Bear City

Berlin is called the bear city, somehow I have the feeling that it’s firstly related to the Spelling. You read the name of this city as quickly as you can, and then….. you’re pronouncing like a bear: belbelbel!^_^ The city’s emblem is illustrated with the image of a bear and hence you can easily find this animal in many places and occasions as a friendly mascot such as bars, restaurants, cake shops, stadiums and so on. I guess there should be some sport teams which favor the name too, maybe. One bear, the cute knut, has made Germany’s Capital even more famous. Millions of People streamed here to watch this little creature and the city really live up to its name! Bear has  become a cultural note for Berlin and they never can be separated any more. Another yearly big event to mention is the amazing and influential Berlin Film Festival, at which top stars from around the world gather here and compete with each other for the glory. If they have luck, they get a bear back, a present from Berlin! So when travelling in Berlin, do not forget to bring your friends or family some bear-shaped chocolates or other kinds of souvenirs relating to it. Have a nice time here!

little cutie:)

Red Carpet to Shine

Demonstrations and Strikes

For Chinese it is really hard to imagine how demonstrations and strikes of thousands of people could look like, and this happens as often as having daily meals here in Germany. Germany is a country with very high production costs, of which the personal costs do make up a pretty large part. This somehow relates to the democratic atmosphere here and the contributions of various strikes and demonstrations. I’ve heard the joke that after conducting a nationwide strike by train drivers for a salary promotion, there then followed another by the railway repairers because they also asked for a corresponding promotion:) So you see it is like a mechanism in which a screw is worked on and the whole machine is going to vibrate. It was good to be there in the demonstration for “True Tibet” and how people with different opinions argued with each other in a peaceful way, and now also the benefit that I enjoy to stay home for some leisure time due to the week long  strike initiated by students against insufficient support and improvement of educational conditions.
It’s always good to see what is never supposed to be seen in your own country and thus you observe the world with a more tolerant sight angle.

Bicycle Culture in Berlin

There’s an English song beginning with the lyric “there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing”, which is obviously underestimated so far as I know and as I live in Berlin, it’s very interesting to find that bicycles are also so popular here. I once watched an advertisement for VW. in which its engineers make gorgeous automobiles but they prefer riding a bike to work than driving VW. cars , which may somehow convey the value people here put in a healthy lifestyle. And if you ask who invented the bicycle and where is the first one placed, then just go to Karlsruhe in the South. I saw it there in the city hall during the Carnival last year. It was an amazing masterpiece:)
While you may hear about Companies like Herth and Zipcar which provide car sharing services worldwide, in Berlin you can also rend bicycles very easily. Besides those for rend at various railway station, you can get a bike from DB (German Railway Operator) as well. With a rate of 6 US. cent per minute and $ 15 for a whole day approximately, it is really a good choice I would recommend for travelers to Berlin. I’ll stop writting just texts and let some funny pictures here tell you more.

Bicycle Life in Belrin

DB in Move

Amazing Acrobatics

Let’s Tear it Down!

Like Father, Like Son^_^

Natural Beauty!^_^