#grunewald tower

[iftheshoef1tz]

what hath night to do with sleep

Chapter Three

Foolishly, Eris bikes to Grunewald in mid-October, a torch clutched in one hand, his mother’s book in his backpack. The roads are clear this time of night; not a single car has passed him on his journey here.

He is foolish because his plan won’t work.

A break in the trees reveals the lit-up summit of Teufelsberg. He can’t quite see the three domed radio towers, but he knows they’re there. He’d seen them up close only once, when he’d gone skiing three years ago. It had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, to be so close to the machinations of the American secret intelligence apparatus.

Read more on ao3.

[workingonmoviemaps]

Sense8 Finale “Amor Vincit Omnia”

Everything comes to an end when the cluster enacts a dangerous plan to rescue Wolfgang from the clutches of BPO.

The cluster is planning their rescue of Wolfgang from an apartment in Paris. This apartment is a fusion of three locations, the interior at 244 Rue de Rivoli.

The rooftop where Nomi and Amanita cuddle up and the cluster tries to escape is at 10 Rue Talma.

And the entrance where Rajan arrives is at 4 Rue Androuet.

Will and Riley leave the subway at Place des Abbesses on their way to the club and later Will ambushes their shadow inside at the Arts et Métiers station.

Riley takes Will to meet an old ‘friend’ at Nuits Fauves, a nightclub on the Seine, to arrange a location for the exchange.

The Old Man of Hoy contacts Riley from Grunewald Tower outside Berlin as BPO closes in on his position.

He puts her in contact with River El-Sadawi at her office in the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and she asks Riley to kill Whispers.

The BPO lands with Wolfgang outside Paris and they meet up with Lila who will be helping with the exchange. This airport is not in France, but at Hoverfly SAM at the Salerno Costa D’Amalfi Airport south of Naples.

Lito reports a BPO van as suspicious to some police at the corner of Rue des Trois Frères & Rue la Vieuville.

The cluster chases Lila and Whispers down Parc des Rives de Seine but Lila’s people ambush the BPO convoy under Pont Rouelle and kidnap Whispers for her own ends.

The cluster retreats to a countryside estate at 3 Rue du Moulin de la Planche in the small town of Courgent west of Paris to celebrate their victory.

During their celebration Bodhi visit them and brings them to a meeting in the Abbaye de Villers with the Lacuna and its leader known as the Mother.

The cluster travels to Italy to stop Lila and sings a song together while driving down Via Sorrentina along the coast south of Naples. They stop at the Il Bikini parking lot to meet with Felix who has a trunkful of guns.

Wolfgang and Will visit with Lila at her condo at 122 Corso Vittorio Emanuele.

At the same time she visits them while they are walking down Via dei Tribunali east towards Via San Paulo. Wolfgang then join the others at Bar Partenopeo for some authentic Neapolitan pizza.

The other half of the team arrives at Mergellina Station and meets up with Diego before being visited by Puck.

The two clusters then execute their plan to kill Whispers. They use a tourist van to infiltrate the facility at Palazzo Dello Spagnuolo.

As they fight their way upstairs their battle continues at Palazzo Marigliano.

After Lila’s escape with Whispers, Will runs across Piazzetta Grande Archivio with the cluster’s support and heads after her.

He follows her to the Molo san Vincenzo Helipad where she is meeting with the BPO Chairman to make a deal.

After the defeat of the BPO, everyone returns to Paris for a big gay wedding of Nomi and Amanita on the Eiffel Tower.

And finally, during the final orgy of the season, we get a brief flashback to Nomi and Amanita first meeting in City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco.

[totsshots52x52]

Teufelsberg Spy Tower

Snuck in through a small hole in the fence. Had to convince the rest of the squad to come through. Thank god for that because we got to explore this park pretty much to ourselves. This was right around the time corona restrictions were beginning to be put in place. The park was still open, but it cost 5 euros and we were broke! 

Charlotte Hope Bradley and Celeste all conquered the hole and we explore the place. We got so many sights in and had collective creepy moments inside the dark tunnels and hallways. One of my favorite days. One of the last days before Charlotte and Hope fled home. Celeste would follow shortly after. Our friends were dropping like flies. It made me and Bradley question our decision to stay. We eventually got past those thoughts but with all our close friends out of our reach I began to feel isolated in a different way.

Held onto this Teufelsberg Graffiti day to remind me of the treasures and rewards Berlin has to offer if you take risks to jump through the hole in a fence.

Berlin

Grunewald

Germany

US Spies

Espionage

[crabland]

#berlin #teufelsberg #grunewald #abandonedplaces #radarstation #usmilitary #abandoned #radar #tower #horizon #landscape #rain #history #architecture #high #outlook #historical #coldwar #hill #photography #instaberlin #berlinstagram #igersberlin #ig_berlin #beautiful (hier: Berlin, Germany)

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

The Murderess from the Grunewald (28): Preparing for War (3b): “The Monster in the Petticoat” (2)

“Paris” by riccardomortandello 

Note: This chapter contains, among other things, the mention (not a description!) of the sexual abuse of a minor. If this topic triggers negative emotions/memories in you, please skip this chapter.

Chapter 27

         "Thank you, Professor Nerz. I appreciate your support. How did the story of the Violette Nozière go on?

         "As I said, the story from the Rue de Madagascar was just right for Paris in 1933, and the fact that it was a story with many sequels did the rest. The influence this criminal case and the way the press dealt with it had is expressed in a caricature of the time, which can be found in a French newspaper called L'Œuvre. It shows Hitler who, after reading a French newspaper, complains that it is only about 'this Violette'. Violette Nozière even eclipses Hitler's seizure of power. She or her case dominates the headlines, the title pages. Even Hitler disappears behind them. Can you imagine that?"

         "That's really remarkable," Jamie agreed.

        "As I said, these articles illustrated with photos changed the reading experience of the people. At first, only the police officers and the work of the police were photographed. In the days when Violette Nozière was on the run, they looked for her or her corpse in the Seine. There was this suspicion that she might have thrown herself into the Seine and so excavation work was carried out there. All this was photographed by the journalists and printed by the newspapers. By doing so, the newspapers changed the reader's view of what was happening. The reader is now drawn into the action, he becomes a kind of 'co-investigator'. The questions raised by the newspapers spur readers on to come up with their own thoughts about what might have happened, and speculations grow immeasurably.

Violette Nozière (1933) via Wikimedia Commons

         And just when you think the scandal couldn't get any bigger, there's an unexpected twist. On August 28, 1933, the accused makes a statement and confesses the murder. And what a confession that was! She testified that she wanted to kill her father because she could no longer bear that he had sexually abused her."

          Jamie let out a surprised "Oh!"

          "Exactly!”

          Professor Nerz nodded and remained silent for a moment before continuing:

          "We live 87 years later today and you, in particular, belong to a generation that is not afraid to say everything that needs to be said. But, Dr. Fraser, at that time it was quite different. Abuse! That was a word that one neither dared to pronounce nor to write nor to listen to at that time! And now imagine that: Patricide and abuse! I don’t know whether it is clear to you, but there is a double taboo here. And I don’t mean the two offenses! No, the act of abuse, of incest, is, of course, a taboo. But it is also taboo in French society at that time to talk or write about such an act. That was the situation at the time.           I know that many people associate quite different things with the name of the French capital. Paris! This is the city of love. Have you ever been to Paris, Dr. Fraser?"

          "Oh yes, I even studied there for a while!"

          "Ah, then you know what I mean. Paris, that makes one emotional, doesn’t it? You hear Paris and you think of the flowering avenues along the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame. And who doesn't think of romance, Montmartre and free love? Everything is free in Paris! The sky over Paris is full of violins! And while these wonderful pictures are running in front of our eyes we hear Charles Trenet singing quietly in the background with his characteristic voice 'La Mer' and we start dreaming.”

          Jamie had to smile.

          "Yes, yes, Paris, the city of love ... and the guillotine! For it was in Paris, the city of love, that the guillotine was first applied in practice, coloring its streets blood-red. Red, the color of love and yet it is also the color of bloodshed by a murderous revolution."

          Jamie was shocked out of his thoughts, for when Nerz had pronounced the word 'guillotine' as if to emphasize it, he had struck his desk with his flat hand loudly.

          "Red is not always the color of love. It can also be the color of the guillotine. You see, Dr. Fraser, that's exactly our job. We have to confront the people inside and outside the courtroom with the facts. Facts count. What counts is not the idea that we or others have of something. Facts. Not the opinion that we or others have about a thing or matter. The facts alone matter. Whether something has been declared a taboo, as here in the case of the Violette Nozière, is of no interest to us."

          Nerz was silent for a moment, then he asked:

          "Have you seen the movie 'Never look away’”, Dr. Fraser?"                                          "Oh yes!"

        "This moment when the lie is confronted with the truth. There's no evading it anymore. It doesn't take many words, just facts - and a whole world of lies breaks up. In a single moment."

        "That was really very impressive," Jamie agreed.

        "It reminded me of something I read many years ago. An English theologian was asked how he would defend the truth. His answer was: 'No different than a lion. I open the door of their cage and let it out. That, Dr. Fraser, will be your job. On each new day of the trial, you must unleash the Lion of Truth. And you must trust the power of truth. Sometimes it will look as if the truth is losing the battle. But that's not true. That only means that the hour of the truth has not yet come. Then you just have to go on."

        Nerz was silent again as he wanted to give Jamie an opportunity to let sink in what he had said.

        "Let's come back to Violette Nozière. As I said, the abuse was a taboo, a taboo that could not be talked about. But if a crime cannot be talked about, then it cannot be denounced. And that is exactly how the newspapers react. The press knows that if it were to address the incest, it could lose at least part of its readership. So they don't denounce the deed, but the talking about it. The choir of the Parisian newspapers unanimously condemns Violette Nozière's testimony as 'heinous accusations'. The 'argumentation' that we can read in the almost 90-year-old publications is the same one that is still used today to silence rape victims. They said: 'If Violette was really raped by her father, why didn't she confide in her mother or her grandmother? She is said to have had a particularly intimate relationship with the latter. How difficult it was (and still is!) to talk about this topic, the press didn't say a word about it.         And another factor plays a role here. Besides the economic and political problems, France has a demographic problem at that time. Society is aging. And young people, who will be the future of the nation, are a cause for concern. It is said that there is a decent youth and a corrupt youth. Let us be honest, these two groups of young people have always existed. Quite apart from the fact that there have always been these two groups of adults. But, in this particular situation, this way of looking at things becomes more important. And Violette Nozière is, of course, an example of the side of the corrupt youth. Young people who live into the day and no longer respect role models and values. And throughout all social strata, there is a fear that this immoral youth could tear the country even deeper into the abyss. What is to become of a nation whose youth is so corrupt? Well, to be honest, Violette Nozière also gave enough reason to have this image of her. As I said before, she had many friends and lovers at a young age and now it becomes also known that the young woman posed for nude photos. And such a person dares to incriminate her honorable father, a long-standing and excellent employee of the French railways, in such a disgusting way? That was the reaction of many Parisian citizens and the newspapers took up this mood.

Apartment of the Nozière family / Crime scene via Wikimedia Commons

         Jean-Baptiste Nozière and his wife were regarded as hard-working people who sacrificed themselves for their daughter's education. They lived in a small two-room apartment in the east of Paris. They were a kind of model for a working-class family that had managed to move up to the lower middle classes. That was the life of many people, or at least that was the life many people aspired to. And then the newspapers came and brought photos showing how the family lived. You can still see it today. A small, cramped apartment, a modest luxury. Furniture and pictures made to look antique. Wallpapers with large flower patterns, which were fashionable at that time. How many people would have thought: 'Well, that looks almost like at home?’ And now imagine what these people thought when Violette's accusations became known? How dare she! This ungrateful child! That wicked slut! Yet the lifestyle of the young Violette could have been seen as an indication of the truthfulness of her statements. Today we know that young people who experienced abuse at the age of Violette can show exactly these symptoms: school skipping, a sudden drop in performance, repeated stealing, manipulative behavior of others and promiscuous behavior."

        Again, Nerz kept silent to let what was said sink in.

        "About ten days after her arrest, the responsible judge has the family's apartment examined again and now a rag with semen stains is found. Violette Nozière states that her father used this rag to prevent her from getting pregnant. This is not evidence, but a find that irritates the investigators. And then, on the father's bedside table, they found offensive, pornographic, pictures. Now the mood is slowly turning and the press, always anxious not to lose any readers, follows this path. And yet: Violette Nozière must remain in custody. She is not listened to. The public's opinion is divided and that is good for the press because it knows how to serve both parties with different articles and comments.         But now something is happening that has never happened before. Other victims of abuse send letters to the judge. These letters have remained in the files to this day. These women turn to the judge and tell him about their own experiences. And they ask him to believe Violette.         And then something else happens. The Surrealist movement takes up the case of Violette Nozière. Under the direction of André Breton, some artists published a volume of essays and drawings entitled 'Violette Nozière'. They break with the taboo and at the same time attack the patriarchy. The volume was published in Belgium because it would have been banned by censorship in France. It was the figure of the femme fatale, the sexual aura of Violette, that attracted these artists. Violette's story, especially her indictment of her father, fit into the program of the surrealists who attacked the traditional family.

Violette Nozière vor Gericht (Agence de presse Meurisse [Public domain]) via Wikimedia Commons

         On October 11, 1934, the trial against Violette Nozière was finally opened. For more than a year, the accused has been in prison and for more than a year, the press has shaped people's opinions. Among them, of course, is the opinion of those who will now take part in this trial as jurors and determine the fate of the accused."

         Jamie let a loud sigh be heard.

         "My goodness, how could they be able to judge them neutrally?"

         "Exactly, Dr. Fraser. In Violette Nozière's case, there was no one to defend the arguments that spoke for her in public. Her two lawyers were not in a position to do so. What would two men do against crowds of journalists and millions of printed articles?"

         "Hopeless."

         "Exactly. And the jurors were all men and fathers. Women were not admitted to the jury in France at the time."

         "Absolutely hopeless."

         "As you say. The jurors then only need an hour to pass sentence. They find the defendant guilty and the court sentences her to death. Just two days after the trial began! The accusation of abuse, of incest, was not taken into account. Nor was that necessary, because incest or abuse was not listed as a criminal offense in the penal code in force at the time! The penal code, according to which she was sentenced in 1933, dates from the time of the French Revolution and was last revised in 1810."

         "She never had a chance, did she?"

         "No, she never had a chance. And the majority of the French welcomed this verdict. That is very understandable because 'order' has been restored. Everything is good and one or should I say 'man' can return to everyday life.          But, Violette Nozière is not executed. Three successive French presidents pardoned her. President Albert Lebrun converts the death penalty into a life sentence. Marshal Philippe Pétain then reduced her sentence by decree of August 6, 1942, to 12 years of forced labor from the day of her imprisonment in 1933. And on August 29, 1945, she was finally released. On November 17 of the same year, General de Gaulle, President of the Provisional Government, lifted the 20-year ban on French territory imposed on her by a new presidential decree. She married and has five children, for whom she is a good mother. Her own mother reconciles with her and believes her that she did not lie in court. On November 26, 1966, Violette Nozière died of cancer."

         "My goodness, what a story!"

         "Isn't it?"

         Both lawyers were silent for a moment. Then Nerz spoke again:

         "Violette Nozière had no one to defend her in public. She had no one to fight the suspicions of the press. Your client, Dr. Beauchamp, will have us on her side. You defend her in the courtroom and we take over the litigation PR outside the courtroom. We will not allow the press to destroy her client's life and capitalize on it."

          Jamie took a deep breath.

          "I appreciate your help."

          "As I said at the beginning, we can see a number of applications from this process in the case of your client. Let us now come to these specific points.”      

[belskayatanya]

Belarusians have long defended their lands from enemies from the east and west. And today, expositions in museums and ancient castles, as well as costumed reconstructions of battles help to get back to the times of powerful princes and brave warriors.

Among the famous medieval battles in which the ancestors of the Belarusians participated and which are now the basis of historical festivals:

Battle of Krutogorye (modern Dzerzhinsk, Minsk region) in 1249, when the troops of the Belarusian princes defeated the Tatar-Mongols;

the Battle of Grunwald (Poland) in 1410, where the soldiers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania fought with the Teutonic knights;

the battle of Orsha in 1514 with the troops of the Moscow principality;

battles of the Livonian War (1558 - 1583) ...

In many cities of Belarus in the Middle Ages defensive donjon towers towered, but to this day only one has survived - Kamenetskaya, located on the outskirts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. As one of the rare buildings of the XIII century, which survived after numerous enemy raids, it is included in the preliminary UNESCO World Heritage List.

This landmark list includes three Belarusian fortresses:

Church of St. John the Baptist in the village of Kamai,

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in the village of Murovanka,

Church of St. Michael in the village Synkovichi.

And of course, the memory of military events of different times is kept by almost all Belarusian castles - the surviving and restored or turned into mysterious ruins:

Krevo Castle

Lida Castle

Novogrudsky castle

Lubchansky castle

Golshansky Castle

Mir Castle

Nesvizh Castle

Ruzhansky castle

Bykhov Castle

At various times of the year, medieval history festivals and jousting tournaments are held in the cities and near the walls of the ancient residences of Belarus. Among the most famous:

the festival of medieval culture "Golshansky castle" (May, Golshany, Oshmyany district);

International Festival of Slavic Martial Arts (May, Grodno);

festival of medieval culture "Rubon" (May, Polotsk);

International Historical Festival "Heritage of the Ages" (June, Mir Castle);

Knight's Fest in Mstislavl (July, Mstislavl);

International festival "Our Grunewald" (July, Dudutki);

festival "Krevo Castle" (August, Krevo, Smorgon district);

International Knight Festival "White Castle" (August, Ostroshitsky Gorodok, Minsk District);

knightly festival "Sword of Lida Castle" (September, Lida);

International festival of medieval culture "Novogrudsky castle" (September, Novogrudok);

The International Historical Festival "Minsk Internship" (September).

Traveling around Belarus, one can return to the ancient times of the Vikings, who, moving eastward along the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks," stopped and even ruled the Belarusian lands. Today, in the Lida district, an open-air museum called Ponemanskoe Gorodishche is being created, dedicated to the life of the Eastern Slavs, Balts and Scandinavian Vikings.

In 2014, Belarus hosted the first shipping festival of early medieval culture "From the Varangians to the Greeks". In the multi-day boat expedition with festival stops in several cities participated ships recreated according to historical drawings and documents.

[todaviia]

from the ivy at Grunewald station to the Treptower Soviet blade you built your triumphant narration out of stones from the Mendelssohn grave where the sun is as gold as the names on the ground & the walls grow up over the trees & the tower antenna is haunting the town & the past is a quiet disease

Görlitzer Park, Daniel Kahn

[harveybwabbit92]

Ivy’s new friend pt. 1

Warning this chapter covers the sensitive topic of Child abuse. You have been warned!

Takes place when Ivy is 10 she'd been living with Cayde for two months.

Ivy fidgeted as she stood in front of the class, feeling the stares of multiple eyes on her as the teacher introduced her. Why couldn't she stay in the tower?... she thought to herself she was home schooled before this! 

why did Cayde think this was a good idea? Her mind briefly played over what her uncle had said two weeks ago at breakfast "I'm not gonna be home enough to be able to teach you anything...beside it's close to the tower and in a nice sector! Trust me you'll like it."

The ravenette mentally cringed as she was brought back to reality as the teacher called her name. "Well Ivy introduce yourself." She said resting a hand on the girl's shoulder, the green eyed girl shrugged it off giving the teacher a paranoid look before turning to the class. 

"Um...I'm Ivy Kib that's all..." she said scanning the room for a place to sit or a least a way out. The teacher was taken aback at the girl's standoffish behavior. 

"Surely you have more to say than that?"  

"I Don't...And my names not Shirley."

"I...Excuse me/!"

"You're excused"

Ivy deadpanned the teacher's face turned red as she stepped out, While the girl scanned the room before finding a seat next to a boy sitting in the back, She mentally cheered as the class stared at the ravenette and whispered among themselves.

 "Black hair and freckles?...whats she trying to pull?" a girl sneered,"Did you see how pissed Ms. Grunewald was?" another kid whispered while few kids huddled or blocked Ivy from sitting next to them, Before stopping at the boy's table "Ew...She sitting next to Lukas Pukas!~" a boy said mockingly with a grimace causing a few kids to snicker.

Ivy paid no mind while the boy next to her flushed in embarrassment, sinking into his seat just then the teacher walked back in calmer and somewhat unnerved "She must have informed of who my uncle...joy." Ivy thought to herself "w-Whose your un-u-uncle?" a quiet asked the ravenette blinked and turning to the boy next to her...had she said that out loud?

Lukas stared at his new seatmate expectantly; before the teacher cleared her throat demanding they pay attention. the two kids quieted down as she turned back to the board. "I'll tell you later." she whispered as the day wore on, It became apparent that Ivy wasn't looking for friends.

 She had made a few bullies one of whom a boy dipped her hair in paint during art class, the same boy tripped her during gym, luckily Lukas was nice he helped wash out the paint during recess and took her to the nurse, She learned Lukas was two years younger then her and had skipped a grade.

The big stand off came after school when one of the boy cornered Lukas for helping the weirdo! Ivy stepped in shoved the boy who started bragging and acting high and mighty because his dad was a high ranking Titian. Ivy blinked showing no emotion"And?" She said unimpressed.

 The boy snorted and ranted that she couldn't hit him! because his dad would beat hers, before roughly poking her."My dads dead." she deadpanned swatting his hand away a few kids awkwardly shifted as the boy snorted before poking her again "Heh... He must've been a stupid weakling-"

The boy was cut off by Ivy punching him in the nose there was crunch and the boy fell on his butt, for a few seconds he stared up at Ivy stunned that she actually hit him?!

 He brought his hand up to his bloody and obviously broken nose; tears welled in his eyes "DDAADDDY!!" he wailed jumping to his feet running off the school grounds. The other kids just gawked at her "Y-Y-you hit Elroy b-b-Bo-Bowens!" Lukas stuttered terrified Ivy cocked a brow.

"Yeah,so?"

No one e-ever h-hits him! his d-dad would-"

"What hit a little girl?"

"N-no b-b-but"

Ivy brushed it off and went to grab her school bag the others gave her and Lukas a wide berth "Trust me I'll be fine." she said unlike Elroy she knew who her uncle was and what he did for living. But, you don't see her going around being a spoiled brat about it! if she needed Cayde's help she'd ask! The two walked in silence till the cross roads came up.

Ivy took left while Lukas paused and looked at his...acquaintance? "ww-wh-Where are you g-g-going the residential block is this w-way." he pointed down the road, The ravenette winced "I don't live in the civilian block." she said scratching the back of her head.

 Lukas tilted his head befuddled as the older girl briefly glanced up his gray eyes followed her gaze and his jaw dropped "Y-you live in the t-tt-tower?" he stuttered Ivy nodded.

Lukas was floored families weren't allowed to lived allowed to live in the tower! even if one or both of the parents of said family were Guardians one would have to retire or the kids were sent to Foster or Latchkey! he shuddered at the last one "Is your m-mo-mom a guardian?" he asked curiously the girl shook her head "I don't have a mother...Just an uncle." she said gazing at her feet. the blond boy was even more curious.

"Y-you mentioned him, who i-is your uncle?" he asked before the girl could answer a voice cut in "Oh, you walked home yourself?" the two kids turned to the voice Lukas's eyes widened in awe as was Cayde-6 walking casually towards them. "I was just coming to get you." Exo said to Ivy patting her on the head the ravenette averted her gaze, When vanguard took notice of the little boy standing next to her.

 Cayde stared stunned before leaning in close to the girl's ear "did..you make a friend?" he whispered causing his niece to blush too mortified answer, the blue exo straightened up a bit "What's your name kiddo?" he asked Lukas snapped out of his stupor and shift uneasily due to his speech impediment.

"M-m-my n-na-name is Luk--Lukkk-..."

{Lukas looks scared, Cayde notices a large bruise on the kid's shoulder just barely visible from under his shirt.] 

"Take you time no ones forcing you."

{The boy seemed calmer, Cayde could see..was this kid wearing make-up? there was what looked like concealer on his left eye.}

" L-Lukas C-c-Chadwick." 

"Well, it's good to meet you Lukas. and thanks for walking my niece home."

The boy blushed "I-i-It's n-not that!" he threw his hands up Cayde smirked "I just playing wit'ya!" the exo chirped and gave the kid a light pat on the shoulder, Lukas's smile tightened painfully which the hunter noticed as the kid backed away "I Sh-s-Should be heading h-H-home now, B-bbye Ivy!" he yelled running off to the civilian block.

Cayde smiled and waved back before frowning and turning to his niece. "Hey..." Ivy looked up at him as he took her hand led her back to the tower. "Did...Lukas seem odd?" he asked his niece looked offended. "Not the stutter thing...he seemed off...scared." Exo explained the ravenette thought the day over; Lukas seemed a bit too nice...but, nothing really stood out.

"Not really I only just met him." she said her uncle seemed uneasy before sighing "Just...keep an eye on him okay?" Ivy nodded as they made their way down the road a nasally voice broke the tension "That's her daddy! that’s the one who broke my nose!" Both Cayde and Ivy turned to see a smug little boy with a bandaged nose and a pissed off Titan marching up to them. "You little brat I'll-"

Cayde cleared his throat and the father's face drained of all color once he realized whose kid he was yelling at "You'll do what to my kid, exactly Guardian?" the exo optics narrowed "Caydeguard?! I mean Van-6! I duh.. um-guh" Elroy's father tried to sputter out words before turning to his son.

 "Apologize Elroy!" he ordered his son's smirk contorted into confusion "b-But she hit me! I'm the hurt one me! she should apologize to me!" he whined stomping his foot, Cayde cringed expecting the kid to throw himself to the floor kicking and screaming! He then turned to his niece who just shook her head at the whole thing.

The vanguard  so had to thank Kib for Ivy's realist and blunt personality, "Don't make me repeat myself boy." he father pressed the bratty kid muttered out an apology, while Cayde just stared at the duo "What's your name?" he asked Elroy's dad who started sweating "Jacob Bowens sir." 

the hunter nodded "I'll be sure to put in a good word with Shaxx about you." Cayde said threatening edged in his voice that caused Elroy to hide behind his dad, Ivy's hand to tighten, as Jacob walked away scolding Elroy, stating that he might of just cost his dad a promotion! While Cayde turned to his niece.

"Mind telling me what that was about?"

"He dipped my hair in paint, tripped me in gym, tried to beat up Lukas...oh! and called my dad a weakling..."

"And then?"

"I cuffed em’ right in the nose."

Ivy huffed crossing her arms only yelped when she was suddenly hoisted up onto Cayde's shoulders "Screw the tower champ! We're gettin' Ramen!" He exclaimed surprising Ivy and everyone in the street "My girl won her first after school brawl! whoo!" He cheered running down the street! first since living with her uncle Ivy was smiling....

Meanwhile...

On the other side of the city Lukas had just returned home... not expecting anyone to be there that, was until he heard a cough and saw his dad calmly sitting his back to him. The blond swallowed hard and immediately went for his room! only to find the door stuck. 

"It's locked...I knew that'd be the first place you'd go.." His dad said darkly before getting up from his chair and advancing on the shaking boy "P-p-pplease d-dad no"...the loud music blaring from the bar outside drowned out the screams...

To be continued... 

[artderue2000]

Teufelsberg Spy Station

In 2013, I took a day trip to visit Teufelsberg — the former graffiti-sprayed Cold War listening post located on the top of a steep hill in the heart of the Grunewald forest of Western Berlin. Nowadays, the term Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) refers both to the hill and to the former spy station atop overlooking the surrounding landscape with its white domed towers. Many layers of history lie beneath this spot that street artists from  all over the world have transformed into one of the largest street art galleries in Europe.

In 1915, the German government designed this part of Western Berlin as a nature reserve. In the 1937, Hitler, ignoring its protected status, chose this site to build the Faculty of Defense Technology, a prestigious  military-technical college within Berlin Technical University. During WWII,  the Allies tried hopelessly to destroy its buildings which were  so sturdy that they could not be demolished. So after the end of the war, they decided to create a man-made hill of rubble to be later planted with trees. The topsoil that covered Teufelsberg's rubble was hauled by trains and trucks from the surrounding countryside of Bremen and from destroyed Berlin. The importation of ground from Berlin gave rise on one hand to dangerous wastelands in Berlin, leading its inhabitants to escape, and on the other hand to the birth of a forest, which blended with Teufelsberg so as to make it invisible.

Some years later, the spot become a popular ski recreation area for West Germans. In 1961, when the deteriorating relations between the west and the east lead to the construction of the Berlin Wall, US and British governments decide to transform the vacation spot into a secret listening station that remained in use until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After the Americans's withdrawal from West Berlin, the radar unit has been in use for civil air traffic control until 1999, when it was ultimately closed. A lockdown of many years followed. In the meanwhile, many explorers and street artists from all over the world secretly gained access to the fenced-off area, turning the gray concrete walls into a huge graffiti gallery. Nowadays, the station is open again to visitors.

[iftheshoef1tz]

Ahoy! For Halloween, I thought I’d give you all a teaser for my latest project. 😈

Eris Vanserra is a young doctor in West Germany in 1968. After learning his mother has been keeping the old ways behind the back of his deeply religious, deeply abusive father, Eris decides the easiest, most direct way to vengeance is by summoning a demon. This scene takes place in Grunewald, a forest in West Berlin, where Eris summons said demon. This will be, of course, Azris, so y’all know who the demon is.

Special thanks to @queercontrarian who helped me develop this idea by suggesting it take place during the ‘68 riots in West Germany in the first place and who is also indispensable as a translator. This is unedited and unbetaed and will likely change its form before i actually post this thing. Enjoy!!

A break in the trees reveals the lit-up summit of Teufelsberg. He can’t quite see the three dome radio towers, but he knows they’re there. He’d seen them up close only once, when he’d gone skiing three years ago. It had made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, to be so close to the machinations of the American secret intelligence apparatus.

Now, though, there isn’t any snow, only the wet squelching of fallen, rotting leaves beneath his bike tires.

It had been easy enough to find his mother’s book, in the end – it had been in the kitchen next to the cookbooks. A smart hiding place, one Beron would never think to look for something important.

Decoding it had taken somewhat longer. It was handwritten in shaky cursive, sometimes in what seemed to be Middle German, and Eris had risked eye strain trying to tell the writer’s vowels apart. But there, hidden among recipes for poultices and medicines for pain or fertility, is a three line recipe, as it were.

The cold October air whips Eris’s hair into his face as he mouths the words to himself: ich beschwöre euch, Dämon. Gebt mir eine wahre und getreue Antwort, sodass ich an mein ersehntes Ziel gelange. Ich beschwöre euch.

It’s not the original Middle German, of course; Eris is on the other side of the Luther’s ninety-nine theses and he trusts his pronunciation of modern German much more than the other. It had occurred to him that the translation might affect which demon answered his call, but in the end, he had decided it didn’t matter. This was all a fool’s errand, regardless.

He laughs once at himself. It clouds around his mouth before being blown away by the wind. Rain is in the air, and he needs to get this idiocy out of his system before then.

It’s the kind of rebellion he has never had the time or energy for, and he feels as though he’s tilting at windmills. If he were a braver man, he’d simply murder his father himself.

Eventually, he feels he’s reached deep enough in the forest, and he slips off his bicycle. He hesitates before simply resting it against a nearby tree. Yes, it’s technically visible from the path, but it’s nearly eleven at night in the middle of a bloody forest. No one is around to steal it.

Leaves and branches crunch beneath his feet like rusty, crackling laughter, and he feels foolish again. He can turn around now, be back in his apartment by midnight, and not have his landlady be any the wiser.

But something pulls him deeper into the loamy dark, his torch beam hardly piercing the darkness around him.

Eventually, it is only Eris and his stupid quest in the dark of Grunewald, and he draws to a halt. It takes only a moment to kick away leaves and clear a small section of grass, and he slides a glass jar from his backpack.

The recipe had called for chalk or dirt, and he uses dirt he’d collected from the farm to draw a circle in the cleared space. It’s wobbly, and he swipes at his mouth in irritation. The motion leaves dirt on Eris’s face; he can feel it but doesn’t care.

Next is another small jar, with two slender sticks of incense. He’d stolen them from Nesta last week and figures the scent of cedar would be least offensive to a demon. It’s incredible how much effort he’s put into something so stupid. Perhaps, he thinks with a wry twist of his lips as he eases into sitting position, he should start considering that he’s doing this after all.

The circle is barely visible in the torchlight, and the lit end of the stick of incense also seems to disappear into the clutching dark. He is alone here in the dark woods.

Eris shuts his eyes against the sudden lurch of fear and inhales once through his nose. He exhales, then repeats. On the third breath, he murmurs, “I invoke thee, demon.”

The silence thickens around him.

“Give me a true and faithful answer,” he continues, his gloved hands clenching in his lap. “So that I may accomplish my desired end.”

The wind breaks the silence suddenly, moaning through the trees. The sound of it through the leaves sounds like a snake’s hiss, sharp and violent. Eris is alone and cold here, and no one will notice he is missing if something goes wrong.

“I invoke thee,” Eris forces himself to finish, barely above a whisper.

A faint shudder rolls through the earth, or maybe it’s just Eris himself, and he squeezes his eyes tighter shut. Would it be better or worse to open his eyes and find that his words have brought him nothing but embarrassment?

After a moment, the wind dies down, and Eris cracks his eyes open.

He is alone. The incense is no longer burning, its embers quenched by the hissing wind.

“‘I invoke thee,’” he snarls to himself and rushing to his feet. He kicks through the wobbly line of the dirt invoking circle, and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Bullshit.”

[…]

He turns to look behind him, his fear from earlier returning. It’s thick along the back of his tongue as he watches two perfectly round lights bob up the road towards him. He pauses, one foot sliding in the mud just off the road, as the tremulous lights steady and the rumble of a car engine reaches him.

Thank God, he thinks acidly. What a day it would be if demons weren’t real but aliens were.

The rumble grows closer, and Eris sticks out a thumb, slick and shining in the car’s headlights. It slows as it reaches Eris before finally stopping in front of him. The driver is revealed bit by bit as he rolls the window down – dark hair flopped carelessly across his forehead, piercing hazel eyes underlined by heavy bags.

“You lost?” the man says. His German is accented in a way Eris can’t quite place.

“My bike was stolen,” Eris says, not bothering to hide his shiver. “Could I trouble you - ”

“Get in.”

Eris blinks in surprise at the quick acceptance, but the man is leaning back in his seat as if he picks up strangers in the dark woods every day.

He slips into the car, winding the window shut as fast as possible. The storm spits a last few drops into his face, and he collapses back into his seat. The inside of the car is too warm, the heat turned up nearly to the maximum. The engine purrs beneath Eris’s feet when the man takes off, and Eris watches the man’s hand resting on the gear shift.

The skin looks waxy, and Eris recognizes them for the burn scars they are. He has the strange impulse to touch them, to make sure they are real in a way nothing else has felt tonight.

“What were you doing out here so late at night?”

Something in Eris rebels at the patronizing tone, but he quashes any visible reaction beyond pushing his sodden hair from his face. When he looks over, the man’s hazel eyes are so dark as to seem black.

Blandly, he replies, “Biking.”

The man laughs, just one short burst. “Of course.”

“Thank you for the lift,” Eris says. He arranges himself in a way he knows makes him appear smaller, more delicate. It angles him more fully towards the man and shows off the curve of his hip. Some men like that, Eris knows, especially when they don’t like to like men. “I was dreading walking home in the dark by myself.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” He smooths a hand down the front of his sweater.

The man waves a dismissive hand at Eris, encompassing his whole body. It somehow manages to make Eris feel brutally naked, and he curls into himself with no coquetry in the motion. “Don’t do that thing you did just then. Make yourself so – ”

“I - ” The word falls pathetically from Eris’s mouth as more half-formed excuses pile up on his tongue. Maybe the man is a policeman or part of the secret service, and Eris has just broadcast his willingness to spread his legs for another man. God, maybe he’s an American.

Eris waits, breath trapped in his throat. But the man never finishes his sentence, and his hand falls to the gear shift again. The engine rumbles beneath them, knocking Eris’s thoughts into one another.

Beron will kill him if he’s arrested for this. He might kill his mother, too, for breeding such a deviant. It doesn’t even occur to him to be afraid that this man might kill him for the offer, which, despite it’s immediacy, lacks any real teeth.

“I think I can walk from here.” Eris is proud his voice doesn’t tremble; his hands are steady, too.

In response, the man purses his lips. He doesn’t pull over, though, and Eris thinks he might vomit. At least if his body turns up at some point in the future, no one will know he was with a man before this. The thought makes a hysterical laugh well up in his throat, competing with his excuses trapped there.

He wishes, suddenly, pathetically, for Nesta.

“Do you know anyplace quiet we could go to?”

The man’s voice is almost covered by the engine, and Eris has to swallow once, twice, before he says, putting a little of Beron’s sternness in his voice, “I’m not taking you home with me.”

At this, the man turns his head towards Eris. They pass under the first street lamp of the main road, and Eris narrowly bites back a gasp.

Eyes black as coal with no white showing, the demon says, “I think you and I have some things to talk about.”

[i-am-a-wonderer]

 … even for people who did them all :-))

In the last years I was kind of busy exploring hikeable areas in Berlin and Brandenburg. Here is a list of most of my hikes in Berlin and Brandenburg including a rough evaluation of the public transport possibilities to get there. Behind every link you’ll find pictures and most of the time a short description including a map of the trail I took.

As always, most of the links include maps which I recorded during my hikes. As I change direction spontaneously—based on weather, on an attractive area I spotted, on my mood or on the fact that it gets dark quickly—I recommend to explore the areas with openness to hike another trail or change the direction whenever you like to. I recommend the landscapes, not necessarily the exact trail I took. Don’t forget to use maps and GPS :-). I highly recommend MapOut offline maps.

……………………………………

How to read the charts:

Location and month:

I noted the month in which I hiked because every landscape looks different with the seasons. For some of them you can have an impression of another weather and therefore another atmosphere of the trail and scenery.

Public Transport Rating:

I always looked up from Berlin Central Station/Hauptbahnhof. This is what set rating means:

★★ = It’s easy and even better to get there by public transport than by car ★☆ = It’s already more complicated to get there by public transport, sometimes you have to walk for a while      to reach the trail, sometimes you have to change trains for more than 3 times ☆☆ = You can go everywhere by public transport, but in this case you’ll spend really a lot of time and it’s very complicated to get there

Please use Open Street Map with public transport layer to get a visual impression where you want to go and where you have to get out of the train/bus/tram. And look up on BVG.de how long it will take you to go there.

Favorite: 

❤️ = The hikes marked with a heart are my personal favorites. Great lake, picturesque villages or cultural sites to see, or just a very divers hike. This doesn’t mean, that the other hikes aren’t worth while. I just liked them more. Hikes I didn’t like at all are not listed here.

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The best hiking areas in the North of Berlin

Schloß Liebenberg

Liebenberg

Liepnitzsee

Volkspark Pankow

Wedding

Werbellinsee

Wildpark Schorfheide

Werbellinkanal

mushroom

Wildpark Schorfheide

Wildpark Schorfheide

Tegeler See

Location and Month Notes Public Transport Rating Favorite Briesetal (September) Briesetal (March)  Briesetal (July) Briesetal (November) Wonderful and magical landscape, forest in a river, swans and picturesque wooden bridges ★★ ❤️ Mühlenbecker Land (December)  Summt (June) Castle on a lake near the city ★★ Tegeler See (August) Wilderness in the city along the lake shore ★★ Zehdenick (August) Zehdenick (August)  Gransee (August) Former clay mining area with lots of lakes and old industry ★☆ ❤️ Hellsee (June)  Hellsee (April)  Lobetal (October) Romantic hike through the forest along a murmuring creek and a lake ★☆ ❤️ Bernsteinsee (June) Bernsteinsee (October) Divers landscape with silent lakes an sandy beaches ★☆ ❤️ Kyritz an der Knatter (March) Beautiful lakes ★☆ Biesenthal (February) Vast, lonely landscape with lots of ranting birds ★☆ Tegeler Fließ (January) Beautiful pasture landscape near the city center ★★ Grumsiner Forst (November) Huge and bright beech tree forest ★☆ ❤️ Hobrechtsfelde (October) Horses, historical buildings and vast fields ★☆ Liepnitzsee (September) Bogensee (March) Regenbogensee, Wandlitz (March) Wandlitz (January) Beautiful sparkling lakes, huge forests and WW2 architecture ★☆ ❤️ Wildpark Schorfheide (December) Wildpark Schorfheide (September) Huge parc with animals who used to live in the Brandenburg forests (wolves, lynx, horses, moose, … ) ☆☆ ❤️ Arkenberge (December) Mountains at the city border, great views over the city form above ★★ Schönerlinder Teiche (November) Schönerlinder Teiche (November) Rare buffalo species around small lakes ★★ ❤️ Schönholzer Heide (November) City parc with Russian war monument ★★ Liebenberg (February) Great landscape, romantic castle, lakes and swans ★☆ ❤️ Botanischer Volkspark Pankow (January) Big parc with deer ★☆ Werbellinkanal, Eichhorst (March) Serene hike along a river ☆☆ ❤️

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The best hiking areas in the West of Berlin

Sacrow

Sacrow

Ketzin

Grunewald

Paretz

Wannsee

Paretz

Havelhöhenweg

Location and Month Notes Public Transport Rating Favorite Havelhöhenweg (August) Nice lake views from above ★★ ❤️ Grunewaldsee (April) Meet thousands of different dogs and their owners ★★ Teufelssee (June) Visit an abandoned post WW2 spy station ★★ Kloster Lehnin Faboulous monastery in vast landscape ★☆ Jungfernsee (February) Always along lakes ★☆ Döberitzer Heide (June) Long hike without possibility to shortcut through forests and flat landscapes with a view tower ★☆ Wannsee, Düppeler Forst (January) Wild forest near the city ★★ Sacrow (February) Along lakes with a castle and a chapel on the shore ★☆ ❤️ Paretz (February) Very divers hike, historical village, historical clay mining area with many lakes ★☆ ❤️

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The best hiking areas in the East of Berlin

Waldsieversdorf

Strausberg

Biesow

Rehfelde

Schönerlinder Teiche

Stienitzsee

Strausberg

Reichenow

Garzau

Garzin

Altfriedand

Bötzsee

Bötzsee

Location and Month Notes Public Transport Rating Favorite Müggelsee, Müggelberge, Teufelsmoor (May) Müggelsee (February) Müggelsee (February) Visit the second highest mountain in Berlin (115m) and walk along a wooden runway through the marshland “of the devil” ★★ ❤️ Seddinsee, Schmöckwitz (April) Seddinsee (February) Very simple hike always along a lake or a river ★☆ Stienitzsee (March) Fine lake but with some obstacles. Sometimes you cannot reach the shore because it’s fenced privat land ★☆ Herrensee (October) Herrensee (January) Herrensee (May) Beautiful wild lake surrounded by marshland forests. Beware of mosquitos in summer. ★★ ❤️ Stobbertal (July) Magical forest atmosphere along a creek ☆☆ ❤️ Garzau und Garzin (October) Rehfelde (February) Divers landscape, some lakes and a pyramid ★★ Altfriedland (November) Thousands of birds, picturesque village, beautiful lakes but you can’t reach the shore because it’s protected or private area ☆☆ Ihlandsee (December) Beautiful lake in the forest ★☆ Strausberg (January) Nice forest hike along a small river near the city ★★ Oderbruch (September) Vastness and Silence ★☆ ❤️ Blumenthal (November) Wild forest and a small, old forest settlements ☆☆ ❤️ Biesow (October) Biesow (February) Absolut silence around the lakes and a tiny, cute settlement in the middle of nowhere ☆☆ ❤️ Köthen (July) Mesmerizing views from the top of a look-out, nice lakes ☆☆ Erkner (September) Wild paths and lakes ★★ ❤️ Buckow, Märkische Schweiz (October) Waldsieversdorf (February) Hilly landscape, beautiful lakes and a picturesque small town with delicious ice cream ★☆ ❤️ Spreeauen (October) Lyrical landscape and a natural river ★☆ ❤️ Leuenberg (March) Divers hike with forests , lakes and fields ★☆ Werneuchen (March) Dark green lake in the forest ★★ Spitzmühle (April) Spitzmühle (October) Spitzmühle (January) Bötzsee (October) Wonderful, scenic and easy hike around lakes. ★☆ ❤️ Möllensee (July) Very divers Hike around lakes ★☆ Treptower Park (April) Tiny hike, almost in the City Center ★☆

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The best hiking areas in the South of Berlin:

Beelitz Heilstätten

Albrechts Teerofen

Albrechts Teerofen

Pfaueninsel

Beelitz Heilstätten

Location and Month Notes Public Transport Rating Favorite Scharmützelsee, Bad Saarow (March) Hike with a look-out and beautiful lakes, opportunity to visit Bad Saarow (Bath) ❤️ Prieros (April) Divers hike, partially on a small path directly on the shore of Schmöldesee Albrechts Teerofen (November) Interesting landscape and Western/Eastern Berlin History Beelitz Heilstätten (October) Take a hike above the trees and look at an ancient abandoned asylum ★☆ ❤️ Pfaueninsel (June) Meet the peacocks and hike where already Emperor Willhelm II took a walk Nuthe-Nieplitz (April) Marvellous and wild nature reserve ❤️ Sperenberger Gipsbrüche (April) At least six small lakes and a very beautiful and wild landscape ❤️ Schwielowsee (March) Beautiful lake (but with a little road walk)

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And the map …

Die schönsten Wanderungen in Berlin und Brandenburg

  The Best Hikes In Berlin And Brandenburg  ... even for people who did them all :-)) In the last years I was kind of busy exploring hikeable areas in Berlin and Brandenburg. 1,169 more words

[torstenfleischer]

good morning from lake Wannsee #dog #dogs #puppy #pup #cute #flatcoatedretriever #instagood #dogs_of_instagram #pet #pets #animal #animals #petstagram #petsagram #dogsitting #photooftheday #dogsofinstagram #ilovemydog #instagramdogs #nature #dogstagram #dogoftheday #lovedogs #lovepuppies #nala #adorable #doglover #instapuppy #instadog (hier: Grunewald Tower)

[crabland]

#berlin #grunewald #teufelsberg #abandonedplaces #people #graffiti #stairway #dark #door #intothelight #sky #radarstation #usmilitary #silhouettes #graphic #tunnel #tower #igersberlin #berlinstagram #igersberlin #photography #beautiful (hier: Berlin, Germany)

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

The Murderess from the Grunewald (22): Secret Whitsun Holiday on Rügen (11): Sharing Joy and Sorrow (6d) - Jamie's Story (II)

“Avenue Gustave Eiffel” by bidyutd

Previously

Monday night, Pentecost weekend 2020, three days after Claire's release from prison

                "Marie-Catherine?" Claire thought. So there has been a woman in Jamie's life. But was is not just last Friday when he said he would only be with a woman if ...? What should she make of this new information?

        Her 'inner alarm bells' began to ring loudly. But she gathered all her strength and tried not to show her inner tension.

        "Do you want to tell me about her?" she then asked as composed as possible.

        "Oh yes, of course," Jamie replied as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

        "I got to know her at a party of the Law School’s Student Association. She is the only daughter of a Parisian couple who has made a fortune with wine and gourmet specialties. After that, they also invested money in real estate and hold shares in other flourishing companies, for example in the tourism industry. Because of her rich and famous parents, she was well known among the students. While the girls regarded her as a competition, most guys would literally tear themselves in pieces to make her acquaintance. Honestly, I had no interest in getting to know her. I never liked this high-society attitude ... But one of my tutors, who had known her for some time, was convinced I had to meet her. So he introduced us, but then he disappeared to meet other important people.         Marie-Catherine and I started talking. At first, it was just the usual superficial talk. We drank wine. She had already drunk some glasses and was therefore quite talkative. But the longer we talked, the more serious the topics became. From what she told me, it became clear that while her parents had a lot of money and provided her with everything she wanted, their family relationship was not really intact. And that expresses it quite mildly. For most of the year she barely saw her parents, and when they met, there was a lot of arguing. She asked about my family and I told her a little bit about us. An intact family life, as I knew it, seemed completely foreign to her. She asked me for advice on some matters and I answered her questions the best I could. When the party ended, I took her to her apartment in a nearby dorm. To my surprise, she said goodbye to me with a kiss. On the cheek. She said I was a really good person and she hoped that this was not our last meeting.         I met her at another party the following weekend. Again we started talking and did so almost the whole evening. This evening ended like the previous one. In the aftermath, we did not just see each other at parties. We arranged to have lunch together, we met on campus or in the park. On some weekends we also made some trips to the villages of the area, picnics along the Seine. We visited museums, galleries, concerts. Mostly we were going with other students, but also alone. That went on for the whole two semesters. When I had to return to Berlin at the end of my second semester, she really seemed to be very sad. She promised me that she wanted to visit me and made quite detailed plans for that ... "

“Seine” by DonnaSenzaFiato

        Jamie reached for his cup and emptied it. Claire refilled it for him.

        "Thank you."

        "What happened then?"

        "Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. When I was back in Berlin, I wrote to her a few times. But my emails never got an answer. Once or twice a friend who had stayed in Paris wrote to me and told me he should deliver her greetings to me. From others, I learned that she had graduated in the meantime and continued to live in Paris. Months later, another student mentioned in an email that she had opened her own company and was quite successful. Overall, I probably wrote her three or four times and every now and then I also left comments on her social media accounts. Maybe twice. I liked things a few times ... But I never got an answer. Out of sight, out of mind. Or to say it with the famous Friedrich von Schiller: ‘The Moor has done his duty, the Moor can go.’  I was not needed anymore. I was disposed of."

        Jamie swallowed. Then he lowered his eyes to the ground.

        They were silent for a while.

        "Did you ... did you love her ... very much?" Claire asked softly.

        Jamie's head shot up. He looked at her in surprise. And to Claire’s surprise, he burst into loud laughter. Bismarck and Adso both rose and looked toward the living room, suspicious of what was going on between their strange humans.

“Katze” by zkittler

        "Everything is all right! No reason to fuss!" Jamie called in their direction. Then he turned back to Claire:

        "Did I love her? Claire! No!"

        Again he started to laugh.

        Claire grimaced as if she had eaten something very sour.

        Seeing her expression, Jamie laughed again.

        It took a few minutes for him to calm down.

        "Oh, Claire! No, I did not love her! I did not even have a crush on her!"

        "But if ... why ... I ... I do not understand ..."

        Jamie pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

        "Claire, mo chridhe, forgive me. You must have gotten a completely wrong impression. I didn’t want that."

        He took a deep breath.

        "I cared for her as you would care for a brother or a sister or a good friend. I thought we were friends. But apparently, it was not like that. Because if you're friends, you don’t just put the other one into the trash, right?"

        Claire nodded and still looked at him slightly surprised.

        "I felt as if someone had thrown me in the trash. And that feeling intensified as I learned about some things she did after my departure."

        Claire said nothing but nodded again to encourage him to continue.

        "One year after my return from Paris, I met an American who had also studied with us in Paris. It happened by chance. I came from a lecture and wanted to buy a sandwich and a coffee to go in a nearby cafe. I suddenly saw Steven. We greeted each other and then decided to go to another place to have lunch together. Steven had come to Berlin for a job offer. That was, of course, the main topic of conversation during the meal. When I asked him if he had heard anything from our fellow students, he told me about some I knew, and then, well, then he mentioned Marie-Catherine. He said that her company was doing really well. The reason was a new project, which she started shortly after I had left Paris ... "

“Tee” by dungthuyvunguyen

        “When Steven told me about this project, I thought I would be struck by lightning. This project, which Marie-Catherine had started, was nothing more than a copy of a project that my father and I had planned and developed two years earlier. For reasons of time, we hadn’t implemented it yet. I had told her about this project in confidence. Unscrupulous as she was, Marie-Catherine copied our idea, adapted it a bit to her possibilities ... and ... makes money with it now."

`       Jamie saw Claire's shocked expression.

        "Did you ... lose a lot of money ... because of her ...?" she asked after a moment of silence.

        "I do not know, and honestly, I don’t care. It wasn’t and it isn’t the money I did care for. What was and is important to me, is that I developed this project together with my father. She simply had no right to steal our idea. She took advantage of me, she used me and ... then she threw me in the trash. So ... That’s ... how ... I ... felt."

        Now it was Claire who reached for her teacup and drank. Again, they went silent for a moment. Jamie could literally see on her face how the thoughts were spinning around in her head.

“Hund” by sjdents0

        "O.k.," she said finally, "if I understand you correctly, then this ... this student ... exploited you and ... as far as your project is concerned ... robbed it. She stole your ... your ... intellectual property."

        "Yes," Jamie agreed, "exactly. At least that would be the legal classification. "

        "But how did Jenny use this story to harass you? You were not with this woman after all!"

        Jamie laughed briefly but hard.

        "Oh, as if Jenny was or is interested in facts. She has her very own view of things as far as her little brother is concerned. And how she sees things is always right, of course. "

        He stretched and took another deep breath.

        "I was so disappointed with this whole thing ... because of the theft of our project idea, so angry, that I told Jenny about it. It soon became clear to me that it was a big mistake."

        Claire, who had now put her right hand on Jamie's hands, started stroking them gently again.” 

        "How so?"

        "Well, Jenny thinks I'm just a stupid little boy. And, she is convinced, that Marie-Catherine was in love with me, but I, the little stupid boy, didn’t notice it. And Marie-Catherine only stole our project idea for one reason: To avenge me for her despised love to me. In Jenny's eyes, I'm just a little stupid boy who has no sound knowledge of human nature. I am a hopeless, unworldly romantic, living in my ivory tower and therefore, unlike her, who is a realist through and through, I am not able to get my life together.”         Claire looked at him with growing amazement and shook her head.         "How can she say that? You are a successful lawyer! Did she never see you in court? Did she never read about you in the papers?"         Jamie smiled. It was a tired smile.                  "Oh, Claire ...."                  He only shook his head.

Hearing before the 2nd. Senat of the Federal Constitutional Court at Karlsruhe  * Foto: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F080597-0004 / Reineke, Engelbert / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)] 

        “No. For her, the opinion of others about me has always been more important than what ... I had to say or ... what really happened. She even called my partners and asked if I was in danger, to ruin our law firm."

        Claire dropped her shoulders.

        "She ... she ... can not do that ..."

        "Oh yes! You would not believe what my sister is able to do."

        Jamie laughed briefly. Claire did not miss the fact that it was a bitter laugh.

        "Luckily she does not know all the partners. She only called Ben Hombach and Ned Gowan. And they did not hesitate to give her the right answer."

        Claire did not say anything, just looked at him questioningly.

        “Both told her that they wouldn’t give any information about the company's internal affairs to somebody who isn’t a partner and secondly that it wasn’t her concern at all."

        "And she was satisfied with that?"

        Again, Jamie laughed loudly and briefly.

        "Jenny then tried Tessa. She probably meant to get information when she would speak to her 'from woman to woman'. But Tessa only told her that I was the most successful boss she ever worked for."

        Claire looked at him approvingly.

        "I'm only the second boss Tessa has worked for. The first one was her instructor," Jamie said dryly, and they both began to laugh again.

        "Does Jenny know that?" Claire asked, interrupted by a low chuckle.

        "No. Jenny does not have to know everything. But after that, she no longer called anyone in the office. At least, I have not heard about it."

        Claire pulled Jamie's head to her, looked him in the eye, and kissed him.

        "I'm sorry you got hurt that way, Jamie," she said as they parted.

        He fended off.

        "Oh, it was not the first time in my life and probably it will not be the last time."

        Then he got up and went to the fireplace to put in some new logs. Claire watched him. Deep inside, she sensed that what Jamie had told her so far was only the tip of the iceberg. If they wanted to have a common future, then they had to dare to go to the layers below. While she was still thinking about how to encourage Jamie to tell her more, he sat back down on the sofa and put his arm around her. Without waiting for another question from Claire, he continued:

        "As I said, this story with Marie-Claire was the trigger for everything that came afterward. I mean ... Jenny's attempts to make me a man."

        Claire shook her head slightly, then let herself sink into his embrace.

  “Gestüt” by stux

        "First she invited a completely spoiled brat from a noble family. This German-English family had some property in Lower Saxony, even from the time when this federal state was the heartland of the former Kingdom of Hanover. Her father owned several companies, but in the course of the financial crisis in 2008, he lost a large part of his inheritance. All that remains for them is their estate near Hanover and a stud farm near Berlin. Although they were what is called 'impoverished nobility', this person let anyone who met her know how much higher she was on the social ladder. She was, like Jenny, a person who bends the facts to her best use. But her actions revealed what she really was: nothing but a vicious, lying, disgusting whore who had happened to be born at the estate of a noble family. Every simple janitor has more decorum and sense of honor than this ... this beast. She tried to blackmail me to get me to her bed. She looked down on our family, but for that, I was good enough."

        Claire lifted her head and looked at Jamie wide-eyed.

        "How could she ..."

        "On the weekend, when she was our guest, she happened to be listening to a conversation between Jenny and Ian. My sister and my brother-in-law were in the kitchen. Jenny washed the dishes, Ian dried up. They had not noticed that the kitchen door was not completely closed. As they spoke, she overheard their conversation. My father ... had been in possession of a larger block of shares that we knew nothing about. He had probably acquired it only a few days before his death and then had no opportunity to tell us about it. We found the documents months after his death in an old safe in the wine cellar. That was two days before this woman ... this beast was our guest. None of us, neither Jenny nor Ian or I, knew why my father had kept the documents there. We also had no idea about the account that received the proceeds from these shares. Accordingly, we did not list all of this in the declaration of inheritance tax we had made the year before. Of course, we were worried and wondered if the tax administration would believe us, that we had not known about this fortune of my deceased father. Ian and Jenny talked about this while they were overheard by this person. She came to my room shortly thereafter and told me that she knew about our 'untaxed inheritance'. Then she told me I had to let her have her way with me. She gave me a week and said she would be waiting for me at her parents' farm. If I refused, she would pass on the information to the press and the tax administration, ruining the reputation of our law firm, my reputation as a lawyer, and the reputation of my entire family."

“Weinflaschen” by chris18769         Claire looked down at the floor. She did not dare to look at Jamie.

         "And how ... what ... did you  ..."

______________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading. Next time, read  The Murderess from the Grunewald (23): Secret Whitsun Holiday on Rügen (12): Sharing Joy and Sorrow (6e) - Jamie's Story (III)

[dieaugendeshimmel-blog]

Final Text for the book

THE EYES IN THE SKY

The Field Station Berlin was placed upon the Teufels-berg hill, it was known colloquially as ‘The Hill’ by an array of American soldiers who worked there. It was formed from the masses of rubble left after World War 2 and was piled 120.1 metres above sea level and was deemed the perfect vantage point for its purpose. 

The hill was located in the far west of Berlin within the British sector, slightly north of Grunewald Forest. In July 1961 Mobile Allied listening units began opera-tions on Teufelsberg. The tower continued watching until just after the fall of the Berlin wall, when opera-tions slowed until eventually in 1991 the towers oper-ations were completely decommissioned. The data recorded by the NSA during this time has not yet been made public and there are no plans to release this information until 2020. In 1992 the site was passed from the NSA to the  Berlin Senate, however its presence never dwindled. The eyes in the sky are still watching.

This book attempts to bring to the surface the on-going battle between public and private spaces in our so called panoptic society.

[adventurewhisperspenguin-blog]

Grunewald Turm in the southwest of Berlin, Germany . #travel #beautifuldestinations #instatravel #travelgram #travelbug #trip #ilovetravel #travelblogger #instapassport #wanderlust #traveldeeper #travelling #traveltheworld #igtravel #getaway #travelblog #travelphoto #travelphotography #amazing #exploretheworld #solotravel #worldcaptures #wanderluster #traveler #reisen #nice #lovely #traveltodaytv #instagood #love #beautiful #viaje #reise #photooftheday #picoftheday #fotodestages #eupolia #turm #tower #towers #torre #berlin #grunewald #history #germany