Also Heroes Have Bad Days…

A Superman you’ve never seen before, his face rammed into the ground, blood drops all over the place… the text behind him on the wall reads “also Heroes have bad Days…“.

The sculpture by the German artist Marcus Wittmers in front of the Jewish Museum Berlin is part of the current exhibition “Heroes, Freaks and Superrabbis: The Jewish Dimension of the Comic.

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TURMKUNST 2010 – It’s Done, it’s done!

Remember the big red colossus from my first article? After almost two month and 2.000 Cans the whole Monument is now completely covered with paint and Europe’s most spectacular open air gallery is nearly completed.

The artwork will remain for at least one year so there should be enough time to pay it a visit.

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Asian Dragon Festival Berlin

And again I visited Berlin’s Gardens of the World because last weekend they celebrated the “Asian Dragon Festival”. It was quite interesting to see an original Chinese dragon carried by 15 helpers performing different figures. They also demonstrate a Chinese dragon kite, but only a small version of the normally 80meters long monsters.

The dragons are seen as wise, benevolent and bringers of good fortune. The heads are all individually hand painted, each one is unique with its own “character”.

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Cherry Blossom Festival Berlin 2010

I’m a big fan of the Japanese Sakura Trees and their Cherry Blossom Festival but sadly I don’t have the time to travel 12 hours just to watch them bloom.

So I visited the Japanese Garden of Berlin’s Gardens of the World and it seems that I wasn’t the only one who had that idea.

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TURMKUNST 2010 – Going Underground

While the work above ground is still in progress, we are going underground, because the subway station below the big red monument was painted as well.

A handful of artists were invited to prettify the bleak walls around the stairs and escalators at Berlin’s Schloßstraße.

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Renaissance Festival 2010 – A Knight’s Tale

A Renaissance Festival is fun for the whole family and every year around Easter, the knights are back in town. With fire-eaters, blacksmiths, knights, jugglers and jesters everything you need to feel like you are back in Medieval Times.

All over the place you can smell the scent of freshly baked bread, cold beer and roasted sausages. A minnesinger is playing his lute and somewhere you can here the sounds of jousting knights.

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One Day in Halle

Halle (Saale) is a small town in the eastern part of Germany, it is not only the birthplace of the famous composer Händel (engl. George Frideric Handel), also the famous Halloren Chocolate Factory / Museum is located in this town.

Halle is the largest city in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale (literally Halle on the Saale river, and in some historic references simply Saale after the river) in order to distinguish it from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current official name of the city is Halle (Saale).

The Halloren Chocolate Factory is the oldest producing chocolate factory in Germany. Its origins date back to the founding of a gingerbread bakery in 1804. The main product of Germany’s oldest chocolate factory is the “Original Halloren Kugel”, small chocolate balls filled with creams in different flavors.

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TURMKUNST 2010 – Street Art XXL

It’s time for another Street Art and this one is special. Turmkunst 2010 or Art Monument 2010 is a project of 4 international artists, Flying Förtress (Hamburg, Germany), Honet (Paris, France), Sozyone (Alicante, Spain) and Craig KR Costello (New York, USA). During April, Turmkunst 2010 will be Europe’s most spectacular open air gallery, with 2000m², 46 m above the streets of Berlin.

The big red monument called Bierpinsel (eng. Beer Brush) is a 46m high tower in the Steglitz district of Berlin and was build from 1972 to 1976. The Building has three floors usually equipped with restaurants and a night club. After it was closed in April 2006, the new owner wants to rebuild the complete area with a new entrance building. But before that, four international artists will commence work on the most complex canvass Europe has to offer.

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Leipzig Book Fair 2010

Last weekend, I was in Leipzig to visit the Leipzig Book Fair 2010.

The Leipzig Book Fair is the most important spring meeting place for the publishing and media sector and has evolved into an attractive hallmark both in Germany and across Europe.

But after I arrived at the exhibition grounds, it was obvious that the fair isn’t only about Books anymore. Cosplayers, as far as the eye could see.

Since Animes and Mangas are becoming more and more famous in Germany, Cosplay is pretty popular among the fans and instead of taking pictures from books and their authors, I focused on capturing all the amazing costumes I saw during my time at the fair.

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ITB 2010 – The whole world at one place

After 3 long weeks I finally got my camera back, I had to send it to the Canon support to fix a broken card slot and a broken digital board.

With my brand new (repaired) camera, I visited this years ITB, the International Tourism Fair 2010 in Berlin.

The ITB is the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show with more than 180,000 visitors, among these 108,000 trade visitors, and over 10,000 exhibitors from 180 countries. The whole variety of travelling is present at ITB Berlin: Destinations, tour operators, booking systems, carriers, hotels and all other suppliers who want to embellish their customers most beautiful weeks of the year.

It was an interesting day, besides lots of catalogs and brochures with information about the different countries, people had the chance to see traditional dances, craftsman and goods from around the world.

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