Excursions from Berlin : Beelitz Heilstätten today

Beelitz is the first and foremost  "lost place" destination for photographers in search of the unusual. The discovery of this location was possibly the kickoff for the hunt for lost and abandoned places that have been covered by travel books and guides for photographers, workshops and ghost tours in recent years.
This old institution was built as a hospital and sanatorium for tuberculosis patients at the turn of the 19th century. Over 60 buildings of the same architectural style occupy an area of nearly 2 square kilometers: a women's hospital and sanatorium and a men's hospital and sanatorium, all separated by roads and parks to avoid contagion.   In 1945 the roof of the Frauenklinik burnt, collapsed and the building was abandoned. Other parts were occupied until 1994;  the Soviet army maintained a military hospital here. One of the last visitors was Erich Honecker who hid here some time in 1990 when the heat was on, before he escaped to Moscow in 1991.

Myriads of pictures have been published and many films shot. Polanski's "Pianist" and the film "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise made use of this place.

I am adding a few pictures, all taken from the outside, some through windows and openings.

The buildings can nowadays only be entered when booked for registered tours and photography workshops. But I am loathe ... I still have not taken part in a photography workshop. I abhor the idea that someone should tell me where to put my tripod, what settings to use, when to press the shutter release... It seems to strip photography of the most pleasing and rewarding aspect,  to see something unusual, to fix a moment in time, to have a personal history with the resulting image.  But I have to admit, workshop photos mostly come out quite perfect; for someone who wants to produce perfect single images, or who enters competitions, it may be a good thing. Furthermore they are a good opportunity for professional photographers to earn money with teaching, if they have proprietary access to good locations, have done diligent location scouting, checking out the perfect light etc. and have some pedagogical skills. I have to try it out some time, maybe when I retire - if ever I should retire - and when my family does not want to tag along anymore... 

 over at the men's sanatorium: 

The "Frauenklinik Beelitz" (women's hospital) has undergone a development last year, when a "Baumkronenpfad" ( a treetop-level path) was constructed in 23 m height. At first, I thought it an odd concept to preserve these ruins in their state of disrepair and offer a glimpse from above instead of developing these beautiful buildings into something more useful, apartments, hospitals, offices, studios, cultural venues... but Beelitz is so far out of Berlin and is competing with so many other beautiful old ruins closer to the capital that it seems not economical for the time being. And having walked the path I find the roof-top view quite intriguing. Forests have grown on the top floor in the past decades with no soil other than what trees and shrubs produced themselves, through wind and fallen leaves. Pioneering birches climb out of empty windows, pine trees and spruce grow in the crevices and drain pipes of the old roofs, while the roots find their ways across the fassades. It seems this is a new Angkor Wat in the making.  

a new interpretation of rooftop gardening  ...

I had taken one other tree top walk before, in Singapore's Gardens by the Bay. There, the colourful illumination and the view of the bay with its utterly new and modern buildings in the "here-and-now" are the attractions. Here in Beelitz the view is more introspective, into the past and an era that has left some beautiful ruins but is otherwise better not retrieved. 

In-camera double exposures to add a little "shaky camera" effect  for horror ...

Come in! 

An der Peene

As children we used to know a little song, a lullaby with an odd and sad text, whose origins come from way before the 19th and 20th centuries and their wars:

"Maikäfer, flieg!
dein Vater ist im Krieg,
dein Mutter ist in Pommerland,
Pommerland ist abgebrannt,
Maikäfer, flieg!" 

Therefore Pommerland in my subconscious mind was a destroyed land, lost long ago, burnt down and barren and bleak after centuries of wars, gone forever, where kids lose their parents and orphans pack up their things, spread their wings and fly away to a better future. Later we learnt that Pomerania was somewhere behind the Iron Curtain and we envisioned grey cities and pale workers. But today, and for the last 26 years, part of Pommerland  - Western Pomerania - is back in a united Germany, and an area of such beauty that it took us completely by surprise. We regret not having explored this region earlier, but it is "in the middle of nowhere" as they say, a long way off the busy centres of Germany. This "nowhere" has such an enchanting and calming quality of quiet and peace, wide skies and silence, that I had before only experienced in Africa on safari : this feeling where you stand in peace and awe under the wide skies, breathe in, breathe out, let your shoulders drop and relax and think: yes, this is it, this is where I come from, this is in my bones!

Three hours northeast of Berlin towards the border with Poland in Vorpommern lies a vast and sparsely populated area of extreme natural beauty, the Peene valley. The river Peene is a tributary to the Oder which joins the Baltic Sea a little further to the north in an extended delta. It is characterized by regular flooding, a large fen area with rare plants and birds and opportunities to see beavers at work. 

Parts of the river have been naturalized only recently to enlargen the protected area and introduce some soft tourism. Cultivated areas have been left to their own devices, flood barriers have been removed, trenches filled and formerly dry elevated polders turned into marshland again. This region (http://www.naturpark-flusslandschaft-peenetal.de)  offers outstanding possibilities for observation  of fish and sea eagle and other rare species that I have not encountered in Germany in such numbers before. 

A  gradual flooding of former forests has given rise to some very unusual sights:

 I got this picture in passing, shot out of the car window, when on on our way back to Berlin from the Baltic Sea  - no need to go to Namibia or Botswana anymore?

early morning on the Peene

A bank swallow (Uferschwalbe, sand martin, Riparia riparia) in the early morning mist on the river close to Stolpe , backlit from the rising sun.


A few resident European cranes (Grus grus) by the side of the road sounding their trumpet-like piercing calls:  

Storks can be seen on many fields behind ploughs in August waiting for what is turned up: 

We enjoyed a stopover at Gutshaus Stolpe (another place with a Michelin-starred restaurant) and spontaneously decided to come back to this area when we would have a little more time, when the northern bird migration passes through in October.  An exciting bird and beaver safari on a boat seems a real option here! 

 At the end of this alley you will find an excellent restaurant in Gutshaus Stolpe.

fresh fish

Plant of the Month : Zinnia elegans

Zinnias are colourful annuals that I had overlooked for a long time, possibly because of their garish ordinaryness. Why do we always want things that are out of reach or difficult to grow or die on us after a short time? Why only soft and subtle colours? Zinnias are the opposite: loud and clamouring and in your face with many strong colors. They come along with a statement - here am I, strong, demanding and loud! Look at me! 

Zinnias, when sown in good soil outdoors, grow easily to become strong plants good for vases, displaying new flowers after each cut, lasting for several months from July until November. They come in all shades of yellows, whites, reds, pinks or violets. This year I found seeds on offer with the tempting name  "Cupid's Selection" - I had to order some and try them out. 

On a "cut-your-own" field close to our house  I found a long stretch of these lively heads - they are best in a wild mixture,  arranged into a colourful piece for the window sill. 

Enjoy! 

Das Olympische Dorf 1936

The Olympic games are on in Rio de Janeiro. Closer, here in Berlin, I had seen ads praising another of the sought after "lost places", with decrepid buildings and lots of decaying surfaces that give such interesting motifs for photographers, mostly due to the great range of shades in midtones on the grungy old rusting structures. 
On the outskirts of Berlin, in Wustermark,  the Olympic Village, where 1936 the nearly 4000 male athletes were housed and fed and where they trained during the "Nazi" games, lies rusting and forgotten. 

It is 17 km from the sports stadium that was built for the games. The latter one, however, has been converted to a modern stadium and is nowadays the home ground of the football club Hertha BSC and one of the most sophisticated sports venues in Europe.  

We decided to have a look: 

 the swimming pool

 a vaulting horse

window front of the large sports hall

the "Dining Hall of Nations"

Jesse Owens won four gold medals. His room has been reconstructed and can be visited.

Unfortunately not many buildings can be entered, most of the area is cordoned off for security reasons - most of the pictures here were taken by peeking through windows or holes in doors. 

 After 1945 the area was occupied by the Soviet army, who abandoned the place in 1992. Their marks can also be found.

Excursions from Berlin : Im Spreewald

The plan for our summer vacation this year was to get to know the countryside around Berlin. We decided to start with exploring the "Spreewald". Spreewaldgurken (gherkins) are well-known even in the old west ever since the hilarious and bitter-sweet film "Good-bye Lenin", when Daniel Brühl tries to find these special gherkins from GDR times for his mother, who slept through the fall of the Berlin wall.

Spreewald is a large area of very little elevation which causes the river Spree to divert into many smaller rivulets and build a inland delta and freshwater swamp. The area is under protection, rare birds and plants find a habitat here. 

a rare kingfisher (Eisvogel - Alcedo atthis) 

We started in the village Burg and rented a canoe. My husband promised to take over the rowing and I sat in front with my cameras. Floating on the many small branches called "fliesses" is a magical experience. The air is still save for the occasional birds' calls above our heads warning of us intruders, light is filtered through the leaves and has a green tinge,  high trees, mostly swamp loving alder trees, line the banks and reflect in the still waters.

Blauflügel- Prachtlibelle (Calopteryx virgo - beautiful demoiselle)

an artistic impression of the dancing dragonflies:

.. and of the yellow Mummel or Teichrose (Nuphar lutea) 

not so rare but from a different perspective ...

these villages are serviced from the water only

with an infrared filter