View to TV Tower from Schoenhauser Allee / Schwedter Strasse – Photo: T.Bortels/nuberlin/bilderbook.org
View to the Berlin TV Tower from Schönhauser Allee / Schwedter Strasse on a lazy Sunday afternoon in early October.
So far October was surprisingly mild. On some days temperatures were slightly above 20°C and people enjoyed some last summer moments. Indian summer in Berlin – or ‘Golden October’ as we call it.
Moritzplatz U-Bahn Station - Photo: T.Bortels/nuberlin.com
Only a couple of years ago, the U-Bahn station Moritzplatz used to be rather abandoned. But since there are a few venues and shops near Moritzplatz today, it has become more and more lively down here.
The station is located right underneath the roundabout Moritzplatz on two different levels. The upper level connects the four access points with its different staircases, leading to two larger stairs that connect the upper level to the lower level where the rails are located.
Exiting the Moritzplatz station can be a bit confusing due to its symmetrical shape – but it is very well worth taking the time to check which staircase you want to take since walking around the roundabout can be annoying – and dangerous, since there are no traffic lights.
See also: Moritzplatz
Berlin streetart - Photo: T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com
A rather typical Berlin house front, decorated with a nice piece of streetart: “She is gone”, signed “El Bocho”, as seen somewhere in a quiet side street in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg (Kollwitzstrasse near Danziger Strasse, to be precise).
You can also find this photo over here on instagram.
Berlin traffic accidents - Photo 'ambulance' by T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com
Good news: in the first six months of this year less people have died in Berlin traffic. And the numbers are actually almost half of what they used to be only one year ago. Compared to 2016 45% less people have died in traffic accidents. That is the lowest number for that time span in the past 20 years. Almost a reason to celebrate.
But the actual numbers are of course still depressing. First of all: 14 people dead in the first six months of this year is 12 less than last year, but that is of course still 14 people too many. Also the number of not fatal casualties has gone down, compared with 2016 – but only by 0.8%. And the number people that got injured went actually up by 0.6% – a total of 8.083 people that got injured by one way or another – compared to 8.05 last year.
In total Berlin police have noticed 69.962 accidents during the first half of 2017, whereas where there were *only* 68.571 accidents last year. So the number of accidents has actually gone up.
Enough text – here’s the bare numbers:
Data source: Press release “Mehr Verkehrsunfälle, aber weniger Tote in Berlin” – CC BY 3.0 DE by Amt für Statistik Berlin -Brandenburg
So – please – whatever you do, wherever you go – please be careful! Drive carefully, walk carefully, ride your bike carefully. Do double check – even when the traffic lights are green. It may not look like it, but the streets of Berlin are a dangerous place. Let’s get those numbers down! Thank you!
Airport Tegel - Photo: T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com
The Referendum “Berlin braucht Tegel” that aims at keeping the Airport Tegel open for operation obviously just managed to collect the necessary number of signatures. Almost 200.000 Berliners singed the petition that would make such a referendum possible.
Originally a law would force Airport Tegel to close once the new Berlin Airport BER would be fully functional. But it becomes more and more obvious that the new Airport will probably be already too small, when it’s finally opened. And currently nobody really knows anyways, when the Airport will actually be opened. It should have first opened in June 2012 – currently it is unclear if the Airport will open in 2018 or not.
Based on the article “Initiative Berlin braucht Tegel – Volksbegehren für Flughafen Tegel hat genug Unterschriften” (tagesspiegel.de)
Make Love Great Again - Photo: T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com
Walking around Berlin you will often find TV sets, chairs, fridges, sofas etc. on the sidewalks. Some people seem to have no clue what they should do with these objects that they obviously don’t want any more. Sometimes these objects have a note “for free” attached to the object that will soon turn into trash, if nobody actually takes it away. Probably needless to say: usually I don’t really like all these objects and things lying around.
And then there are these used mattresses. Often huge, often dirty, if not filthy – not a nice sight. I guess mattresses are among the most disliked trash objects lying around in Berlin streets.
But sometimes somebody writes a message on such a mattress – and then it becomes a whole different thing. This one at least made me smile – and I guess I’m not the only one who took a picture of that message: Make Love Great Again!
Average age of Berliners by borough – Data source: "Bestandsdaten Einwohnerregister Berlin" - CC BY 3.0 DE by Amt für Statistik Berlin -Brandenburg
Berlin is a young city – that seems to be at least the common opinion. And if you look at the sidewalks and streets of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain this seems to be so true. Especially in those ‘party districts’ there seem to be more young people on the streets, as in other districts. But are all those young people really Berliners – or ‘just’ tourists? How old is the average Berliner? A look at the official statistics provides some insight: the average age of an average Berliner is currently 42.7 years.
While only a couple of years ago the average age in Mitte was around 36 years, now it has risen to between 40 and 42.7 – still slightly less than the average. If you are roaming the streets of Berlin from time to time this may not come as a surprise: Wedding, Neuköln and Friedrichshain are currently hosting the youngest folks.
Download a large version of the above map: ‘Average age of Berliners‘
Bell Tower of Zionskirche - Photo:T.Bortels/nuBerlin.com
Another photo of the church Zionskirche in Berlin Mitte near Prenzlauer Berg / Kastanienallee. In March the weather is finally a bit more friendly again – blue skies can be enjoyed over a period of a couple of days and the temperatures are currently between 2°C (~35°F) by night and 10°C (~50°F) by day. Spring is almost here. Yay!