dame de la Garde

Sitting atop of the biggest hill in Marseille is the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, this was going to be no leisurely stroll, this required a far degree of exertion to climb this hill in quick time.

Once there, the views of the city can be viewed in one direction, the other looks out over the Mediterranean Sea, I left Noriko to wander up the hill in slow motion, preferring to light the afterburners and get up there quickly.

Once again, the church was an outstanding example of architectural design, classically beautiful inside, well worth a visit.

Devin Castle

We had been out at the festival the afternoon and evening before, I was sporting a hangover that sapped my energy, I was feeling a fair degree of nausea too.

Noriko wanted to go to Devin Castle, so we wandered down the hill from Hrad Castle and into the bus station for the ride out to the small village of Devin.

We started with a walk around the waterway at the base of the castle, the hard flowing Danube River made hard work for any vessels having to steam against the current.

The ruins of the castle made for interesting viewing on the grassy hillside, the surrounding village was viewed from one side, the Danube River from another position and the fields from another.

The castle was under restoration, some parts were off-limits, there was plenty to view with good information offered at strategic locations.

Bratislava Hrad Castle

It takes a bit of a steep climb up a hill, not too taxing, but once you are there, the views are magnificant. From our vantage point, most of the view was of Austrian fields with the foreground comprising of the newer side of Bratislava on the opposing bank. The new bridge crossing the river had a large observation deck in the shape of a 1950s era UFO. 

The smallish city of Bratislava is almost on the Austrian border, while I wasn't going to try, it would be possible to walk to Vienna well within a day. Not that far from the Czech border to the north, Bratislava is pretty close to its neighbours with Hungary very close to the south, this tiny little city on the Danube River dates right back to Roman times, it is hard to believe this is the capital city of Slovakia. 

The castle overlooking the city is strategic, you can see armies advancing to the edge of your sight, plenty of warning to prepare and lock your inhabitants behind the safety of the walls. However, we now look out over carefully plowed fields, with a thick forest all round, maybe spotting advancing armies was a more difficult issue.

Around midday on Sunday, six howitzers fired from the opposing river bank rang out, at first I was unable to locate, the surrounding smoke after the multiple rounds were fired gave away their location, I was able to see the muzzle flash through the smoke.

Bratislava festival

Another festival, another overpriced meal, I had pork knuckle mixed with vegetables, Noriko had duck leg and cabbage, €21, my plate was nearly empty with mostly potato and some small pieces of pork. I was extremely pissed off.

We walked past a wine stall and enquired as to the price of a glass of wine, €1, that was enough to get us in for a trial. At €5 for a bottle of dry red wine, we were charged up listening to the music, after the bottle was spent, back to the bar for more glasses, I had forgotten about the lousy meal now.

Ready for a beer?

Walking down through the laneways of the old city of Bratislava is this little gem, we had been up at the Bratislava Castle earlier and was on the way down. Now, this is service.

Through an open window, beer is sold to the public walking past, the tap is just inside the window, just climb up the steps, pay your money and you are on your way with a freshly poured beer - fantastic idea on a warm day.

Arriving in Bratislava

The train rolled into Bratislava station, the station was really small in comparison to usual European capital cities, we found out not long after, this is an unusually small city.

Normally the train rolls through stopping just long enough for passengers to disembark and a swathe of new passengers to replace them. This station was unusual, the platform wasn't a throughway, the locomotive came to a halt right at the end of the platform, the train now needs to head out in the opposite direction, that gave us longer to disembark than normal.

The bus system from the terminal was a little confusing, Google maps was not working at all so we had no idea how far out the station was or where it was in relation to the city centre, regardless we decided to walk anyway. I am glad we did, the walk was relatively short and the majority of it was downhill. Our centrally located hotel was 30 seconds walk from the presidential residence, the inauguration happened on the Sunday we were there.

The Budapest Chain Bridge

This was my favourite of the Budapest bridges to walk over so I could view the construction first hand. Whilst I found the Margit Bridge to be the most beautiful structure to view from a distance, this is by far the most interesting in terms of construction.

I read the Chain Bridge was extensively damaged during the second world war by the retreating German army, with my new found friend, we were searching for evidence of new construction, I will take to some online research to learn more.

Erzsébet Bridge

Erzsébet Bridge is the third newest bridge of Budapest. It is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube, the bridge spans a distance 290 metres.

The original Erzsébet Bridge began construction in 1897 and was completed 1903; the bridge was blown up at the end of World War II by retreating Wehrmacht engineers.

This was the only pre-war Budapest bridge not rebuilt in its original form. The reason cited for not rebuilding the original structure, apart from usual budget considerations, was the original bridge was considered a modern and not historical structure.

The new cable bridge was built on the original foundations of the old bridge as the government of the day didn't want to construct entirely new foundations for the bridge as a cost saving measure.

Szechenyi Chain Bridge

The Szechenyi chain bridge in Budapest is a suspension bridge formed by layers of thin steel plate instead of wire rope spaning the Danube River between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern banks of Budapest. Designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark, this was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary, opened in 1849.

Walking across, I was at great pains to view with detail the engineering of this bridge, the layered steel plate, the hot rivets - Noriko was not the least bit interested. As we walked further across, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman also taking immense interest, his wife and female friend were bored. I very much enjoyed chatting engineering and bridge construction with him while Noriko spoke nothing about bridges, engineering or construction with the women.

St Stephen's Cathedral artwork - Budapest

The christian artwork inside the main cathedral of Budapest is sensational, I am not an artist or painter, I do however appreciate the quality of work on display.

St Stephen's is a new cathedral in the scheme of European catholic churches, the artwork reminds me of a much earlier period, I will research the origins of the paintings to see if they were created solely for this church during the construction period or historical pieces.

Hanging in the park

Summer arrived in Budapest, according to the temperatures displayed at street level, the temps had crept past 40C, now while I dispute those figures and how they had been measured, the days were certainly warm. It was time to cover up with collar up and a hat projecting plenty of shade over the face.

Escaping the Perth winter, never complain about being too warm, this year is a double summer - yay.

St Stephen's Basilica - Budapest

I have taken to shooting in black & white inside the many churches, cathedrals and basilica of Europe, the dull lighting and colours are not done justice with my Samsung tablet. I would love to have my DSLR with me, it just isn't an option backpacking though.

The artwork in Budapest's main basilica is truely sensational, I have to admit, christian artwork tells a compelling story. Who needs words when you can graphically view your fate.

I am in awe of the construction of the basilica, little did I know the age of this structure, I would have sworn this was a structure was from the late middle ages.

Named in honour of the first Hungarian king who lived from 978 to 1038, his right hand is housed in the reliquary, I found this kind of morbid actually.

The basilica was completed in 1905, construction took a whopping 54 years, I was amazed to learn this is a contemporary building, I was convinced this structure was much older than this, live and learn.