Category Archives: tourism

Berlin, health care, tourism, vision

VanMoof Electrified S

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I am a UK citizen but have  been living in Berlin for the last 8 years. I have been a keen cyclist since a teenager but have got even more into cycling since moving to Berlin. I cycle from north Spandau to Prenzlauer Berg every day (roughly 38 km a day or last year 9.800 km in a year).

My third bike got stolen recently and on the night I went to my local bike repair shop in Gleimstraße to buy a replacement, I happened to see this cool dude on an amazing bike outside the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden. I knew that this was the bike I wanted, had no idea that it might be electric etc. I didn’t even remember the name right (thought it had a “Z” in it) so couldn’t find it on the internet. In the end I searched for “Fahrrad mit Lampe im Rahmen” and I found the bike straight away. When I read the vision of the company on their website, I was overwhelmingly convinced that I had found the right bike. Then I discovered that the only branch of Van Moof was in my Kiez! So I went there and I have to say that the customer service/sales team were outstanding.

Now comes the honesty moment. I on purpose tried a non-electrified Vanmoof before trying the Electrified S, thinking that the latter would outshine the former. In reality, I preferred the non-electrified version since I am used to changing gears and feeling in control. Plus I love the bonus of daily exercise for my health. Somehow, however, perhaps in part due to the 30 day opportunity to change one’s mind, I decided to take a risk and to go for the Electrified S. I freely admit that this decision was guided also a bit by the desire for prestige and wanting to turn some heads (which the bike in an understated way definitely does).

After just a few days I was totally convinced. The bike is superb in every respect. The attention given to detail is truly amazing. Design: amazing. The quality of the parts: amazing. Riding position and comfort, even without suspension over cobbled streets: amazing. I still get my daily exercise, however I am constantly travelling at 30 km/h and nearly as fast uphill or against the wind. It’s a great experience for anyone who needs to get around a city like Berlin. I am a single parent father with four children, yet I am easily able to do the daily shopping with the carriers attached to the rear bike rack.

By the way, the app is also good but a bit glitchy and has masses of room for exciting development. And the “peace of mind” warranty does what it says. If your bike gets stolen, thanks to the built-in GPS, the VanMoof guys go looking for it. If they can’t find it, you get a new bike. Simple.

I have also noticed that this wonderful cycling experience comes with a health warning! I can’t help noticing how both car drivers and pedestrians are not accustomed to bikes travelling so fast! Hence, cars so frequently cut you up because they do not realise how fast you are travelling and pedestrians, who often do not hear you coming, are also shocked and step out unexpectedly right out in front of you, so you have to be much more alert than when you are riding an ordinary bike.

Conclusion: if you live in a city and you like cycling and you have some money to spare, buy a VanMoof Electrified S. You won’t regret it.

“Cycling is possibly the greatest and most pleasurable form of transport ever invented. It’s like walking only with one-tenth of the effort. Ride through a city and you can understand its geography in a way that no motorist, contained by one-way signs and traffic jams, will ever be able to. You can whiz from one side to the other in minutes. You can overtake £250,000 sports cars that are going nowhere fast. You can park pretty much anywhere. It truly is one of the greatest feelings of freedom once can have in a metropolitan environment. It’s amazing you can feel this free in a modern city.”  Daniel Pemberton

 

Berlin, Cooking, Education, European Union, health care, plant-based lifestyle, society, tourism, vegansim

Choose vegan: Update #3

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Spanish “vegan” salad

I’ve just got back from a wonderful two weeks in Spain (Andalusia). It is so easy to relax there and I love everything about it: the people, the weather, the language, the culture, the music, the sea and the food. And they never seem to go to bed, not even families with young children. Ernest Hemingway wrote: “There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day.”

Being a vegan in Spain was much harder than in Berlin. In fact, I failed to keep going. I had lunch on my first day in a chiringuito overlooking the Mediterranean. I asked the waiter for a vegan salad. He looked puzzled and asked for confirmation. “Just salad, please,” I explained, “maybe some tomato, cucumber, peppers and lettuce – nothing that has come from an animal.”

“Sí, señor,” he replied confidently as he went away to place my order with the kitchen. About ten minutes later, my vegan salad arrived (see photo above) complete with a mound of tuna fish and sliced egg.

I had a similar experience in the shops and supermarkets. It was so much more difficult to find almond milk or soya yoghurt and although I managed to buy some tofu, I could not find any seitan or tempeh.

There is a paradox here somewhere. It is currently harder to live a plant-based life in Spain where there is an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables than it is in Germany where there is an abundance of meat and where we import so much of our fruit and vegetables from Spain. How can this be? Why is that veganism, rather like buying organic produce, is a privilege of the stronger economy?

Leaving the politics, power and lobbying of the meat and dairy industry to one side, I can only assume that we are dealing with a matter of culture and education. When your country is more than three-quarters surrounded by a sea teeming with fish, naturally it becomes part of the culture to enjoy paella, salpicón, fish soup and barbecued sardines. Yet we know that doing something for cultural reasons does not make it morally right. Were Spanish children to be exposed to the truth about the suffering that these fish and other animals in the meat and dairy industry endure, I am confident that there would be a gradual shift in the culture too. Then, countries like Spain would become the ideal place to enjoy a plant-based lifestyle.

And finally, what about vegans killing flies or buying down pillows,  leather sofas or wearing wool pullovers?

Logically, if the primary motivation for a plant-based lifestyle is to prevent the unnecessary suffering of animals, then it would be better to avoid killing wasps and flies and so on if at all possible. I hope you get my gist. To go into more detail rapidly becomes absurd. For example, when I was in Spain, there was a plague of jellyfish. These fascinating animals have no eyes, no heart and no brain. Would it be okay to kill them? I’d still say, better not.

With down pillows, leather sofas and wool pullovers, the answer is easier. In order to produce these goods, animal suffering is nearly always involved. One glance at the videos contained in the hyperlinks above should be enough to convince you.

Now I’m back home, I am back on course with my plant-based diet and feel better for it. However, I am still a bit jittery about the latest Brexit statements coming for the UK. Apparently, it could happen that UK citizens living in Europe will no longer receive their pensions. Ah well, as my son said, at least I could go and open the first vegan restaurant in Torremolinos?

“I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries. How easy it is to make friends in Spain!” – George Orwell

Berlin, European Union, new writer, politics, refugees, society, tourism, war

Berliner

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It has taken me a couple of days to write again. I have been so upset by what has happened in my city, even though we are still waiting for details to emerge.

Last night I went to the Breitscheidplatz Christmas market which is right next to where I used to live. There was an eery silence while hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles. Very faintly in the background I could hear Christmas music and a vacuous sermon from the Gedächtniskirche, totally out of kilter with the prevailing mourning.

When I went into the KDW, the largest department store in the EU, it was empty. Three days before Christmas. Surreal.

My main concern is the sadness for those who had their lives so unexpectedly and tragically taken from them, for the injured and for all those who are close to them. This tragedy will affect the most relaxed capital city in Europe for many years.

My secondary concern is that a possible act of terrorism will achieve the goals of those who carry it out. Society becomes divided. Acts of mercy are described as treachery. Racism rules. Trust is undermined. Faiths are divided although believers worship the same God. An ominous fear prevails. Democracy is hijacked by extremists.

This morning on the way to work there was a very large holdall unattended on the station platform. As I got nearer, an Asian guy approached it and I asked him if it was his. “Yes,” he replied. For the first time in my life I realized that the question was meaningless: if he was a suicide bomber, it would make no difference.

On the train, I then read about that (excuse me) fucking idiot, Nigel Farage, saying that this event in Berlin was Angela Merkel’s fault. Horst Seehofer and the AfD are following suit.

In Berlin we have the first ever ruling red-red-green coalition. Last week, it looked as if Berlin was going to pioneer the political future model for Germany. As just one minor example: they have up-to-now rightly stood against increased video surveillance of our city. Will all that change now?

I hope against hope that my adopted city and country will not give in to the aims of terrorism. I hope that democracy and freedom and racial tolerance will prevail. And I trust that, in spite of all current appearances, the pen will triumph over the gun.

 

Berlin, tourism

Berlin Tourist Tips

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Here are a few ideas about some places to visit in Berlin. Spring, Summer and Autumn are all great, and the Winter is okay at Christmas and if it snows, but January – March are best avoided. A bike is the best way to get ground the city. You can hire one from Fat Tire Bikes at the Zoo or Alexander Platz.

I have some much cooler ideas (see the photo below) that will take away from the main tourist attractions but leave you with indelible memories of this unusual city. Write me if you would like to know more.

Click here to download > Berlin sightseeing 2016

Flughafensee