..but not on this day, when the 407-class ICE 3 unit "Paris" (which really did make the first direct high-speed connection between Berlin and Paris in December 2024) stalled at Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, and we had to swap to another 407 unit to actually get to Paris.

Having ridden both the ICE (3) and the TGV (Duplex), I have just one question to Deutsche Bahn: why do you keep buying the Siemens Velaro garbage, when the Alstom-built TGV design is right there?

#railroad #train #high-speed-rail #deutschebahn #ice

Carl-Kristian Rundman as Boromir in the 1993 Finnish TV adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. Bck when adaptations of the books dared to be original, rather than just carbon copies of the Peter Jackson films.

Incidentally, you can't legally view this version anymore, since the Tolkien estate retroactively decided they don't allow it.

(I thought I had deleted this post from Tumblr, but turns out it was still there doing rounds two years later when I went to schedule my yearly Salvador Allende posts for 9/11... so I decided to recreate it here).

#lotr #tolkien

Kleinprofil #U-Bahn trains encountered while in #Berlin:

A West Germany -built A3-class unit at Hohelzollernplatz on U3.

A Made in der #DDR G-class unit deep in West Berlin at Nollerndorfplatz on U2.

Finally, a post-unification (2010s-built) class IK unit arriving at the Schlesisches Tor station on the elevated section of U1 (shared with U2).

#publictransport

WHH GT18 residential high-rise buildings, Berlin-Mitte. My photos from June 2025.

#architecture #plattenbau #berlin #germany #DDR

Ranskasta puheenollen: mulla on ikävä Pariisiin. Oon aiemminkin käyny kivoissa paikoissa, mutta en muista milloin ois aiemmin tullut näin syvä ikävä takaisin johonkin. Se ei toki auta, että lapsi juttelee toiveistaan mitä tehdä kun seuraavan kerran mennään Pariisiin. Eikä toki toi Pariisin metrosta lukeminenkaan.

(Kuva ei ole itse Pariisista, vaan naapurikunta Les Lilasista).

Speaking of France: I miss Paris. I've been to nice places before, but I don't remember when I would have missed a place so deeply. I doen't help that the kid is chatting about what they want to do when we revisit Paris. Reading books about the Paris métro doesn't help either.

(The photo is not from Paris itself, but from the neighbouring commune Les Lilas).

Menin paikalliseen pienoismallikauppaan ostamaan kaksi pientä purkkia maalia.

Päädyin ostamaan kaksi pientä purkkia maalia ja kolme kirjaa.

The thing I probably got most excited about in Berlin was a building by a French-speaking Swiss architect. What can I say? I love brutalist architecture, and Le Corbusier is the ur-Brutalist.

I have to say though: at the time, the Corbusierhaus was considered massive. But when you look at it now, when you compare it to contemporary achitecture it doesn't actually look that huge. The detailing and variance Le Corbusier put in the building makes it look human in scale. Which of course was his original meaning, but it's something later achitecture has lost all sight of.

I learned from this book that Paris Métro has given copies of their iconic Art Nouveau station entrances to other metro cities around the world, and often received something in return. Hence, for instance, stained glass artworks by a Chigago artist on one of the Paris overground stations, and a Paris-style metro entrance in Montréal.

Now I can't help thinking how cool it would be if we could have one of those for the projected northern entrance of the Kaisaniemi – shit, I mean, University of Helsinki – station in Helsinki.

And to ramble on a bit more on the subject, I love how the Paris Métro embraces its history. Not only the iconic Art Nouveau entrances being retained, right down to the original signage, but also later designs being maintained in their original guise, rather than applying new-style signage on them whenever there's a design change. Helsinki for one could learn a great deal about this kind of respect for history.

Tonight we were making potion bottles with the family:

The partner and kid went to Alko – the Finnish state monopoly liquer store – to get small nice-looking bottles. The contents were poured down the drain, since none of us wanted to drink vodk or limoncello (the latter would have been okay withour the alcohol.

Speaking of DSLR's: I also have a Flickr, and have been putting both old and new photos there. Tonight I'd like to share my photos from our 2023 trip to Norway, which was probably my fave trip of all time. You can expect to see nature, rail vehicles and ships:

More here: flickr.com/photos/199434641@N0…

Viikonloppujuttuja:

Kissat nautti tekemästämme pedistä aurinkoisella ikkunalla. Oli niin kiva paikka, että kerrankin eivät tapelleet.

Kaveri puukotti synttäreidensä kunniaksi kakkua.

Sattumalta bongasin erikoiväreissä olevan ETCS-testiveturin eli Sr1 3018:n. Kuva ei ole paras koskaan ottamani, mutta menköön näin erikoisuuden kuvana.