berlin mitte, 2021
schwalbe
schwalbenherz
berlin friedrichshain, 2020
swallowtail in blue
berlin friedrichshain, 2019
(swallow -> schwalbe in german… -> schwalbe -> a german motor scooter – yes, the one on the left)
springtime with coal
berlin, prenzlauer berg, 2017
funnily enough this is also from last year but again i bet it looked the same today :-)
leaf on bike
berlin friedrichshain, 2017
mirror tree
swallowtail
from friedrichshain, berlin
the rear wheel of a schwalbe motorcycle. schwalbe is swallow (the bird) in english, hence the title. the schwalbe motorcycle manufactured by simson in suhl from 1964 to 1986 was (and in fact still is) very popular in eastern germany and rightly so.
the reichstag may be closer than it appears
(part of) the berlin reichstag in the mirror of a motorcycle made in the gdr. the ‘schwalbe‘.
swallow* reloaded
more than 15 months later the little simson duo (a.k.a. schwalbe) was parked at the same spot again. and i took the chance of putting together a bit of a picture in picture thing.
all shot with the lumix 20mm except the last one. that was taken with the 14mm with gwc1 conversion lens attached.
the original picture was gone within 10 minutes… it was a postcard, maybe it gets written.
* many parts of the shown vehicle are from a motorbike called “schwalbe” (i.e. the bird swallow) in german.
one swallow* does not make a summer
but a “duo” might do… (but probably not in february, though)
the pictured vehicle was used in the gdr by handicapped people that were either not able anymore and therefore/or not allowed to drive a full fledged car like a trabant or something even more fancy.
* many parts of the shown vehicle are from a motorbike called “schwalbe” (i.e. the bird swallow) in german.