Berlin celebrated 25 years since the Berlin wall fell, by launching 8000 lighted balloons from an 11 km section of where the wall originally lay.
Mountain climbing in Berlin
I cycled up the tallest, most fearsome peak in the whole of Berlin at midnight last night. Teufelsberg is a 120 m high mountain in the former West Berlin, built from 75,000,000 m3 of rubble deposited there after the war. Buried underneath the mountain is an incomplete Nazi military-technical school designed by Albert Speer.
The USA’s NSA organisation decided it would be a great idea to build one of their largest spy installations on top of the mountain during the 1960’s. The original spy domes and their protective fencing are still there.
I can neither confirm nor deny if someone may have breached the outer perimeter to inspect the domes at close range 😉
The moon was so bright that we could barely see any stars out.
This is the entrance to the facility.
Our group of explorers admiring the domes in all their moonlit glory.
There is double barbed wire fencing surrounding the top of the hill to protect the domes. Guards roam the grounds 24/7, so anyone entering after hours should be super careful.
The domes looked beautiful in front of the full-moon.
Eurofighter
This crazy looking aircraft is the Eurofighter. The most advanced fighter jet currently in use publicly within European air forces. I took these pictures at the Berlin airshow earlier in the year.
More F16 pictures
F16 Fighting Falcon
My bedroom back in the 1980’s was adorned with multiple models of the F16 Fighting Falcon, an American fighter jet which capture my imagination after watching the overly cheesy movie Iron Eagle. Fast forward quite a few years, and I eventually got the chance to see some first hand at the Berlin Airshow earlier this year. The sound of them flying is incredible, as is the phenomenal acceleration.
A steep climb, including dropping counter measures, with extra photoshopping to show the plume better
A steep climb, including dropping counter measures. I did some “Photoshopping” (I actually used the GIMP) to show up the exhaust plume and counter measures better.
WordCamp Norway
No I haven’t been visiting Oslo recently, but I forgot to post these pictures from WordCamp Norway, a conference I was attending there back in January.
We stopped off at the palace after dinner. I used to live not far from here back when I lived in Oslo.