U55 – The Chancellor’s Metro

With a length of only 1,8km and merely 3 stops being served, the U55 is currently Berlin’s shortest underground but that will change as it is an isolated subsection of the U5 and will join forces with its mother in 2019 after the construction works at Unter den Linden as well as Alexanderplatz get finished.… Read More

Photo Series featuring Berlin’s Metro Network

The German capital can look back on a worldwide unique history and of course the city’s constructional countenance gives a very good reflection of that. Against the background of other European capitals Berlin seems to skip a couple of urban development stages. Despite constructional blunders and demolition one of the best history tellers is still around, that is the city’s infrastructure, in particular the underground transportation, its diverse tunnels and various stations.… Read More

From North to South with Berlin’s U6

The photographic ride along the course of Berlin’s underground continues, this time with the U6 which runs from the North to the South, connecting bourgeois Alt-Mariendorf with the aviation noise characterised Alt-Tegel neighbourhood. Along its course the U6 serves not only 29 stations, it also stops at important transportation hubs like Wedding and Tempelhof, both part of the circular S-Bahn line, or Friedrichstraße, one of Berlin’s major transfer stations… Read More

New Caledonia – Kagu’s threatened Home

When something is really expensive then it costs “an arm and a leg”. Against that proverbial background the French overseas department New Caledonia is so expensive, that it costs even the double. The island can be a grave for your hard-earned money, in particular the south, where the capital Noumea slaps your face financially and with the typical arrogant French attitude you can meet in St.… Read More

Coconuts and Corals – The Pacific Islands

To many people the Pacific paradise of the South Seas islands was and still is one of the most exciting dream destinations. There is no question that experiencing typical advertisement-like stereotypes such as snow-white beaches, coconut palm trees and crystal clear blue-turquoise water in person is a lifetime experience par excellence.… Read More

Living at the Landing Strip – The Tuvalu Atoll

Having a look at its actual landmass, Tuvalu is the second smallest nation in the world. Some of its islands are so tiny and narrow that you can literally spit from one side to another. The heart of Tuvalu is the Funafuti atoll being embraced in the east by the main island Fongafale.… Read More

Tonga – Where Time begins

What does the Island Kingdom of Tonga have in common with a high voltage cable? Correct, both things are pretty much isolated. The 136 islands of Tonga are the only Polynesian nation that never got colonialized by the west. The archipelago being called “The Friendly Islands” lies at the 10.8km deep Tonga trench, a fault where the Pacific plates submerges the Australian, which is at the same time also the International Date Line; a place where you can meet the new year as being one of the very few first people on the planet.… Read More

U3 – The University Metro

Berlin’s underground line 3 runs through the city’s southwest, between Nollendorfplatz station and its terminus Krumme Lanke. It connects the campuses of the Berlin university ‘Freie Universität’ with the western city centre. Its present course is 12.1 kilometres long and exists since 2004. In particular the stations being located on Wilmersdorf territory were given quite an aesthetic appearance to remain as icon for the former wealth of this neighbourhood… Read More

Kreuzberg’s Main Artery – Berlin’s U1 line

Berlin’s U1 line runs east-west, from Warschauer Straße to Uhlandstraße, from Friedrichshain district to Charlottenburg. More than the half of its course U1 rides everything but U (that is underground) and the majority of its route leads through Kreuzberg district. That neighbourhood gets shaped by U1’s elevated railway trail to such an extent, that the interaction between train and district even inspired a musical to become written.… Read More

Berlin’s U4 – On a literal Short Run

When in the year 2019 the U55 merges in the U5, then U4 officially will be Berlin’s shortest underground again. Its course starts at Nollendorfplatz square, ends at Innsbrucker Platz square and measures solely 2.9 kilometres leading through Berlin’s Schöneberg district. It was the once autonomous town of Schöneberg that launched U4 as Germany’s first communal subway and even today, in a reunified Berlin, it is hard to imagine things without this metro line as it connects the western city centre with the S-Bahn ring… Read More