Every evening when the sun goes down, I see the spotlights and bright glow of the Christmas market near Frankfurter Allee. It feels like a foreign object that’s suddenly materialized, distorting the whole area. I wonder if they chose extra spotlights just because cultural events and folk festivals have an exemption in the EnSikuMaV1. I can totally understand why people living directly in front of the market might be upset2 - especially on cold, foggy nights when the light is just eerie and overwhelmingly bright.
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I can’t remember when I first got aware of the Milky Way and the sheer unimaginable amount of stars in it but there is this hazy image I have as a kid, when I was in a small harbor village in Turkey during a vacation. My mother and I were on a small street promenade with street vendors. While she went ahead and looked at some wares from one of the street vendors, I walked to the street border and looked to the sea. My eyes landed on a small pumpkin field near the shore. It was a curious sight for me because at that time I only knew big pumpkins from movies. After a while, a local approached me but I didn’t understood him. He gesticulated towards the sky. I looked up and there were some shooting stars. The local was happy that I saw it and we looked towards the milky way together in hope to see more.
