Travel
Eco-bikes
I love these eco-bikes. You find them in most of the big European cities now, and they are a great way to get around. You use a mobile app (of course) to register a bike, and off you go. When you’re done you pop it into a rack and you’re done.
They have a similar concept with scooters which you can leave anywhere when you’re done, and the app tells you where the nearest scooters are.
A great idea, but I somehow think the South-African public isn’t quite ready for them…
Beer tasting
Nothing like a beer-tasting at a Berlin Microbrewery, followed up with an excellent eisbein
If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend Bbrauhaus Suedstern.
Turkish coffee anybody?
When we stayed in Berlin, our host was from Turkey, which meant that I was treated to many cups of the most amazing Turkish coffee.
Lego buildings
These apartment buildings are in the middle of the former East-Berlin. They are just down the road from the Stasi headquarters. I don’t know how old they are, but to me the look very simple and functional, with an emphasis on cost and not on amazing or interesting design.
They remind me of my old lego set, looking like they could have been assembled from really big lego blocks.
This must never ever happen again
Auschwitz is one of those places that is difficult to describe. We visited both camps in 2015, but somehow I felt I needed to go back and visit Birkenau one more time. Appearances are deceiving; in some ways it looks so innocent, but everything about it tells a different story. From the cattle wagons on the train tracks, the thin walls of the barracks making it freezing cold in winter, and of course the remains of the ovens on the far side of the camp.
This is a place that needs to be remembered, it needs to be visited. We need to know what we are capable of, and we need to do everything we can to prevent this from ever happening again.
