2009-10-10 52 13

Location

It seems to be on the footwalk of Motzstraße, near the corner with Martin-Luther-Straße. Possible underground geohash!

Participants

HiroProtagonist
relet
davidc and drag-along Lisa
lyx

Plans

I would love to go there tomorrow, either in the morning or in the late afternoon. Anybody else coming? --HiroProtagonist 13:56, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

I would be heading for the official saturday meetup time at 4pm. :) -- relet 13:59, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Meh, I can't go at 4pm :( I will either be there beteen 12 and 1pm, or between 6pm and 7pm. So who ever goes first, leaves a hashtag? :D --HiroProtagonist 14:12, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

I'll be knackered from my trip, 4pm or 6pm are preferable for me. --davidc 14:48, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

How about 6pm for you, relet? If it's only the three of us anyway, I would be glad if we could move it to that time. --HiroProtagonist 15:50, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Sure. I'm happy with any time. :) -- relet 18:16, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

It also seems to be right in front of a "pub" of sorts. And the Green Door is around the corner, that's always worth a visit. :D -- relet 18:26, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

So we fix 6pm and go for an underground + pub geohash? :D --HiroProtagonist 18:34, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

To get as close to the hash as possible while using the tube, you would have to sit on the north side of the train, and probably try both driving directions. Although I'm almost sure the GPS won't work. Who can get his hands on an inertial navigation system? ;) -- Trurl 19:40, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Yup, north side would be going from Nollendorfplatz to Viktoria-Luise. We should actually be able to confirm that the train runs directly under the street, and the tunnel width and distance is about the width of the street. Would that suffice? Let's do this anyway and work on the theoretical proof afterwards. -- relet 20:27, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

relet and I could go at 4pm and faff around with this for a while and/or drink in that pub, then meet Hiro at 6? I will hopefully have a drag-along too. --davidc 23:35, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

I'd rather we all meet at the same time. Also, I am considering to walk - and taking into account my current level of slack, 6pm sounds like the nicer prospect. -- relet 10:17, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

6pm it is then. --davidc 11:22, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Expedition

lyx and relet

We walked to the geohash, taking a picture every 10 minutes. The timing happened to work quite well, so that we were able to capture something touristy in every picture. Happily walking and chatting away, we took a wrong branch from the "Great Star" roundabout, forcing us to make a small detour through the Tiergarten park. Still, we reached the others only about 10 minutes late, waiting for us in the Pub-zzeria La Luna.

It was still dry when we started our walk, but by the time we reached the hash, there was a significant amount of rain. We therefore decided to order something foodish and drinks as well and keep watch from the inside. We were still half hoping that Trurl might turn up.

Eventually, we payed and packed, and headed for the hash proper. Relet was the only one to carry a GPS. The hash on the sidewalk was reached easily enough. We then proceeded to try the same underground - riding the "u-bahn" underground.

The particular u-bahn line runs directly below the street of which the hash lay on the sidewalk. It was built by the town of Schöneberg in the beginning of the last century, and is only five stations long. The town, by now, is a district of Berlin. As our previous survey showed, we had to ride the northern track of rails.. we therefore first took the train to Nollendorfplatz on the southern track, to return in the other direction on the other side.

Arriving in Nollendorfplatz, we discovered that the return train wouldn't run on the northern side. Instead, the train we had been on would be going back immediately. Hence, there were two working hypotheses: Either the line would operate one train on either track, in which case we would have to wait for the next one taking the other side. Or, the train would switch sides after leaving the station. Two facts supported the latter: First, the returning train was actually announced on the other platform in Viktoria-Luise-Platz station. Second, there was no other platform in Nollendorfplatz where this particular line would be departing.

Hence, relet quickly stamped his second "short-distance-ticket" in the entry hall and jumped back on board where the others were waiting. The train departed, and peering out of the windows we were indeed able to confirm that the train changed to the northern tracks soon after leaving the station. The best proof of which was created by davidc with a video showing the train indeed depart on the left of the platform, and arriving on the right side of the other.

Considering that the train runs directly under the street, in a straight line, and that the train stations are about as wide as the street is, we can positively claim to have reached the hash underground (even though the GPS reception was nonexistant). Second going deep geohash ever, again in the Berlin subway network. Yay!

To celebrate the event, we proceeded to have a happy hour cocktail in the best cocktail bar in Berlin, the Green Door in Winterfeldstraße with the whole geohashing bunch, and a heap of happy hour sushi with Hiro and her friends at Sushi Miyagi near Blissestraße.

Tracklog

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=385598 (incomplete)

Videos

Video showing us switching to the northern track.

Photos

Minute 03 - Typical Berlin architecture.
Minute 13 - Moabit Penitentiary
Minute 23 - Bellevue Castle, residence of the Federal President
Minute 33 - Victory Column, from the wrong side
Minute 43 - A bridge over the river Spree
Minute 53 - Urania conference hall and event center
Arrival at La Luna, across the street from the hash
It was a pub-zzeria
Locating La Luna
Coordinates Reached, over ground
Coordinates Reached, over ground
Five for a stupid grin (and half a hashcot)
Viktoria-Luise-Platz underground station, and a very close raindrop hiding lyx
Map in the station confirming the U4 runs under Motzstrasse.
Waiting for the train that eventually came
Buying tickets for relet
Others became curious about the train that eventually came
Departing at Nollendorfplatz, on the wrong platform of the station (south side)
Peering into the tunnel
No longer the shortest underground line in Berlin (they built one for our chancellatrice)
Watching the wall coming closer
Arriving Viktoria-Luise-Platz on the right side of the station (north side)
relet's tickets