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The other week I wrote about the ice crystals that formed on my studio windows. This week I ventured out into the subzero temperatures to see the people frolicking on the ice of the frozen canal nearby. It is a world away from the balmy Summer evenings I spent there with friends and a bottle of wine watching the sunset and people paddling about in their canoes, who were also intent on enjoying the atmosphere with friends and an alcoholic beverage.

So, some six months later, where there were once small water craft were people cavorting on the ice. Some dusted off their ice skates, others took to walking, I took my bicycle. There was adequate snow cover on the ice that I could get traction. It is an interesting to be standing where you normally can’t and to look at everything from a new perspective. It is also interesting to see how people use this new found public space.

There were small ice hockey areas, along with a few strips where you run and then take a slide. However, perhaps strangest of all was the sounds of Summer that had returned to this spot. Someone had hired a small truck and driven it into the park that borders the canal and set up a sound system, a grill with sausages and hot mulled wine. All of this was then completed with a disco ball and people gathered for the beats. However, to my observation, I think most of the movement was more to keep warm than any real form of dancing.

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Last Witner was hard. For three weeks Berlin suffered through -20C, and I also. The old building that is our artist project house, Atelierhaus Mengerzeile, is not in good shape. It has has been through much more and now with time it is need of some repairs. Such repairs being the windows in my studio. So after discovering last Winter that my windows were the culprit of my ever chilly studio and the subsequent very large heating bill, this Autumn just past, I set about to ensure that I would not be shivering and pining for warmer climates.

So, here I am now, with our first snow for this Winter and some biting subzero temperatures. I can happily announce that the repairs have succeeded in keeping my warmer and happy.

To amuse me a little more, Mr. Frost has paid me a visit and shown me his own artistic abilities on my studio windows in the form of some very intricate ice crystal patterns, more often referred to as “Eisblumen” (ice flowers). So when you wonder at these images, wonder at how cold it is outside.

And yes, for those of you who live further east in Europe, or up there in Canada, the temperatures here in Berlin are a walk in the park.

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