Eco Fair1

I regularly go to the berlin.de portal to see what's going on, and for this weekend, we had the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, and an Eco-fair.

Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften or the Long Night of the Sciences is an initiative by all of the institutions in Berlin and Postdam that have anything to do with science and technology: the Technical University of Berlin, Humboldt University, the Natural History Museum, etc. People buy tickets, and then can ride a shuttle bus around different sections of the city where the institutions host events, some of them elaborate. The TU Berlin had an especially elaborate collection, which we attended since it was in Charlottenburg where we live. We took a 45 minute crash course in Bulgarian, watched a lecture by a woman who'd invented a device that had helped her daughter walk, very cool! (the daughter had a stroke when she was a baby and lost control of one side of her body), and took a guided tour of the different stones used in the buildings. The stones tour came with a booklet and was both educational and entertaining, plus we can look at some of the other sites later.

Anyway, back to the eco-fair. The announcement in berlin.de focused on the informational stands. On the way to the Brandenburg gate were 200+ exhibitors with an eco theme. A eco bank, homemade honey (one beekeeper even brought some demonstration bees), different food items including sustainable cocoa and cocoa beans, information on being a vegetarian / vegan, and more. We had a chat with one of the representatives of the Green party, which was interesting. We got some info on gardens in Berlin. We almost had some eco ice-cream.

Eco toilet

Especially impressive were the eco-toilets, made of wood and, I think, meant to generate compostable waste (in the background a memorial for the Russian soldiers who died during the final assault on Berlin during WWII).

But the real focus of the fair was bikes and biking. It started with the bike tram, shown below and powered by 2 guys on bikes.

Bike tram

And quite a few of the stands offered bike-oriented goods, including large bikes suitable for carrying stuff.

The Nehmt Ruecksicht (Be Considerate) campaign had a stand as well.

I'd seen their large billboards before, offering cans of consideration with always a positive talking point, for example the woman below with the can saying "effective immediately".

But the big deal was the Sternfahrt that was being put on by the ADFC or Bicycle Club - kind of a AAA for bikers. A Sternfahrt means that different people start at different places at different times and converge at the same place - in this case, people starting from all over northeast Germany and converging on the Brandenburg Gate. More and more people join at different meeting points at different times. Streets are closed, and a good time is had by all.

Last year, there were 200 000 (that's right two hundred thousand!) participants. It is the largest bicycle demonstration in the world. We figured some of this out as we were getting ready to bike toward home. More and more people were heading in the opposite direction. And more. And yet more! It was fun to watch. Old and young. Lots of kids on bikes - and I mean on bikes. I have yet to see a kid on a bike attached to the parent's bike and doing nothing at all. Here, the kids pedal, or they don't move.

Sternfahrt on Strasse des 17. Juni

It was fun to watch. Some folks had banners. Some folks were playing music from portable boom boxes attached to their handlebars. It was especially fun to get to the Siegessauele, the gigantic pillar in the middle of Groessestern with a roundabout circling it, also closed to car traffic. Everyone rode around it, to the sound of "Born to be Wild".

Regrettably, a misunderstanding seemed to have caused a crash between two bikers, but it was encouraging to see that two Red Cross helpers were already on scene in their stylish red outfits - and of course, they had come by bike.

We were possibly a bit sorry to not have known more and joined the festivities - but it always takes a long time to untangle such crowds and we - having passed on the eco ice cream, the vegan burger, and the whole happy cow on the spit - were a tad hungry and rode back to a cafe near our apartment for some traditional 3 o'clock coffee and cake.