What happens if a lonely piano is standing around in public? After some examining, people are starting to play on it and you will get a big plus, if you can actually play something that doesn’t sound like as if you are hitting the keys with only two fingers.
So yesterday was Earth Hour, a world wide event organized by WWF. Hundreds of cities in 131 countries around the globe switched off their lights for one hour, from 8:30 pm till 9:30 pm, 26 March 2011.
Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.
In Berlin, the Brandenburger Tor, the Rote Rathaus as well as the Fernsehturm and many other public buildings turned off their lights during this hour. Hundreds of candles were build up in front of the Brandenburger Tor to form the words “Energiewende Jetzt” which means something like, “change your energy sources now” or “change to clean energy now”.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe or Holocast Memorial is a construction which was build on 1st April in 2003, well let’s say they began to build it, because the last stelae was erected on 15th December in 2004.
The Memorial, which contains 2,711 stelaes, covers a vast area of 19.000 m² and can be found near the Brandenburger Tor in the middle of Berlin.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the centre of Berlin is Germany’s central Holocaust memorial site, a place for remembrance and commemoration of six million victims. The Memorial consists of the Field of Stelae designed by architect Peter Eisenman and the underground Information Centre and is maintained by a Federal Foundation.
The City of Berlin has placed a 14 meters high and 53 meters wide Hollywood Sign in the middle of the Tiergarten between the Brandenburg Gate and the Potsdamer Platz.
The Holly- wait.. there is only one L? Oh boy, something went terribly wrong…
Just kidding, the Holywood Sign is a creation by the artist and filmmaker Ralf Schmerberg and part of a Climate Protection campaign, to plant 10.000 new trees all across the City.
So from now on, it’s “Welcome to HolyWood”.
Darth Vader is in town and he roams around the Brandenburg Gate, but beware, if you threaten him he will challenge you to a lightsaber duel, but if you ask him friendly for a direction, he will kindly help you out.
From the Potsdamer Platz through the Friedrichstraße to the Brandenburg Gate, the Coca Cola Christmas Trucks were on a tour through Berlin once again. Like last year, it was the coldest day of the year (-13°C), only the heavy snowfall was missing.
Sebastian Vettel, the youngest Formula One World Champion ever, who won the title on Nov. 14 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, celebrated his victory by driving his 750hp race car in front of the Brandenburger Tor.
It was freaking cold but an amazing show, about 85.000 people came to see Vettel and his RB6 (called “Randy Mandy”) speeding down the Straße des 17. Juni.
You will see a lot of stuff when you visit the Brandenburg Gate, even at night and while it’s getting cold outside and everyone is wearing their winter jackets, some brave fire dancers thought it would be interesting to deliver a fiery show, topless.
The Festival of Lights has finally ended and during the last two weeks, I took a couple of pictures from Berlin’s most known Landmarks. Sadly, due to restoration works, the Victory Column wasn’t illuminated this year, but I got some nice shots from the Berliner Dom, Schloss Charlottenburg and the Brandenburger Tor.
Again in 2010 more than 60 buildings will be illuminated during this years Festival of Lights. Many landmarks and buildings – including the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral and the TV Tower – will be staged with light, events, projections and fireworks. The Potsdamer Platz will serve as the point of contact for visitors to get information about the locations and events of the Festival of Lights.
The Festival of Lights has become one of the most important international public events in Berlin. For nearly two weeks (From October 13th to October 24th 2010 from 7 pm to 12 am [core time]) , numerous illuminations and events transform the German capital into a sparkling metropolis, where Berlin’s world-famous landmarks, buildings and sites are the stars of the show.