I’ve always been fascinated with the absurd. Completely fake worlds we create for amusement or escape. Believing that American culture contributed to this in the most extreme ways, though there are plenty of additions from the Japanese culture. While researching nuclear power in Germany I found out about Wunderland Kallar. In 1972 Germany built a nuclear reactor in Kallar despite protests. Soon after the Chernobyl disaster happened and the project was stopped. What to do with an unused power plant and cooling tower? Why build an amusement park… of course?!

Photos from: http://www.amusingplanet.com “Totally unused, the building is essentially one of the most expensive, complicated pieces of trash in the world.”

While I find Disneyland and fake waterfalls in Golden Gate Park to be amongst the absurd, Germany has some fascinatingly weird stuff. How about a swimming pool in a river?

photo: http://www.arena-berlin.de

Or what if you want to go to a tropical island on vacation. Experience the sand between your toes and warm sun on your face? Get to know the local island culture and drink a tropical drink out of a pineapple but you don’t really want to leave your country? Well… there’s something for you too.

“Located in Germany, Tropical Islands stretches across an area of 66,000 m², the size of eight football fields. It has perfect temperatures of 26 °C and is home to the world’s biggest indoor rainforest, Europe’s largest tropical sauna and spa complex, a Tropical Sea with a 200 metre-long sandy beach and many other exciting attractions. And best of all it’s open all year round, 24 hours a day!”

Photos and above quote: Bless This Stuff

I have enjoyed reading a collection of different blogs that explore Berlin from the view of both locals and expats. I am no stranger to travel, having been a foreign-exchange student more than once, but Berlin remains quite foreign to me. One great advantage to traveling the world now, as opposed to 12 years ago when I lived in Europe, is the array of travel blogs, meetups, and cultural explorations that are available online. Who needs a guidebook when you can read personal adventures?

http://www.findingberlin.com/

http://www.uberlin.co.uk/

http://www.iheartberlin.de/

http://unlike.net/berlin/

http://journeytoberlin.com/content/about

http://travelsofadam.com/

“There are those who receive as birthright an adequate or at least unquestioned sense of self and those who set out to reinvent themselves, for survival or for satisfaction, and travel far. Some people inherit values and practices as a house they inhabit; some of us have to burn down that house, find our own ground, build from scratch, even as a psychological metamorphosis.”

– Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost