Astro-Not!

one Man Bunker
One Man Bunker

During our tour of all of the Mills (see prior post here) back on June 1st, one of the places we drove through is Wünsdorf. It’s not a very big place (about 6000 people), but played a key role in the Soviet v/s the US space race and the cold war.
The following is a rough translation of a German Wikipedia article Thanks to babelfish.

Wünsdorf saves a long militarily traditional history. In Wünsdorf was beside the partial headquarters underground put on of the OKH (Tarnbezeichnung: Maybach I) and OKW (Maybach II) from 1939 to 1945 settled in the message shelter zeppelin the office 500. Here it concerned one of the largest message junctions during the Second World War. These are protected by thick Panzertüren. Here also the first tanks, thickness Bertha and the V-weapon were tested.

After the war Wünsdorf became the seat of the supreme command of the group of the Soviet armed forces in Germany (after 1990 under the designation west’s group of the troops). Except the 2,700 inhabitants lived at point times 50,000 to 60,000 Soviet men, women and children there. For citizens of the GDR the area was restricted area. Within the fenced and/or ummauerten area numerous Soviet mechanisms were such as kindergartens, schools, business etc. after the departure of the Soviet armed forces 1994 developed the EWZ (development company forest city Wünsdorf/Zehrensdorf ltd.) the area on behalf the Brandenburgian federal state government. In the abandoned staff buildings numerous authorities were settled, among them the Brandenburgian office of a federal state for the regulation of open fortune questions and the Brandenburgian office of a federal state for care of monuments and archaeological federal state museum. The former barracks were converted mostly to houses, on free-vacated surfaces developed single family house areas and it local supply mechanisms, a primary school as well as kindergartens were established. These represent now together the municipality part of forest city.

Even today, the place is impressive- yet creepy. Why? Because there are abandoned bunkers and old traning facilities all over the town, and even the “new” modern buildings sit on top of what used to be part of the Soviet Air Defense plans:

Air Defense 2
Air Defense Bunker

I guess, among all the bunkers though, I was able to find a bit of humor. The reason is because all over town there were soviet era statues – Lenin, Stalin, etc. And then.. there was this priceless gem… which me laugh – because he is a Cosmonaut – (aka an Astro-NOT!) with highly detailed musculature:

Russian Cosmonaut Statue
Russian Cosmonaut Statue (talk about super abs!)

Ass-tro-not ( he's a cosmonaut)
Oh – by the way, did I mention the butt detail on the statue is “out of this world”.

More photos of the set are here.

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The Baroque in Rural NeuZille

Steeple and Sky

During our tour of all of the Mills (see prior post here) back on June 1st, Michael and I stopped for lunch at a place named Kloster Neuzille. This rural town is famous for two things – it’s Kloster brew beer (which was made by the monks in the 1400’s) and the Baroque church and gardens that are on the grounds of the monestary.

When you intially walk up, you basically have to pass a lovely pond covered with lilypads and little ducks with a nice view of the complex in the background. (The opposite side has cafes):

Kloster Neuzille & Pond
Cloister NeuZille Pond

Once you walk around the pond, you come up to the main entry of the complex, which looks relatively plain in yellow and white:

Kloster Neuzille complex
Cloister NeuZille complex from the outside

Thing is that the simple and relatively plain outside is rather decieving. Why? Because once you approach the doors – you recognize that these monks had lots of time and truly filled the church with magnificent carvings and artwork. A sample of the overpowering nature of the building (which made me think “how the heck do I photograph this and do it justice? Not sure that’s possible!” :

Entry Door
Entry Door Pattern

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Entry way Ceiling

Click these for full photo:
IMGP0470-26
Main Altar

IMGP0475-31
Looking back toward the Organ.

I finally decided to start focusing on the small pieces that made up the whole – to see if I could capture some of the beauty up close – as the entire details were too much.

Madonna with Sapphire crown & childCompass Rose inlay wall panelingSword of GoodReleased from Life

1: Madonna with Sapphire Crown & Child; 2: Inlaid Compass Rose Wall Panelling; 3: Sword of Truth; 4: Released from Life

From there, I went out to the gardens, and found that they were just as lovely:

Baroque Gardens NeuZelle
Baroque Garden Layout

as they were filled with roses, irises, and winding paths:

Orange & pink RoseIris and Baroque Garden

In the end, I came away feeling overwhelmed with the beauty, a knowledge of why this was added as a UNESCO world heritage site, and well, a feeling that no matter what, the Angels Support Us.

Angel(s) Support Us

Many More photos here – from not only the main closter, but the secondary (smaller) church next door (also Baroque).

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Pop Culture Expert


Warholized Hatching Ideas

I read today that my company has hired an expert on pop culture to go to fashion week and blog about it. It made me wonder how does one become a pop culture expert, exactly? Is there an actual POP CULTURE Degree?!? Is it a bit of modern marketing BS? It really made me go Hum.

I decided to Google it, because I thought hum… I could do that job. No, really, I could.

The answer, in a word… is No. You don’t need a degree*. You just need an internet connection.

How to become a Pop Culture Expert…

Thus, I hereby declare myself a Pop Culture Expert. I have an internet connection. (You can pay me the big bucks now!)

*I did google pop culture degree – there are actually universities and colleges offering pop culture degrees. It looks like it’s a MASTER’s Degree, and requires a Bachelor’s of Arts. So, I while you may not “technically” need one to call yourself a pop culture expert – if you want that piece of paper, I guess you could get it.

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