Berlin Marathon 2007

This morning I woke up by the noise of a helicopter flying over the house. Oh, yes, it's the day of annual Berlin Marathon and the 40.000 participants of the race will pass my street. So I took my camera...
I wasn't quick enough to catch the best man (no wonder, he finished later in world record time) but I took a picture of the later female winner (in white stockings).

Watching the runners reminded me of my participation two years ago and made me feeling proud and a little bit sad at the same time. Maybe my first was not my last Marathon (....I guess the remembrance of the pains is fading away :-).

Der schwarze Peter

The summer leaves

As in every year there comes a time when the leaves change their colors (and it's suddenly dark already when I'm driving home:-).
It looks so nice but unfortunately we all know what it means: the rainy and windy autumn and the cold and dark winter are about to enter the stage.
But still there are some sunflowers alive...

Restaurant boats

First I was surprised but at the second thought it is perfect logical. What's next following the invention of the urban beach bars? Right: restaurant boats.
Few tables, but very special...and I like the sensation of the slow rolling in the waves when another boat passes.

Urban wilderness...

...as wild as it gets in a city like Berlin.

Chestnuts

A clear sign of autumn: chestnuts all-over Berlin....

Hotel room series: Cottbus

Just to continue the series: this is the Radisson SAS in Cottbus. Unfortunately I just spent the night here on the travel through, got no time to discover the city...

Open Air Classic

One of the best locations to enjoy a concert of classical music is the beautiful Britzer Garten. Right in the center of the park is a small lake and in front of it a small hill, which is a perfect natural grandstand. So every year they construct a stage and invite 12000 people to enjoy a big orchestra and some famous singer artists. There are some seats in front of the stage but the real fans enjoy the slope of the hill, the best seats in the house :-)
It is funny to see how some of them are prepared. They bring chairs and even tables, blankets, food, coffee and wine, candles and other equipment to spend a great evening.
Of course it is sold out every year. And when the sun sets, the crowd gets silent and the music starts, everybody is certain about coming back next year.
The yearly culmination of the evening is the performance of the Fireworks Music by Georg Friedrich Haendel, accompanied by real fireworks which is fired in time with the beats of the music. Awesome..as the Americans say :-)

Warnemünde

And some more pics of Warnemünde:
the already known sight of lighthouse and the Teepott has to be included in every report of Warnemünde :-)
This is the famous beach with the harbor entrance in the distance, marked by the green and the red sign.
A westward view over the beach.
And here's a typical sight from the small channel called the Alte Strom, which used to be the old harbor entrance. Nowadays it is a marina for small fishing and sailing boats. Some fishermen sell their catch right from the boat and there are some boats serving fried fish all day long. So of course there are some hungry birds around, too.

Rostock once more

Some more pics of Rostock:
Here's the beautiful main building of the university of Rostock, which was founded in 1412 und is one of the oldest universities in northern Europe.
This is one of the main shopping roads of the city, a large pedestrian area along the Kroepeliner Strasse. And even if it's the usual mix of fashion and food stores, the beautiful old houses make it special somehow.
And what's the best thing to do after shopping? To enter a sidewalk cafe, sit down, have a huge coffee and watch the people passing by :-)