Berlin wall

The last time I came to Berlin I only saw a small section of the former wall separating East and West Berlin. I was told by others that I should look for some of the better preserved sections, so I went on a walking tour around the major Berlin wall sites.

There is a line of bricks marking the route of the former Berlin wall.
Bricks marking the former location of the Berlin wall

This is a preserved guard tower. These towers were used to keep an eye on the death-strip, a small section of land kept open on the eastern side of the wall in which people found entering it were shot on sight.

Guard tower used for keeping an eye on the death strip

There is a section of the death strip which has been preserved. This photo was taken through a small gap in the concrete, showing what those who attempt to scale it would have seen before being shot to death as soon as they scaled (or attempted to scale) the wall.

View into the death strip of the Berlin wall

Gunter Liftin was the first person to be shot to death attempting to escape from East to West Germany via the wall.
Gunter Litfin memorial

Nooks and crannies at Lier sykehuset

Most of the old medical equipment at Lier sykehuset has been removed, but Alice and I did find a few things which were still there. There were a few devices which seem to have been medical waste disposal units, but the purpose of other things were less obvious. If you know what they’re for, please let me know in the comments 🙂

This strange stretcher like thing was bolted to the wall. My best theory, is that it was used to strap patients to the wall when they didn't want to leave them sitting down. Clearly others were wondering what it was for too as the text beside it says "Hva er dette?", "Pliss svar!" and "Godt spørsmål", which means "What is that?", "Please answer!" and "Good question" in ENglish.

This strange stretcher like thing was bolted to the wall. My best theory, is that it was used to strap patients to the wall when they didn’t want to leave them sitting down. Clearly others were wondering what it was for too as the text beside it says “Hva er dette?”, “Pliss svar!” and “Godt spørsmĂĄl”, which means “What is that?”, “Please answer!” and “Good question” in ENglish.


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Google Glass

Thanks to the lovely Sophia Dominguez for letting my try out her Google Glass. I had the pleasure of meeting her as she was touring around Europe writing about her experiences with Google Glass.

They were surprisingly easy to use and the screen was relatively non-distracting. I don’t think I would make much use of the photography functionality which seems to be one of the primary uses people find for it, but I love having a constant feed of information and I love walking, so having a constant feed of tweets and whatnot whizzing past the corner of my eyes could be quite useful on my way to work in the morning.

Check out Sophia’s Google Glass blog at sophiathroughglass.com.

Me trying out Google Glass for the first time

Artwork at Lier sykehuset

We found quite a bit of graffiti on the walls at
Lier sykehuset, but I was actually surprised how little there was. Considering that the buildings have been abandoned since 1985 and are just sitting there with no lock or secure fence around them, I assumed they would be filled with abusive graffiti and general idiocy.

There were a lot of pentacles painted on the wall

There were a lot of pentacles painted on the wall

Label on the toy room door

Label on the toy room door

Label on the womens bathroom door

Label on the womens bathroom door

One of many rooms riddled with graffiti

One of many rooms riddled with graffiti

Lier sykehuset destruction

During our visit to Lier sykehuset, Alice and I checked out building A, which was unfortunately being destroyed. There was a small warning sign in front of the building, but it was rather obvious that entering was horridly bad idea, since half of it had been pulled down already :/

View from the front of block B at Lier sykehuset. It looked fine from this side, but a quick look around the other side of the building revealed a different story.

View from the front of block B at Lier sykehuset. It looked fine from this side, but a quick look around the other side of the building revealed a different story.

This building was clearly marked as being dangerous.

This building was clearly marked as being dangerous.

They weren't pulling anything down when were there as it was the weekend.

They weren’t pulling anything down when were there as it was the weekend.

Lots and lots of bricks!

Lots and lots of bricks!

The former morgue at Lier sykehuset

The former morgue at Lier sykehuset