King of Art

Welcome @ the blog of Arthur Agterberg This blog is for all the people that like to read stories about travelling and culture. Enjoy!

Phobias: what do you fear...?

After being confronted with some articles about phobias (see resources below), I started to collect material for this text. Now, I would like to share some strange and funny phobias with you.

Person phobias
First of all, there are loads of phobias that deal with persons. Let us start with a common one: coulrophobia. This is the morbid fear of clowns that involves nasty symptoms like trembling, sweating and fainting. A better term might be clownophobia. Most of us got scared by Stephen King's horror clown IT (aka Pennywise). Clowns are perceived as scary, because they have such exaggerated expressions of joy on their faces and therefore you can never estimate their real state of mind.
Another movie that scared loads of people is arachnophobia. The fear of spiders is ranked number one in the Top Ten, see below.When I was in the Amazon there was a big tarantula on my mosquito net... That's how I found out that this nets are quite helpful...
Two other phobias that a lot of people share are necrophobia (fear of the dead, placed 10th in the Top Ten) and iatrophobia (fear of the doctor). Some have papaphobia (these lads are afraid of the Pope, not their dads), others are homophobic (afraid of homosexuals), pedophobic (afraid of children) or antropophobic (afraid of all humans, even heterosexuals and the elderly). Religious people could have peccatophobia (fear of committing a sin) or hagiophobia (fear of and aversion to holy and sacred objects, especially those of your own religion). But the most widespread of all – only found in males - is gynophobia (fear of women).
I would like to add Brabophobia (the fear of inhabitants of 'Noord-Brabant', a Dutch province). The reason for this recently found phobia is still a mystery, but the Christian tradition of carnival may have something to do with it. The symptoms involve being loud, binge drinking, hopping around and dressing like a bear, a penguin, a pirate, an asparagus or something like that.

Natural phobias
Some people are afraid of nature, as you know I am not afraid of nature (see blog: I love not man the less, but Nature more). Some people have strange fears, like ombrophobia (fear of rain) and thalassophobia (fear of the sea), these people do not like to get wet ... for those people I would like to add that we are NOT made of sugar! I understand the astrophobics (people with fear of meteorological phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, placed 9th in the Top Ten), sometimes combined with nyctophobia (fear of the night). But I do not understand people with anthophobia (fear of flowers) and dendrophobia (fear of trees).

Spatial phobias
Common spatial phobias are claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces, placed 5th in the Top Ten) and, the opposite, agoraphobia (fear of open spaces, placed 4th in the Top Ten). And sometimes when you are about to cross a wobbly bridge you get gephyrophobia (this is, not surprising, fear of crossing a bridge).

Object phobias
Very common nowadays are iPhonophobics (people who are afraid of using the iPhone). Phonophobia (also called ligyrophobia) is the fear of loud sounds. It can also mean a fear of voices or a fear of one's own voice (I think this is very difficult to live with). A funny one is arachibutyrophobia, the fear of peanut butter that sticks to the palate, yes this really exists.
An understandable fear is ballistophobia (fear of bullets); these people might also be hematophobic (afraid of blood) and therefore chromatophobic (afraid of certain colours, like red). A fear I do not understand is clinophobia (fear of beds); these people have to sleep on the floor or in a hammock. They must be afraid to enter bedrooms... These rooms can be full of hairs and clothing and therefore not suitable for trichopathophobics (people with fear of hair) and vestiphobics (people with fear of clothing) ... those people have to be completely naked all the time. Some crazy Koreans are tetraphobic (they are afraid of the figure 4), because their word for 'four' sounds like their word for 'death'. Therefore, Korean buildings do not have a fourth floor or indicate this floor by the 'F' instead of the figure 4. Let's end this section with onomatophobics (people with a fear of words, I think none of them will read my blog). How on earth can people escape this fear?

Actional phobias
Persons that try to scratch their eyes out of their head can be optophobics (people that are afraid to open their eyes). They do normally not suffer from insomniaphobia (fear of sleeplessness).
People that have topophobia (fear of changing a place or situation) do usually also suffer from agyrophobia (fear of streets or crossing a street). Maybe because they are decidophobics and therefore have fear of making decisions (a lot of us have this problem). Two other phobias that a lot of people share are ergophobia (fear of work) and emetophobia (fear of vomiting, placed 7th in the Top Ten).
In Japan, some men have 'Taijin kyofusho', the fear to annoy or disturb others with something unpleasant in themselves, like a bad breath or an ugly appearance. In Singapore, some men have 'Koro' phobia, the fear that your genitals shrink or will withdraw in your body, leading to death (quite interesting indeed).

Let's end with the (American) Top Ten Phobia List:
1. Arachnophobia: the fear of spiders
2. Social phobia: the fear of being misjudged or the fright of being accused unreasonably in social situations
3. Aerophobia: the fear of flying
4. Agoraphobia: the fear of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help might be unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms
5. Claustrophobia: the fear of being in enclosed or confined spaces
6. Acrophobia: the fear of heights
7. Emetophobia: the fear to vomit yourself or feel awkward to see others vomit
8. Carcinophobia: the fear of cancer
9. Brontophobia: the fear of thunderstorms (also known as astraphobia, keraunophobia, tonitrophobia or the fear of lightning and thunder)
10. Necrophobia: the fear of the death or dead things.

My question for you is: which of the following phobias would you prefer: panphobia (fear of everything) or fobophobia (fear of your own fears)? That's not as easy as it seems, so think carefully! Put your answer in a comment on this blog, so we can all enjoy the reason(s) why you have chosen that one.

Resources:
1. Conversation between Elvira Campos (psychiatrist) and Juan de Dios Martínez (detective) about phobias following a penitent who destroys sculptures and images of saints. In '2666' by Roberto Bolaño, chapter 'the part of the crimes'.
2. Elsevier: 41 – 2009, p. 70-72: 'Sapperdeflap, een clown'.
3. Nobiles Magazine nr. 5 – 2009, p.4-5: 'Wereldwijd'.

Er was een ....

(English version below...translated by Google Translate)

Dierentuin
Er was een moment dat ik iets voelde
kijkend naar de olifanten
Het voelde nat in de nek,
vogeldrek, hè, get!

Beenhaar
Er was een moment dat ik iets voelde
Het viel eerst niet op door het gewiebel
er trok iemand aan mijn beenhaar
een Chinees.

Black out
Er was een plein in Berlijn
Ik wist niet hoe ik daar kwam
staand bij de garderobe
het begin van de avond
ja, dat wist ik nog,
maar tussen nu en toen?
Geen idee, Black Out

Krak
Er was een moment dat ik iets voelde
Drijvend op de lucht
een heerlijke vrije val
scherm open, Geluk!
bijna bij de grond
KRAK

Auschwitz
Er was een blond vlechtje
in een zee van grijs
het voelde ongemakkelijk, triest
toch scheen de zon

================================================================

For those of you who are English-speaking, here is the translation from Google Translate. It is not very good English, but this time you will have to deal with it :-).

Zoo
There was a moment I felt something
watching the elephants
It felt wet in the neck,
bird excrement, damn!

Leg hair
There was a moment I felt something
First it was not clear, due to the wobbling
then someone pulled my leg hair
a Chinese.

Black Out
There was a square in Berlin
I did not know how I got there
standing in the cloakroom
the early evening
Yes, I remember that,
but between now and then?
No idea, Black Out

Crack
There was a moment I felt something
Floating on air
a wonderful free fall
parachute open, lucky!
almost at the ground
Crack

Auschwitz
There was a blond braid
in a sea of gray
it felt uncomfortable, sad
though the sun shined

Prora – Nazi Architecture on Rügen Island

This month, I went to the German island Rügen for five days and stayed one day in Hanzestadt Greifswald. I swam in the sea, biked 40 km, walked 15 km through the forest and I went to one of the northernmost spots of Germany. But the most impressive was my visit to Prora, the place where the Nazi's started to build the largest holiday resort of the world.

We start with the trip from Greifswald to the beach of Sellin (famous of the 394 meters long pier, see picture): inside car, overgrown track, small zoo, good jazz, bridge at Stralsund, Altefähr, Rügen, 30 km, Sellin, pension, walk, forest, steep, beach, swim, big jellyfish, small jellyfish, blue towel, clouded, sun, shade, silence, magazine, loud guy, mental handicapped, 'You have to wear a shirt', people in tent-construction, applying sunblock, loads of sand, murmur of the sea, children playing in the sand, filming father, filmed daughter, naked woman, splashing water...

MACHT Urlaub
After an early breakfast at Pension Störtebeker in Sellin (named after pirate Klaus Störtebeker who lived at the end of the 14th century), I get in my car with destination Prora. This small town is situated at the most beautiful bay on the island. After a 30 minutes ride, I arrive as one of the first visitors at the parking lot of the 'seaside resort for 20.000'. After paying the parking fee, I get inside the Prora Documentation Centre where I visit the exhibition 'MACHT Urlaub' (a word play meaning both 'make holiday' and 'power holiday').

The leader of the German Labor Front, Robert Ley, stated that Hitler himself has had the idea of building five seaside resorts. However, it is only in Prora where building really started. Hitler himself chose the design by the Cologne architect, Clemens Klotz. The seaside resort contains a 4,5 kilometres long building strip, consisting of five blocks, each with a length of 500 metres. This enormous building was designed to house 20.000 holiday makers. All rooms measure 5,0 x 2,5 m², contain two hospital beds and have seaview. The shared toilet facilities were located at the other side of the building.

Strength through Joy
The construction took place between 1936 and 1939 on the authority of the Nazi association KdF – 'Kraft durch Freude' ('Strength through Joy'). As World War II started in 1939, all construction work stopped and the workers were withdrawn. So, the building was never completed and would never serve its intended purpose. Between 1939 and the end of the war, some parts of the construction were used as an education camp for police officers. Any further work was carried out by people sentenced to forced labour and prisoners of war. In 1943, citizens of Hamburg, who had been left homeless by the allied bombing raids, were housed at Prora. From 1944 it did serve as a military hospital. During the era of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) Prora was declared a military prohibited area and was not open to the public until 1991.

Nowadays, Prora is well known as an architectural monument and a part of the social history of 'The Third Reich'. Prora claims to be the largest closed architectural residue of the Nazi era. The unfinished construction shows the failure of the Nazi's social policy.

Urban Exploring
It is not easy to urban explore the building, since most of the windows have been barricaded. That is why I go to the northern part of the building. And there I find a open window to climb into the building. But, since I am on my own and the inside darkness, I only explore for ten minutes. There are better explore possibilities at Rügen near the village of Lobbe (see picture).

The northernmost point of Rügen island is Kap Arkona, famous of the lighthouses (see picture). The older, angular lighthouse was built in 1826 and was designed by the famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He is the architect of the Altes Museum, the Neue Wache, the Schauspielhaus at the Gendarmenmarket, the Schlossbrücke, Schloss Tegel, the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, the Neuer Pavillon, Schloss Glienicke, the Bauakademie and the Luisenkirche in Berlin and Schloss Charlottenhof, the Nikolaikirche, the Römische Bäder and Schloss Babelsberg in Potsdam.

Berghain – obscure club for Easyjetset & gays

It has become an obsession to get inside Berghain, the famous club in Berlin. Berghain was voted 'Best Club in the World' in a poll among DJs conducted for the British music publication DJ Mag. I once stood in line with my Swiss friend Christophe, but we were not allowed to get in. Last weekend I tried it again with some Dutch friends.

Berghain's exterior looks like a design of architect Albert Speer. The former power station (built in 1954 and in use till 1985) is now notorious for its hedonistic atmosphere, its selective door policy and endless opening hours. The parties are running until the late hours of Sunday evening. The club (opened in 2004) is named after two Berlin quarters: KreuzBERG and FriedrichsHAIN.

The row outside is quite long at this time of the night (1.30 am), but it is moving quickly. The queue is filled with 'Easyjetset' (European youth that flies to Berlin with cheap airlines). To get inside will be a 50-50 chance; even Britney Spears did not get in. Between 3.00 and 5.00 am it is even more difficult to get in, but after 6.00 am it is getting easier.

Random door policy
We see loads of people that are not allowed to get inside. I start to guess why they are not allowed in. Bad shoes? Too much make-up? Strange shirt, blue socks? Too much hair, no hair at all? Why did they sent those two girls away? Too young? But on the other hand, sometimes guys with shorts and flip flops are allowed to get in. This makes the door policy totally random.

Analysing does not bring anything, but everybody in line does it. I start thinking, will they let me and the other Dutchies in? How should we act? Do not talk to much! Split up in duos, because a group of four might be too big! Oops, we have three guys and only one girl … we will not get in. Are my shoes all right? Is my shirt not too flashy? Why do I ask myself all this questions? Why do I suddenly start to care how I look? Why do I think this much? Anyway, I decide to look relaxed. I am not eager to get in. I do not want to get in!

Gorilla
We are almost at the entrance. We are approaching the famous tattooed guy that decides who gets in and who has to leave. This 'Gorilla', Sven Marquardt (see picture), he has long hair, a tattoo and loads of piercings in his face. His two helpers look like cage fighters. Oh my, we are the next ones....

And then …. The guy nicks his head and does not say anything more. Anyhow, WE GET IN! All four of us, NICE! We are in Berghain!

The first thing we do is putting our stuff in the wardrobe and check all the rooms in the house. It are actually two clubs in one building. Panorama Bar (upper part) and Berghain (lower part). Both with their own program. The main LIVE acts were Prosumer + Murat Tepeli feat. Elif Bicer (Panorama) and Jeroen Search (Berghain). I never heard of them before, but they must sound familiar to some readers.

We first go up the stairs and 18 metres higher we reach the Berghain dance floor. Time to drink our first beer, a Becks in a bottle. There is not a lot going on in Berghain. So we decide to go up more stairs. In Panorama Bar the party has already started. Panorama has a big window with a shutter that opens at sunrise. Crazy!

After another beer in Panorama, where the music is loungy. We go down again. In Berghain the music (hard techno) is much louder. The dance floor is dark, filled with smoke and lights that try to give you an epileptical attack.

Taking pictures is not allowed in Berghain. This means visitors can do whatever they want. And they do. As the night grows, especially the gays start to take off their shirts and dance topless. These topless gays assemble at the (unisex) toilets. In Panorama they have 'boxes' in dark corners where people can play with each other. And they do....

Covered in sweat
The techno music puts the people in a trance. But you need to go to the toilet once in a while. To get to the toilets I first have to go through a group of topless man. Unfortunately, all toilets are occupied. And while I am waiting for a toilet, one of the doors opens. Two men covered in sweat come out. I enter the toilet with a strange feeling. At the ceiling of this 'darkroom' I see a red light bulb. Anyway, I was happy that I did not have to do the 'Number 1' and after the pee I return to the dance floor. Where I get into the trance of techno.

I wanted to check the famous dark room downstairs. But that was a bit of a dodgy place. Opening the curtain revealed two guys having sex with each other. A view I did not like. So I went dancing again, waiting for the sun.

After sunrise I leave Berghain, this is around 6.15 am. And there are still loads of people that are waiting to get in. Some Berliners say, it is best to go in Berghain at 6.30 am on Saturday or Sunday morning. I even heard about crazy people that enter the club on Friday night and leave the club at Sunday afternoon …. That is really crazy!

Whenever you are in Berlin, try to get in Berghain!

Barbed Wire in the Woods - Biking the Wall

Lately, I did a bike tour along the path of the former Berlin Wall. I took my bike with me on the U- and S-bahn, all the way north to Frohnau at the border between Berlin and Brandenburg.

Outside of S-bahnhof Frohnau, my bike and I follow a path that leads through a field (see picture). This path is part of the Berlin Wall trail (Mauerweg), the road that the border soldiers used to patrol on in their Trabant-cars. This trail goes through a neighbourhood with houses built in a Dutch architectural style. The so-called 'Invalidensiedlung' (see map), where once the disabled soldiers of the Prussian Wars lived. Close to this 'Dutch' neighbourhood' is the Florastrasse, where some concrete poles depict that the Wall once crossed behind the houses at this street (see picture).

To check East-German residents that wanted to flee into West-Berlin, a lot of watchtowers were built. Thanks to this tour, I have now seen all of the four watchtowers that are still standing. The oldest one (of the first version) is in a cul-de-sac close to Potsdamer Platz. The first version watchtower became a bit wobble when the wind was strong. Because of this, soldiers were not allowed to use the tower at stormy days. That is why the second version of more robust watchtowers were designed. The three (robust) towers that are still standing are the one of Jürgen Litfin (see picture)
, the tower at Schlesisches Busch (close to Club de Visionäre) and the last one I have seen on this tour.

The tower I discover on this tour is owned by the Deutsche Waldjugend (see pictures).


Now, it is in use as an information centre for nature. The tower was built in the 1980s and used to monitor the border. It also functioned as a control centre for other watchtowers, which were spaced about 500 meters apart along the border strip. Each command post was occupied by three border soldiers and an officer, and also had a cell for any 'border violators' who might be arrested.

After a short lunch break in the forest close to the Waldjugend tower, I follow the path into the woods around the lake Hubertussee (see map). In this woods I discover some concrete poles where once the Wall was. I can even see trees that still have the (now rusted) barbed wire in them (see picture). In the Wall-period (13th of August 1961 - 9th of November 1989) the East-German border soldiers would not have allowed me to be here.

Back at S-bahnhof Frohnau (former West-Berlin), I decide to check some more Wall remains. It leads me to Lübars (former East-Germany), where once the 'duck's beak' (Entenschnabel) was.
This beak (see map) consisted of the street 'Am Sandkrug', the houses at this street were part of East-Germany and they were surrounded by West-Berlin. Because of its special situation, visitors, tradesmen, doctors and delivery trucks were only allowed to enter the street with a special permit.

Close to the 'duck's beak' is a small river, the Tegeler Fließ (see picture). This now idyllic landscape (part of Natura 2000) was once spoiled by the Wall. Although it could have been worse. Since the river was the border between West-Berlin and East-Germany, the Wall should have been placed at the riverbank. However, the swampy ground at the river was not able to carry a heavy concrete wall. I follow the Tegeler Fließ until I reach a bridge over the swamp. I bike through this natural park and then take the train back home.

After reaching U-bahnstation Hermannplatz, I decide to visit one more thing. I bike to the Lohmühlenbrücke (see pictures)
, which is close to my house in Neukölln. The bridge connects the quarters of Neukölln (West) and Treptow (East). The Wall was placed at the north side of the bridge and the very first watchtower in the Death Strip was erected here. Various buildings in the area were raised in order to enable a better view over the Death Strip. Close to the bridge is a wooden foot-bridge, a cut-off access for residents of Treptow.

Thanks to this tour I have now seen about 80 of the 155 kilometres where once the Wall stood, that is about 52%. Do you like to bike or walk the Berlin Wall trail (Mauerweg), click here for more information.

JB spies

James Bond (007)
Jason Bourne (Bourne Identity)
Jack Bauer (24)

It cannot be a coincidence that all of their initials are JB. James Bond came first. Robert Ludlum (loved the Bond books) wrote his first novel 'The Bourne Identity' in 1975. So he must have liked the JB combination. Long after his book, the character of Jack Bauer was invented.

First appearances:
Bond: novel - 1953, movie - 1962
Bourne: novel - 1975, movie - 1988
Bauer: TV - 2001

Maybe the combination just sounds good. Or are all people with the initials JB spies??

If so, what about the American presidents: James Buchanan (1857-1861), Jeorge Bush (1989-1993) and Jeorge W. Bush (2001-2009)? Is one president in every century a spy?

Auschwitz: a blonde braid in a grey sea of hair

Last month, I visited the Polish city Oświęcim - known for the Auschwitz-concentration camp. Nowadays, you can visit it and there is a museum, which shows you the horrors of the Holocaust.

As an eleven-year-old kid, I first heard about Auschwitz. This was after a visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. And now I have been in the camp, I have to say it is a very strange place.

During the visit the weather is sunny and the grass is a bright colour of green. So, everything seems really nice. But all I feel is inner silence and sadness. I feel so small.... of the 6 million Jews that where killed during the Holocaust, 1.1 million!! of them were killed in the camps of Auschwitz (1), Auschwitz-Birkenau (2) and Auschwitz-Monowitz (3). Most of them were gassed with Zyklon B right after they arrived by train.

In November 1944, when the Nazis knew they were about to lose the war, they started to destroy the gas chambers and crematoria. They wanted to get rid of all the evidence. And in January 1945 they started the evacuation of 50.000 prisoners to the west, the so called death marches. Loads of people died of the cold winter weather or were executed. Almost 10.000 people that where too weak or ill, were left behind in the camp. When the Red Army liberated the camp on the 27th of January 1945, around 2.500 of them had died.

Although the movie at the start showed emaciated bodies and piles of corpses, for me the most horrible place was the room filled with human hair. The Nazis used the hair to make mats and clothes. Within the pile of grey hair, there was a blonde braid of a young girl. Suddenly, silence and sadness turned into disbelieve … how can people do this to each other?

Let things like this never happen again.

Here are two movies from Youtube: Encountering Auschwitz and the trailer of Broken Silence.

After the trip to Auschwitz, I went to the Karneval der Kulturen in Berlin. Why can't it always be like this? People from all over the world happy, also when it rains like crazy. People from different religions (Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism) and regions (Nigeria, Canada, Switzerland, Colombia, Turkey, Russia) all partying together. The world could be such a good place....

30th birthday party pictures!!

Hello everyone,

It is already a month ago that my 30th birthday party took place. I want to thank you all for coming and for making this a really special day for me. THANKS!!!

For all of you that were at the party (and all other readers) here are the pictures. Click on the pictures to make them bigger! Yes, you are on it as well! When you want the original, sent me an e-mail and you might get it :-).

I can only say: have fun!

Cheers!
Arthur
(met dank aan de fotografen Leo en Odile)

I love not man the less, but Nature more

Quotes on Nature

After watching the amazing movie INTO THE WILD (go see it!), I went back to the beginning of the movie. It starts with a quote by Lord Byron, an English Romantic poet (1788-1824). I made a picture of the quote; the motto of the movie so to say. I watched the movie in German, that is why it is in that language. Especially for all of you out there, I found the English version. The part of the quote I really like is: 'I love not man the less, but Nature more'.

The quote is followed by more, since I have added more quotes on Nature. Hopefully, they will inspire you.

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
LORD BYRON, Childe Harold

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer.
CALVIN COOLIDGE, speech, Jul. 25, 1924

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Troilus and Cressida

Nature goes her own way, and all that to us seems an exception is really according to order.
GOETHE, Conversations with Goethe

Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire,
That's a' the learning I desire.
ROBERT BURNS, First Epistle to John Lapraik

The volume of Nature is the book of knowledge.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, Citizen of the World

Where a love of natural beauty has been cultivated, all nature becomes a stupendous gallery, as much superior in form and in coloring to the choicest collections of human art, as the heavens are broader and loftier than the Louvre or the Vatican.
HORACE MANN, A Few Thoughts for a Young Man

Nature, always inartistic, takes pleasure in creating the impossible.
JEROME K. JEROME, "Reginald Blake, Financier and Cad"

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.
ECKHART TOLLE, Stillness Speaks

Een tafel vol vlinders

(English version below...translated by Google Translate)

In een ruk een boek uitlezen, dat overkomt me niet zo vaak. Vandaag is het gelukt, alhoewel het maar een dun boekje van 90 pagina's was. Het boekenweekgeschenk: Een tafel vol vlinders van Tim Krabbe.

Terwijl om mij heen de zondagse parkperikelen van Volkspark Hasenheide plaatsvinden, lees ik prachtige zinnen als:

"De man is er om groot te zijn, de vrouw om hem klein te houden."

Wat kan Berlijn mooi zijn. Zittend in de zon met Havaiana, een korte broek en een babyblauw shirt :-). Om me heen spelen mensen badminton, frisbee of voetbal. Verder weg zie ik de rook van barbecues. Ik zit op een rode bank midden in een grasveld bezaaid met kroonkurken. Om mij heen bomen ... levendig voorzien van verschillende vertakkingen.

"Waarom moeten mensen iets zinnigs doen met hun leven? Wat is dat, iets zinnigs? Kan ik dat ergens opzoeken?"

Mag het niet gewoon leuk zijn? Of je vervullen van een gelukzalig gevoel? Zoals de achter mij tokkelende gitarist?

Drinkend van de meegebrachte ijskoffie omhuld door een bordeaux rood PET-flesje: Bellarom Cappuccino Kaffeegetränk staat er op. Deze 195 kilocalorieën worden later aangevuld met een appel.

Ik geniet van de wolken die komen en gaan, en mij in de schaduw, danwel de zon plaatsen.

"Alsof jij en ik de enigen op de wereld zijn met een ziel"

================================================================
For those of you who are English-speaking, here is the translation from Google Translate. It is not very good English, but this time you will have to deal with it :-).

Reading a book in one go does not often happen to me. Today I succeeded, although it was a thin booklet of 90 pages. The Dutch 'boekenweekgeschenk': A Table Full of Butterflies by Tim Krabbe.

While around me the Sunday park perils of Volkspark Hasenheide take place, I read wonderful phrases as:

"The man is there to be large, the woman to keep it small."

What can Berlin be beautiful. Sitting in the sun with Havaiana, shorts and a baby blue shirt :-). People around me play badminton, frisbee or football. Further away, I see the smoke of barbecues. I sit on a red bench in the middle of a lawn dotted with crown caps. Trees around me ... living with different ramifications.

"Why should people do something meaningful with their lives, what is that something meaningful? Can I look that up somewhere?"

Can't I just fun? Or give you a happy feeling? Like the twanging guitar player behind me?

Drinking of the ice coffee I brought, wrapped in a burgundy PET bottle: Bellarom Cappuccino Kaffeegetränk. These 195 calories are later accompanied by an apple.

I enjoy the clouds that come and go, that put me in from the shade in the sun and vice versa.

"Like you and me are the only ones in the world with a soul"

Surrounded by the Berlin Wall: Walled villages in East and West

Last week I have been walking (yellow line) along the border between Potsdam and Berlin. I went there to visit two villages that were surrounded by the Berlin Wall (thick red line) between August 1961 and November 1989. One of those belonged to East-Germany (Klein-Glienicke), the other was part of West-Berlin (Steinstücken).

 

A Bridge of Unity?
My trip starts on the Glienicke Bridge (in German: Glienicker Brücke), once the border between East-Germany and West-Berlin. Nowadays, it is the border between Berlin and Potsdam. The bridge crossing the river Havel is 146 meters long and was built between 1904 and 1907. Unfortunately, it was demolished ten days before the Second World War ended. After the war, a wooden bridge was built parallel to the damaged steel structure in order to restore the important road link between Berlin and Potsdam. The steel bridge was rebuilt in 1947-1949.

Globetrotter Alexander von Humboldt (the founder of modern geography) thought the view from the bridge was one of the most beautiful in the world. I think he would not have agreed on this anymore when the Wall stood on the other side of the riverbank.

In December 1949 the government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) renamed it 'Bridge of Unity' (in German: 'Brücke der Einheit'), strangely enough they blocked the bridge just three years later (see picture). Only allied forces (American and Soviet-soldiers) were allowed to use the bridge in the period from May 1952 till November 1989. Secret Agent exchanges between the Americans and Soviets (in 1962, 1985 and 1986) made it an important hinge in the Iron Curtain.

In 1988 this was the scene of a spectacular flight. At the dawn of day three Babelsbergers approach the bridge in a stolen truck filled with empty gas cylinders. The Soviet soldiers that guard it shout: “Stoj, stoj!” (in English: Stop, stop!), but the truck goes faster and faster. It breaks the bar, the iron barriers and everything on its way. The truck stops on the other side of the bridge and the three guys reach West-Berlin. Mission accomplished.

The useful life of the steel structure expired in 1977. The bridge started to rust, the road surface was crumbling. The half on the West-Berlin side was repaired in 1980 and the Potsdam side was renovated in autumn 1985 with western money. In return, the GDR made a concession: the bridge was again referred to as Glienicke Bridge. I can still see the remains of this renovation. On the middle of the bridge the asphalt changes and the bridge has two colours (see the pictures).

Klein-Glienicke (East-Germany)
When I cross the bridge from Potsdam, I can see Schloss Babelsberg (an English-Roman castle built in 1849) on my right-hand side. I reach my first destination on the opposite side: the small village Klein-Glienicke. I approach the village through the park of Schloss Klein-Glienicke (a castle built in 1928 by the famous Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel). I walk a bit through the forest along the Königsstraße (Kings Street) and reach the streets where the Wall once stood: Am Böttcherberg, Am Waldrand and Wannseestraße (see picture). The young inhabitants were forced by the GDR to move, making it a village full of elderly.

I decide to stop for a lunch break at Bürgershof, originally opened in 1875 as a hotel en a restaurant. In 1961 it was part of the border strip, ten years later the building was expropriated and the main building was demolished for security reasons. The restaurant reopened in 1992, although only the most needed reparation work has been done. It is not sure if the building will be given back to the old owners. In the sunny Biergarten, I enjoy a clear wheat beer (in German: Hefe Weizen Kristall) and a Bretzel. Like a real German :-).

To reach Neu-Babelsberg, I have to cross the Teltow-channel and the Park bridge. This small bridge was the only and heavily guarded way to get out of Klein-Glienicke during the Berlin Wall period. There is no need to show my pass now, since the control point on the other side of the bridge has been demolished at the end of 1989 (on the picture we can see how the controlpoint looked like). On the other side of the channel, I make a small detour through the park that leads to Schloss Babelsberg. After a short visit to the castle, I continue my walk from the bridge.

All the President's houses
I now find myself walking along the Griebnitzsee. The north side of the lake belonged to West-Berlin, the south side was East-Germany (the border was in the middle of the lake). I still find some remains of the Wall (see picture), some pieces are now used as a backyard fence. The Wall went along the riverbank, the paved road (see picture) is the one where the GDR-soldiers patrolled with their Trabant-cars. (Two days after I made this walk the villa owners block this path, because it actually belongs to their property. It was not possible to follow the path, just like twenty years before. See the Berliner Zeitung of today).

At the lake are some expensive villas of bankers and film stars (Babelsberg was in the 1930s the German equivalent of Hollywood, recent movies like 'The Bourne Supremacy' have been recorded in Studio Babelsberg. Apart from movies, the village was also important during the Potsdam Conference from 15th of July till 2nd of August 1945. The three allied forces negotiators had a villa here. Stalin lived in Karl-Marx-Straße 27, Churchill in Virchowstraße 23 and Truman in Karl-Marx-Straße 2 (his Little White House) (see pictures). I make a 360 at the Truman House and walk underneath a railway viaduct. Now I reach my second destination, the formal West-Berlin enclave Steinstücken.

Steinstücken (West-Berlin)
The village of Steinstücken was an island in the GDR that belonged to West-Berlin. Famous architects like Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and other artists have been living here. The house named 'West Ranch' (see picture) shows we are in West-Berlin now. I can still see some mortar of the Wall alongside the pavement (see picture)

Circling into the village, I reach a playground with a small climbing tower in the shape of a helicopter, the street is called 'Am Landeplatz' (in English: 'At the landing-zone'). After turning around, I see two helicopter blades pointing five meters into the sky. This is not a coincidence, while from 1963 till 1976 this was the helicopter-landing-zone for the US Air Force.

On the 18th of October 1951 the GDR occupies Steinstücken, but they retreat quickly after protests from the USA. Since 1952 the 150 residents were isolated from the outside world. It was only possible to get in and out by helicopters. Many refugees escaped to Steinstücken and have been rescued by the US-military-helicopters. In order to protect the residents, the US military stationed the smallest detachment ever (three military policemen of the 287th Military Co. Steinstücken Detachment). Only these three men and the residents of Steinstücken had access to the enclave.

In 1971 the GDR and West-Berlin negotiate to exchange the villages Steinstücken and Klein-Glienicke and move their inhabitants. Fortunately, they agree on a more human solution. On 20th of December 1971, a bit of Steinstücken was exchanged for a piece of Klein-Glienicke. The inhabitants of Steinstücken got a one kilometres long and twenty metres wide road to reach West-Berlin. Thus ending the enclave period of the village. For those of you that are interested in a movie that was shot in 1988 in this walled village: check it on YouTube!.

Rail-bound border traffic
After leaving Steinstücken, I make a short visit to the campus and law-faculty of the University of Potsdam. On the other side of the campus lies S-Bahnstation Griebnitzsee. I wonder why this small station has left so much distance between the tracks (see picture). The reason for this is, that it was the only GDR border crossing for rail-bound traffic from West-Berlin to the stations of West-German. A big distance between the tracks made it easier to control the trains. The approaching train brings me back to Berlin, after an interesting 10 km walk.

A Tale of Two Cities: Rotterdam & Berlin

After a short week in the Netherlands, I returned to Berlin. This time I want to make a comparison between two cities: Rotterdam, where I have lived, and Berlin, where I am living now.

HISTORY
Let's start with some historical similarities. Rotterdam was founded around 1260 and Berlin around 1230.

As we all know, these two cities were both bombed heavily during the Second World War. Rotterdam was the first to be bombed, by the Germans on the 14th of May 1940. The heart of the city was completely destroyed by the German Luftwaffe. Almost 800 people were killed, about 80.000 others were made homeless. The city was rebuild from the 1950s through the 1970s. New apartments, office buildings and recreation facilities resulted in a more liveable city centre with a new skyline.
Between 1940 and 1945 Berlin was subject to 363 air raids. During 1945 the United States Army Air Forces launched daytime raids on Berlin (bombing it for 36 nights in succession) ending on the night of 20th of April 1945. Nearly 4.000 people were killed, 10.000 injured and 450.000 were made homeless. Berlin was devastated by bombing raids. Many of the old buildings that escaped the bombs were eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s in both West and East.

BIG RIVERS
Both cities have a big river that flows through the city. In Rotterdam this is the Meuse (in Dutch: De Maas). It divides Rotterdam in two areas: City and Zuid.
The Spree is the big river in Berlin. Until 1307 it divided Berlin into two different cities: Berlin and Cölln.

DISTRICTS
Rotterdam is subdivided into 11 districts (in Dutch: stadsdelen): Charlois, Delfshaven, Feijenoord, Hillegersberg-Schiebroek, Hoek van Holland, Hoogvliet, IJsselmonde, Kralingen-Crooswijk, Noord, Overschie and Prins Alexander. Whereas Berlin is subdivided into twelve districts (in German: Bezirke): Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Pankow, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Spandau, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Neukölln, Treptow-Köpenick, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Lichtenberg and Reinickendorf.

POPULATION
In the Netherlands, Rotterdam has the highest percentage of foreigners from non-industrialised nations. Nearly 45% of the population in Rotterdam are not native to the Netherlands or have at least one parent born outside the country. The foreigners come from 169 different countries. Turkish people are the second largest group with almost 8% (the biggest group is from Surinam with 9%). Muslims comprise close to 25% of the city's population,
In Berlin, around 14% of the population has a foreign nationality. They come from 186 different countries. Turkish people are the largest group with almost 3%. Muslims comprise close to 6% of the city's population.

RAILWAY STATIONS
Rotterdam has 7 railway stations: Rotterdam Centraal (main station), Rotterdam Alexander, Rotterdam Blaak, Rotterdam Lombardijen, Rotterdam Noord, Rotterdam Zuid and Rotterdam Stadion.
Berlin has 10 railway stations, 5 with intercity and international connections: Hauptbahnhof (main station), Berlin-Ostbahnhof, Berlin-Gesundbrunnen, Berlin-Spandau and Berlin-Südkreuz, and 5 regional stations: Berlin-Lichtenberg, Zoo Station, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße and Potsdamer Platz.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The public transportation in Rotterdam is called RET (Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram), whereas the Berlin equivalent is called BVG (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe). They both offer metro-, tram-, bus- and ferry-lines.
Metro: The total length of the 2 Rotterdam metro lines is 55 kilometres. In Berlin they have two systems: the U-bahn (Untergrundbahn) and the S-bahn (Stadtschnellbahn). There are 15 U-bahn-lines with a total length of 331 km. The 9 S-bahn-lines have a total length of 145 km.
Tram: Rotterdam offers 10 tramlines with a total length of 93 kilometres, whereas Berlin offers 22 lines with a total length of 192 km.
Bus: Rotterdam offers 38 bus lines with a total length of 433 kilometres, whereas Berlin offers 147 lines with a total length of 1.626 km.
Ferry: Rotterdam has one fast ferry from Rotterdam to Dordrecht and vice versa, whereas Berlin has 6 lines.

TWO TALL TOWERS
Rotterdam has the 186 meters tall Euromast (built in 1960), which is a major tourist attraction. The city can be viewed from its 185 meter high observation deck.
Berlin has the Fernsehturm (TV tower) built in 1969 at Alexanderplatz, this is the second-tallest structure in the European Union with its 368 meters. The city can be viewed from its 204 meter high observation floor.

STADIUMS
The Feijenoord Stadion, better known by its nickname de Kuip (the Tub), is the stadium of Rotterdam and was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the area 'Feijenoord' in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same name (FeYenoord). The present day capacity is 51.177. Each year the Dutch Cup final match is held at the stadion. In 2000, the stadium hosted the final of Euro 2000 where France defeated Italy in extra time.
The Olympiastadion in Berlin was originally built for the 1936 Olympic Games and was completed in the same year. It has a strong footballing tradition. Historically, it is the ground of club Hertha BSC. The present day capacity is 74.244. Each year the German Cup final match is held at the stadium. It was also used for three matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and it hosted six matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. One of them was the final, were Italy defeated France after penalties (Yes, again France and Italy needed extra time :-)).

CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUMS
Both cities have fine contemporary art museums. Rotterdam has Booijmans Van Beuningen and Berlin has Hamburger Bahnhof.

FILM FESTIVALS
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held in various cinemas at the end of January. It is one of the large film festivals in Europe and is one of the 'Big Five', alongside Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno. The first festival was organized in June 1972. The festival uses a tiger as its mascot. In 2009, 341.000 tickets were sold (the record year was 2007 with 370.000 tickets sold). The 39th edition is from 27th of January till 7th of February 2010.
The Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals. It is considered the largest publicly-attended film festival worldwide. Founded in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. The festival uses a golden bear as its mascot. In 2009, nearly 20.000 accredited visitors from 136 countries attended the festival and approximately 270.000 tickets were sold (an audience record). The 60th edition is from 11th till 21st of February 2010.

MUSEUM NIGHTS
Both cities have a museum night. Rotterdam has the 'Rotterdamse Museumnacht', with every year more than 12.000 visitors. The ninth edition will be held at 6th of March 2010. Berlin has the 'Lange Nacht der Museen', with every year around 35.000 visitors. The 24th edition was at the 31st of January 2009.

DANCE PARADES
The Rotterdam Dance Parade (also known as the Fast Forward Fit For Free Dance Parade) is inspired by the Love Parade. The first edition was in 1997. With 400.000 visitors, it is the largest dance-event of the Netherlands. The float of 40 trucks with loud dance music and dancers moves through the centre of Rotterdam.
The Love Parade is a parade of trucks with electronic dance music. It has its roots in the spirit of a changing Europe and was first celebrated in 1989, four months before the demolition of the Berlin Wall. The last Berlin-edition was in 2006 (after that year it was held in other German cities).

CARNIVAL PARADES
Rotterdam has the Summer Carnival Rotterdam and Berlin has the Karneval der Kulturen. In both cities the variety of nationalities gives these parties a nice blend of music, costumes and people. Everybody comes together ... why can this not happen every day?

MARATHON CITIES
The first Rotterdam Marathon was in 1981 and it is the biggest marathon of the Netherlands. Rotterdam was the proud possessor of two world records: in 1985 Carlos Lopes was the fastest man with 2:07.12, in 1988 Belayneh Densamo was a bit faster with 2:06.50. The record of the Rotterdam Marathon is since 2008 in the hands of William Kipsang with 2:05.49.
The Berlin Marathon is held annually since 1974. The Berlin marathon is one of the largest and most popular road races in the world. The most marathon world records for men have been set at the Berlin course. In 2008 a new world record was set by Haile Gebrselassie with 2:03.59.

So, we can say Rotterdam and Berlin are alike in history, population, buildings, sports and culture.

Dutch words in the American language

This year it is 400 years ago that an expedition of the Dutch East India Company (captained by Henry Hudson) discovered the New York area. New Netherland (in Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland) was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The town New Amsterdam (now New York City) was founded in 1625 with the construction of Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan. The Dutch selected Manhattan Island as the optimal place for permanent settlement by the Dutch West India Company. To secure the settlers' property and its surroundings according to Dutch law, a deed with the Manhattan Indians was created in 1626 which signified legal possession of Manhattan. Fort Amsterdam was designated the capital of the province in 1625 and developed into the largest Dutch colonial settlement of the New Netherland province (now the New York Tri-State Region). It remained a Dutch possession until September 1664, when it fell provisionally and temporarily into the hands of the English. The Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. New Netherland was ceded permanently to the English in November 1674 by treaty.

Dutch was the language in the New Netherland area before the English conquered it. We can still see the Dutch inheritance in the American-English language, in names of places and in words.

Names of places
We can see the origin in places near Albany (on map) like: Amsterdam (A), Beukendaal (B), Rotterdam (C), Breakabeen (D), Kinderhook (F), Rensselaer (G) and Watervliet (H). Some are more difficult to recognize like Brooklyn (in Dutch: Breukelen, near Utrecht), Harlem (in Dutch: Haarlem, near Amsterdam) and Saugherties (E) were the sawmills stood (in Dutch: Zagertjes).

Words
First, I will give you the English word, followed by the Dutch word (in brackets)
apartheid (apartheid)
beaker (beker)
boss (baas)
brandy (brandewijn)
coleslaw (koolsla)
cookie (koekje)
deck (dek)
dike (dijk)
geek (gek)
hooky (hoekje)
keelhauling (kielhalen)
luck (geluk)
molly kite (malligheid)
niskeery (nieuwsgierig)
offdoch (afdak)
pratchie (praatje)
pump (pomp)
quack(salver) (kwakzalver)
rover (rover)
Santa Claus (Sinterklaas): in Washington Irving's History of New York (1809) Sinterklaas was Americanized into 'Santa Claus' and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was in fact invented by Coca-Cola or that Santa wears red and white because they are the Coca-Cola colours.
skipper (schipper)
spree (sprei)
snoop (snoep)
spook (spook)
stoop (stoep)
waffle (wafel)
witloof (witlof)
Yankee: from Jan Kees, originally used mockingly to describe pro-French revolutionary citizens, with allusion to the small keeshond dog. After that it was used for 'colonials' in New Amsterdam. Almost half of the Dutch there were named Jan or Kees. It might be a corruption of the nickname for Dutch people: Jan Kaas (John Cheese).

Riddle

Hello there,

Can you tell me what you see on this movie? Add your suggestions as a Comment. Surprise me. Good luck!

 

Facts about the Reichstag-building in Berlin

For all those people out there that want to DO Berlin. Here are some interesting facts about the Reichstag-building (the German Parliament) build in 1894.There are three interesting facts to tell about the sentence above the entrance 'DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE' ('To the German people').
1. The sentence was added in 1916 almost 20 years after the building was finished. Rumours say that the German Emperor thoughed that the inscription would be to democratical, and suggested 'DEM DEUTSCHEN REICHE'. In 1918 the Emperor had to flee to the Netherlands after the declaration of the Weimarer Republik.
2. The letters are made by a Jewish bronze foundry, the family Loevy (they did a lot of bronze in Berlin buildings).
3. The letters are made of two cannons that were seized during the war with Napoleon. Those cannons were brought to the Loevy's and they made the 17 letters out of it.

I bet almost no-one knows all these three facts, that's why I am sharing it with you.