Recently some pictures of the building itself. This post is about what is still lying around there, collecting dust. From propaganda to administration to construction contracts and even old newspapers.

By popular hint I got into the Embassy of Iraq in East-Berlin, together with some couchsurfers. The building is deserted since 1991 and since nothing happened here. Formely it still belongs to Iraq, but as you can guess they kind of have other problems. What makes this building interesting over other deserted buildings that it looks like they had to abandon everything in the course of a few hours. Papers and old machinery still ly around. After twenty years of decay and a fire it’s completely run down, but still offers a view into history you normally see only behind the windows of a museum this days. This is the first post, interior and some exterior of the building. But first check the video after the break.

Een van de meest boeiende plaatsen die ik ben tegengekomen in Duitsland is Halle aan de rivier Saale. Alhoewel dat niet heel moeilijk is want sinds Osnabruck was het tevens de grootste plaats. En het is relatief dicht bij Leipzig.

Maar dat is niet het enige. De stad heeft een turbulente geschiedenis en pas sinds recente tijd bezig met op te krabbelen, zo lijkt het. Niet alleen is er een altstadt intact met dingen zoals het Handelhaus, ook heeft de stad de oorlog min of meer overleeft, de DDR-tijd en het faillisement van alles wat in Oost-Duitsland industrie was. En er is een grote universiteit.

Het moest er nog uit. Een mooi gebied in veel te weinig foto’s. Van Goslar tot aan Ballenstedt.

Ik vermoed dat ik wel kan wennen aan het uitzicht…

I guess most people heard it by now already via Twitter of Facebook, but here goes the official announcement: Yep, I did stop walking to Poland for indefinite time and staying in Berlin for at least a month.

After a 1000 km or so to Dessau I found out that every day I was looking more and more at the distance and less and less about what I would see that day, or who I would meet. If you think more about the destination than the way to it, it has no point to travel – especially not on foot.

A regionalbahn later I find myself in the almost vibrant city of Berlin. By coincidence, or call it a stroke of fate (I don’t care), somebody offered a room for next month. I was not first, but apparently enthusiastic enough to get it!

That’s a singular, but very good start of this week. Which only got better by meeting up with old and new friends in the city. While my feet are getting rest this month, my brain will think about new opportunities and new adventures to be had. In which if you would like to participate you are more than welcome. As a reader or living it first-hand.

To conclude: What are your summer plans this year?