Unity Day Marionettes

* This is part of a series on the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and my attempt to document the events of the weekend, where 20 years before, a peaceful revolution brought about a big change which helped to end the cold war, and bring about a new Europe. Many more of the events are in the full flickr set here. *

Back in October, between the 2nd and the 4th, there was a huge event known as Unity Day. Beginning at Berlin’s city hall and moving throughout the city, celebrations were designed to celebrate the re-unification of Germany (19 years ago) as it related to the beginning steps taken 20 years ago (with the fall of the Berlin Wall). As a part of the celebrations, the city hired a group from France – the “Royal de Luxe” – to bring over to giant Marionettes (some 50 meters high) to walk through the Brandenburg gate, along Unter Den Linden, and then back again – climbing on board a ship to head back to France. It was a “modernized” tale about a young girl from East Germany, who is seeking her Uncle who was in West Germany – and finds him after years of separation. As the Giant Puppets search for each other, they passed lots of landmarks (and hundreds of thousands of parents and children) along the way.

I saw them on the last day, after they’d “discovered” each other, climbed (ok were attached to a crane and gently lowered down) to an awaiting barge – where they could promptly float off into the “sunset”, to live happily ever after.

You can find more on the puppets themselves and the newspaper article at: The Local

For even better pictures – I have to point to my friend, Andie’s blog -“the Giants are Coming” where he actually got photographs of these giant beasts “walking” through the city, handlers “on swings” in tow.

Halloween Party

For Halloween, I had an american manager, from work ,who invited me to the annual Halloween Fest. He’s American / Swedish, and has two 10 year old daughters who he really goes all out to encourage the tradition of Halloween. I love the fact that he’s so creative. Bonus points to MM who not only invited all of us to the official “costume Manditory” Halloween Fete and carved “extreme pumpkins”, but also provided a great “altar” complete with Virgin Sacrifice for dinner.

Photos at: Halloween 2009 Set on Flickr

Suicide Pumpkin

The Barbie Killer

The Baby Killer

The Sacrificial Altar

Bowing at the Alter, before the Virgin Sacrifice

The Virgin’s dead, Dig in Folks! She’s made of mexican food and girls clothing. As you dug in, you found plastic bones and pieces of random clothing. LOL!!

As far as costumes go, I’d like to give kudos to “Dick Cheney” who dropped by on the way to a Haliburton Dinner Party; “George Bush Jr” who popped in with a beer and his copy of the shreadded constitution; and “Sarah Palin” who brought her binoculars to make sure she never lost sight of Russia. They were by far the scariest Halloween Costumes Ever!