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Festival of Lights

October 6, 2013

Though the Berlin Festival of Lights 2013 officially starts on 9 October, there are some buildings that are already lit up! Yesterday we made our way to Hackeschermarkt to see the lights and sounds show at the facade of the Konzerthaus. More photos and videos after the jump!

Berlin Festival of Lights Konzerthaus

When we arrived the building was all lit up and looked like it was liquid (pictured above). Though it was drizzling people began to gather around the square in front of the Konzerthaus. Then the music began to play and the lights started to dance. Video from my Sony point and shoot below.

After the “show” the Konzerthaus was lit up in red. If I am not mistaken they have many different light and music set up for the Konzerthaus because the day before I saw in my friend’s Instagram feed a different lighting of the Konzerthaus.

Berlin Festival of Lights Konzerthaus-003

In October 2013, the Festival of Lights in Berlin changed into a glittering, colorful metropolis. 70 Berlin building, including many of the world famous landmark in Berlin, bathed in a new light, places of the city and entire streets are colorful and imaginative illuminated for 10 days after nightfall. The core hours of lighting every day 19-24 clock, but may vary on individual illuminations.

– Berlin.de

Berlin Festival of Lights Konzerthaus-002

This was but a glimpse of what is to come on 9 October. Berlin’s monuments will be lit up and entire buildings will be colourful, moving works of art. What really excites me the most are the interactive installations. I cannot wait to be a part of it. This is a great way to start the cold season. It shows a tropical island girl like me that in Berlin it is fun to go out even when it’s so kalt! (So cold!) Berlin is such an exciting city and there is always something happening every week it. Many of it is free for the public to watch and enjoy, while some activities can be joined for a small fee.

This festival has been going on since 2005. According to our friend Alex, a true Berliner, it started with simply lighting up buildings and has grown into really complicated light shows that draw in a lot of tourists.

Meanwhile the Festival of Lights has become a magnet for the tourism industry as well as a significant economic factor. Throughout the entire festival period, there are 520,000 overnight bookings, more than 1.5 million guests and many events and conventions which are especially planned during the festival period.

Here is one of the official videos for the Berlin Festival of Lights. Make sure to watch till the end to see the cool stuff!

I thought it was so cool that many people were just sitting down, chilling and appreciating the visuals like a gigantic piece of art. (Which it was!) Berlin really is a city of art. From the graffiti on the walls to the many museums – we find art everywhere!

Berlin Festival of Lights Konzerthaus-001

Special events to watch out for:

  • OpenCity on 12 October
  • Festival of Lights for Kids
  • LightRun
  • Jazz in the ministry gardens
  • music @ festival of lights
  •  Sunday sales in shopping centres
  • CLICK HERE for guided tours via bus, boat, ballon, carriage, segway, bikes, etc. There are even light tours for dogs! There are also special buses for people in wheelchairs to enjoy the Festival of Lights. How cool is that?

For more information on what’s happening on 9 – 20 October 2013 check out the official website: Berlin Festival of Lights.

I leave you with this crazy cool video of the Brandenburg Tor….

Related reads:

  • Festival of Lights – Berlin.de
  • Festival of Lights – Berlin.de/events

 

4 Comments · berlin good to know, berlin to do, What's Happening

Comments

  1. ebe says

    October 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM

    Lovely! I can’t wait.

    Although last year we saw the show Bern, Switzerland features on and it sadly puts Berlin to shame. Nonetheless – wonderful preview!

    Reply
    • diplomaticwife says

      October 7, 2013 at 2:37 PM

      Hi Ebe, I’ve never been to Switzerland nor have I ever seen a Festival of Lights so I am very excited about the upcoming one in Berlin. I cannot imagine how amazing the Festival of Lights is in Bern! I hope one day to see it! What month is the one in Bern?

      Reply
  2. ebe says

    October 7, 2013 at 6:42 PM

    The festival in Bern was in preparation for Christmas, but took place as early as November. You can see some its awesome-ness (although we didn’t really capture it) in our post: http://ianandebe.blogspot.de/2013/02/bern-switzerland-city-of-fountains.html

    Enjoy the Festival of Lights! UBerlin had a great post of animated gifs from the event last year: http://www.uberlin.co.uk/festival-of-lights-in-gifs/

    Reply

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    October 25, 2013 at 12:30 AM

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Welcome

Hello! I’m Ayessa, trailing spouse to a diplomat, mama to DiploBaby and DiploDog and founder of Declutter MNL. I love talking about how to achieve a minimaluxe lifestyle one step at a time.

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HOW NEAR IS @geneveaeroport? We are very lucky th HOW NEAR IS @geneveaeroport?

We are very lucky that the Geneva Airport is very near because it is located 4 km northwest of the city centre. It takes us less than 15mins by car & is easier to get to than airports outside the city.

BUT also means that many of the Geneva residents suffer from AIRCRAFT NOISE POLLUTION. 

In some parts of Geneva, like Vernier, Meyrin, Bellevue, Versoix, etc will have the airplane pass on top of you or very near you. This is something to consider when you are MOVING TO GENEVA & looking for a home.

When we were in @bioparcgeneve recently, it felt like airplane after airplane was going overhead every few mins. The poor animals were screaming each time.

A  report by the European Environment Agency(EEA) in 2017 said that 12% or 73,500 Geneva residents have their hearing disturbed by aircraft noise. Probably the figures have risen with the natural increase population & travel?

“The EEA describes noise as a pervasive pollutant that directly affects the health and well-being of humans and wildlife. Populations exposed to high noise levels can exhibit stress reactions, sleep-stage changes, and clinical symptoms like hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. All of these can contribute to premature mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) reckons that humans exposed to noise levels above 40 decibels at night experience adverse health effects.

Across Europe it is estimated that noise contributed to at least 900,000 additional cases of hypertension in 2011.” - @le_news_ch 

DID YOU KNOW that owners of homes affected by the noise can request for soundproofing to be paid for by GVA? 

Check if your home meets the conditions for FREE SOUNDPROOFING c/o Genève Aéroport here:

https://www.gva.ch/en/Site/Geneve-Aeroport/Questions-Reponses-FAQ/Bruit#

SAVE or SHARE this now with someone you know who might be moving to Geneva or is already suffering from aircraft #noisepollution. 

#UDWinGeneva #UDWgenevagoodtoknow #expatingeneva #diplofamily #expatlife #genevaswitzerland #expatingeneva #filipinoingeneva #pinoyingeneva #movingtogeneva #movingtoswitzerland #movingtogeneva #genevaexpats #switzerlandexpatlife #geneva #genevaswitzerland
MERCADONA HAUL Whenever we go to Spain, we love t MERCADONA HAUL

Whenever we go to Spain, we love to go to @mercadona. It might be small but has a good affordable selection. It’s my thrifty Spanish MIL’s favorite.

We were so lucky that we had a @mercadona right beside our hotel Marina Badalona. Very convenient.
Our favorite things to bring home are:

☕️ frozen porras (bigger than churros)

🐑 baby lamb chops (the only lamb I eat coz it’s not malangsa & all you need to do is fry till crispy in olive oil with S&P) it’s called Chuletas Cabrito but TD calls it lechal 

🐽 chicharon or crispy pork rinds

🥔 Homemade potato chips. The best potato chips for me are from Spain. I don’t know how it’s so much yummier! The olive oil???

🎣 canned Sardines & tuna for me and Yaya B

TIPS:

🧊 For frozen items, we usually ask the hotel before we buy if they can put it in their freezer until we fly.

✍️ I usually bring different sizes ZIPLOCK BAGS, MASKING TAPE & MARKER when we travel so we can put everything in, label with our name and room number.

📸 then I take a photo so we can just show it to the staff and they can easily find it in their freezer.

✈️ When it’s time to pack, I placed our beach towels around the frozen packages coz I know they will SWEAT & I don’t want our other things to get wet 💦 

What  grocery do you usually like to shop for when in Spain? Where do you buy them?

#udwinbarcelona #udwinbadalona #udwtraveldiaries #udwtraveltips #udwtraveltip #diplofamily #filipinotravelblogger #pinayblogger #diplowife #diplomatswife #filipinoabroad #tdwtraveldiaries #takekidseverywhere #travelblogger #travelvlogger #travelvloggerph #filipinoblogger #filipinablogger #filipinavlogger #filipinoineurope #welltraveledkids #expatwoman #pinayblogger #familytravelblog
FREE GEAR RENTAL @boxup.app + OUTDOOR GYM at ISW C FREE GEAR RENTAL @boxup.app + OUTDOOR GYM at ISW Calisthenics Park 

📍Chem. des Tuileries 140, 1293 Bellevue

After the lovely BIOPARC we headed across to this chill park with ample PARKING that had so many things for kids & anyone who wants to move & work out:

⚽️ The kids wanted to kick around a football so we borrowed a ball from @boxup.app (they also have pumps, 🏓, 🏐, 🏀, etc) just download the app & turn on your Bluetooth & follow instructions! Return after 3hrs.

👟 Outdoor gym - this was a huge hit with the kids

⚽️ football - this too!

🏀 basketball court

🏓 Ping-pong 

🏐 Beach volleyball court

🤸🏻 Monkey bars

🛝 small playground

Thanks for the wonderful afternoon guys @lidia_otilia_botezatu! 
How lucky are we to have these beautiful, clean open spaces. And the free rental gear is AMAZING! so convenient.

This is in Geneva, about 15mins drive from where we live.

SAVE THIS on your list of PARKS to visit!

⚠️ WARNING

it’s in the airplane path so there will be loud noise from that. It’s not as close as the bioparc but bring earplugs/earphones if you are sensitive.

#udwingeneva #genevaswitzerland #genevaforkids #diplobaby #diplofamily #filipinotravelblogger #pinayblogger #diplowife #diplomatswife #filipinoabroad #tdwtraveldiaries #takekidseverywhere #travelblogger #travelvlogger #travelvloggerph #filipinoblogger #filipinablogger #filipinavlogger #filipinoineurope #welltraveledkids #expatwoman #pinayblogger #familytravelblog
BIOPARC GENÈVE Yesterday was a holiday in Switze BIOPARC GENÈVE

Yesterday was a holiday in Switzerland (except for Geneva). It was raining & miserable so I wanted to take @diplobaby out for a few hours. Thankfully midafternoon it stopped raining.

We met with our friends @lidia_otilia_botezatu in @bioparcgeneve and had a lovely time in this volunteer run zoo.

TIPS💡

🆓 It’s free for families on your FIRST visit!

🦢 you walk inside animal enclosures so wear shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty/stepping on poop. We wore boots & happy we did

🅿️ there’s parking inside on wood chips, if it’s full there’s another pavement parking (free up to 4hrs) across the roundabout 

🦔 Do not feed or touch the animals no matter how cute they are

🗺️ There are 2 routes (purple & blue) and 1-1.5hrs #diplshould be enough 

❎ Park closes at 4pm

SAVE THIS NOW if your looking for a fun & not too you can do in well und2hrs. It’s nice that you can go inside unlike most zoos so it’s quite unique.

⚠️ WARNING

it’s in the airplane path so there will be loud noise from that. @diplobaby who is super noise sensitive did not mind as much as I thought he would because he was so entertained by the animals.

#udwingeneva #genevaswitzerland #genevaforkids #diplobaby #diplofamily #filipinotravelblogger #pinayblogger #diplowife #diplomatswife #filipinoabroad #tdwtraveldiaries #takekidseverywhere #travelblogger #travelvlogger #travelvloggerph #filipinoblogger #filipinablogger #filipinavlogger #filipinoineurope #welltraveledkids #expatwoman #pinayblogger #familytravelblog
MARINA BADALONA HOTEL At first we were going to MARINA BADALONA HOTEL 

At first we were going to stay in the heart of Barcelona, where we stayed 8 years ago (I didn’t even know that @diplobaby was already in my tummy at 2 weeks old) but the “hotel” is now expensive with no amenities & small rooms. So TD found a hotel in #badalona - a 20min taxi ride from Barcelona city center - that was so fabulous & slightly less expensive.

SAVE THIS NOW for future trips to Barcelona

WHY I LOVED marinabadalona
🤍 All white interiors was so beautiful & calming
🤍 Gorgeous view of the Marina 
🤍 Everything was so aesthetic, even where you tap your card to enter the room
🤍 Massive bed
🤍 Electric curtains
🤍 Lots of closet space & hangers
🤍 2 TVs
🤍 Refrigerator
🤍 White/cream Nespresso & kettle
🤍 Architecture & interior design is sooooo me!
🤍 Small rooftop pool with unbelievable views (need to do a separate post)
🤍 5min walk to the beach
🤍 Gorg esplanade
🤍 Yummy restos beside
🤍 Mercadona right beside - so convenient!

FEW RECOS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
✌️ Loved the textured wall paper, but it’s difficult to keep clean inside the bathroom
✌️ The bathroom surface area was a bit small & our stuff kept falling off the sink
✌️ Not a single chair in the family room so when we had room service we had to eat standing
✌️ No salt & pepper with room service so we called to ask & were told we would be charged for them taking it up. After TD clarified that there was no S&P with our meal, they said they would bring it up. The person brought a small bowl of of salt & pepper combined. The salt was for DiploBaby’s salmon, but he can’t eat pepper, I wanted both for my pesto. Had to run down in my slippers & the resto staff were very apologetic coz who serves a mixed S&P ever? They gave me individually packaged ones which I really appreciated.
✌️ Since the hotel has a pool & is by the beach, I wish there was a place to hang & dry swim suits. Our suits & watershoes did not dry in the tub.

All in all the value we got from staying in this hotel was so high compared to a more expensive hotel in Barcelona. No hotel stay is perfect.

Now, would I stay there again? YES PLEASE! Would you?

#udwinbarcelona #udwinbadalona #udwtraveldiaries
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