Out of office - London calling

To catch up on some well-needed rest after a busy last few weeks, Euroblog’s editor has departed to London for two weeks.

As can be seen from the above photo however, holiday relaxation is not the easiest thing to come by on the London Underground. Infact, getting inside the carriages in London's U-Bahn is a job in itself. al

The long thirst

Berlin's yuppies and their love of swimming has been documented on this page before - but now it seems that frustrated workers want a chance to enjoy a cool off at the end of their day too.

With warm, humid weather being the daily norm in Berlin for almost a month now, last Thursday saw over 70 000 locals throw in the towel and go swimming in Berlin's lakes, pools and rivers (eight times more than this time last year). Many of those who can take days off work are doing so, whilst those stuck at work often miss out - old-fashioned laws regulating opening hours mean that most of Berlin's public swimming facilities have to close at 7pm.

Whilst many local council members agree that a change to the law should be relatively simple, spokespeople for lifesaver and security staff unions complain that if opening hours are extended they won't be allowed their (statutorily-regulated ofcourse) eleven-hour rest period between shifts. Meanwhile, the city sweats on the outcome - literally. al
Photo: "Bötzowsee", author's own collection.

"The love is back" - Loveparade 2006

After a two year absence, the world's most famous electronic music festival came back in style on the weekend, attracting 1.2 Million guests to the 'party mile' in Berlin's Tiergarten.

With the "The Love is Back" slogan plastered on t-shirts, buildings and billboards all over the city - this year's Loveparade no doubt benefited from a commercially savvy approach to it's organisation. After being abandoned by the Berlin city council in 2003, the project was privately financed this year by Germany's gym-king, Rainer Schaller, the owner of McFit Fitness.

According to ravers, Saturday's parade had a bit of a different feel to it - not least because the Loveparade's initial founder, Dr Motte, was absent from this year's line-up. Nevertheless, to bemused outsiders, the festival remains largely the same - grinding techno music with too much bass, wierd and wonderful costumes and thousands of overly-tanned bodies from the McFitness generation. al

Time for something new

With the football world cup finally over, Berliners are slowly getting back to what they do best - looking cool in crazy locations. Without doubt, this weekend's hottest destination was Badeschiff, a luxurious swimming pool that floats in the Spree River.

Since 2004, the converted barge (Badeschiff means 'bathing ship' in German) has been a magnet for Berlin's scenesters - its mixture of lectures, arthouse films and dj's managing to keep the young crowd entertained even when the sun isn't shining.

Arguably, another reason for the pool's success is that it finally allows people to do what they have always wanted: have a cooling swim in the tempting, yet heavily polluted, Spree River. alA super-cool local practices the Berlin art of "seeing and being seen".