Tag Archives for Germany

Man finds bomb in garden, calls police; turns out it’s just a zucchini

That’s a relief – and a great addition to dinner! 😉

A German man feared a monster courgette he found in his garden was an unexploded World War Two bomb and called the police.

The 5kg (11-pound) courgette had probably been thrown over a hedge into the 81 year old’s garden, police said.

Luckily no evacuation was required in Bretten, a town near Karlsruhe in south-west Germany.

The 40cm (16-inch) vegetable – also called zucchini – “really did look like a bomb”, police said.

Once police had reassured him following the early morning call-out, the pensioner disposed of the courgette himself.

German cyclist saved by bra after being hit by bullet from a wild boar hunt

Hoorah for bras! 🙂

A cyclist who inadvertantly rode into the middle of a boar hunt while cycling in the woods in north-east Germany, was saved by the wire in her bra after she was hit by a bullet.

The woman, 41-year-old tourist on holiday from North Rhine-Westphalia, said she felt a pain in her chest according to newspaper Gadebusch-Rehnaer Zeitung, while cycling with her husband, which was found out to be the bullet deflecting off the underwire of her bra.

Her husband spotted the hunters in the Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania area and shouted them down to stop what they were doing. The women was taken to hospital in Gadebusch nearby by a passing motorist and was reportedly treated for bruising on her chest and a small blood clot.

The body of a boar was found in the line of fire and after inspection of the area with sniffer dogs and metal detectors, police believe the bullet may have rebounded off the boar before hitting the woman.

The identified hunter’s gun was taken along their ammunition by police and is now being investigated on suspicion of negligent injury.

Bah; they’re just going to make an example of him, despite the facts about the apparent ricochet, and the couple’s inadvertently passing through a likely completely legal hunt.

Anyway, glad to hear she’s safe; good news! 🙂

An Icy Start to Winter

Recent storms and plunging temperatures have encrusted regions of Germany, Austria, and Hungary in thick sheets of ice. Freezing fog and icy rain coated nearly every surface, leaving road signs and trees looking like works of abstract art. The weather has closed some schools and left residents without power as crews work to clear heavy tree branches from roads, buildings, and power lines.

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Lichtgrenze 2014: Commemorating the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Numerous events were held this weekend across Berlin, Germany, remembering the November 9, 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall that once divided the city. A project called “Lichtgrenze 2014” (literally “Lightborder 2014”) was erected, temporarily dividing the city once more with a line of 8,000 illuminated balloons along the 9.5 mile (15.3 kilometer) path once occupied by the Berlin Wall. The weekend was capped off by a large concert at Brandenburg Gate, attended by thousands.

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A Walk Along the Swiss Border

In a few weeks, Switzerland will vote on a proposal to dramatically restrict immigration. A group called Ecopop has gathered enough signatures to hold a referendum that proposes to limit immigration to 0.2 percent of the resident population. The new limit would be 75 percent lower than current levels, about 16,000 immigrants per year. Reuters photographer Denis Balibouse took the occasion to make a photo survey of the border regions Switzerland shares with France, Italy, Germany, and Austria.

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The Berlin Wall, 25 Years After the Fall

This weekend, Germany will observe the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) began erecting the barrier in 1961, building on existing checkpoints, and fortified it over nearly 30 years: The initial waist-high wooden gates gave way to massive concrete structures with buffer zones known as “death strips.” The Berlin Wall was intended to halt the steady stream of defections from the Eastern Bloc; during its existence, only about 5,000 people managed to cross over, escaping into West Berlin. More than 100 are believed to have been killed in the attempt, most shot by East German border guards. In 1989, waves of protest in East Berlin and a flood of defections through neighboring Hungary and Czechoslovakia led the government to finally allow free passage across the border. West German citizens swarmed the wall, pulling parts of it down with hammers and machinery, an act that set the stage for Germany’s reunification.

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