Tempelhof airport, Berlin. 1923-2008.

The birthplace of Lufthansa in 1926. The main building ordered by Albert Speer in 1934. One of the worlds 20 largest buildings. With the worlds smallest duty free shop.

A huge, deserted airport in the middle of the capital of Germany? I just had to go and feel the time stand still.

The images of the terminal building miss details such as waiting areas, the small duty free shop and other interior but can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TempelhofInterior.jpg

Terminal building. Missing is the waiting area and duty free shop.


Left: From the roof toop, the hangar area.
Middle: Main entrance.
Right: Unfinished ballroom (if I recall correctly)

Check-in counters, right. Departures, straight ahead. Above, restaurant.

Left to right: Gymnasium built by Americans 1945. Boiling room. Terminal.


Burnt out bunkers for film storage.

I read the above on an outside poster of a supermarket. And no. I never said German was a beautiful and poetic language.

Regardless though Berlin serves me not only great Turkish lamb kebabs and superb chipotle burgers at Room 77 it also provides a brief stop in time at Würgeengel, a classic cocktail bar that instantly takes you back some 60 years. The atmosphere, the interior and the bartender with perfect manners and crisp white shirt serves among the best classic cocktails this side of earth. For 8 Euros.

Apparently according to our personal guides in the capital of Germany the name of the bar derives from a movie which name I have already forgotten. Anyone?

Until then, some visuals of the drinks enjoyed.

Me and the talented miss Hellman defied the coldest day of the year yet in GBG and went out to shoot some evening pix in town on Sunday. The first two are from up and around my hood, taken on Saturday.

Cheers and happy Christmas.

Or a study in various relaxing techniques on electric blanket, mastered by pro’s only.

It’s getting colder. The much more frequent use of electric blanket for both cat and human proves this fact very well.

I don’t do Christmas decorations. I don’t do Christmas shopping. Santa Claus is lame and I’m a Grinch.

However there IS one thing that gets to me during this season. Baking Lussekatter. And I’m a control freak here. I don’t want no diet, GI, good-for-your-arteries kinda recipe. Just want the plain, old-school thing with butter, milk, lots of saffron and not insanely sweet.

I make some batches each year, eat daily until sick and then I’m good until next year.

Lately I’ve felt a bit uninspired on the photo side. Until I got to borrow my boss’ 35 mm lens this weekend. Oh do I need one! And Scandinavian Photo finally got them in stock.