Quarter-life Creative | By Karen Buckley.: Berlin

During this adventure we had planned to hire bikes to make our travels faster, but out of habit we visited the DDR Museum and set off walking and didn't remember our plans until about 40 minutes into our walk.

I have been wondering if I should share the pictures from this day in one very long post or a couple shorter ones and I opted for a couple shorter ones, because its a lot of pictures and quite a lot of information!

Our first stop on our walk was a derelict factory we had seen traveling in on the SBahn, it was pretty big and we thought it would be interesting to take a look.

I had no idea what the building was home to before it closed or if it was even possible to get inside or near enough to it to take some pictures, but we thought we would follow the road along the river until we came to it.

The entrance was wide open and you can enter it from pretty much any direction as all the doors we open and the fences had been forced down. The space was also home to quite a collection of people which you can see in the third picture below, a far as the peace and love signs go I still didn't fancy becoming an unwanted guest and it was also clearly visible that much of the building had collapsed and it really wasn't in good nick.

So I didn't fancy being crushed to death or falling to death so I kept my distance, but I have seen some pictures on the internet from 2008 claiming the the building was actually a derelict ice factory (Eisfabrik) which I have linked below, and the inside of the building looked pretty incredible.

"The Eisfabrik (Ice Factory) was one of the oldest ice factories in Germany. It opened its doors in 1896 next to the river on Köpenickerstrasse 40/41. In the time when refrigerators did not exist, the ice that was produced would be delivered all over Berlin to breweries, pubs, homes, etc.

The Eisfabrik managed to survive many damages, several fires and bombs throughout its lifespan. In 1914 the factory chimney collapsed and made the headlines in the news. In 1945 the houses next to the factory which were owned by them as well were bombed to the ground during the war. After renovation, repairation work, change of ownership the factory shut its doors in 1995 after 99 years and couldn't withhold the fast change of technology and needs(since most households and establishments have refrigerators at this point). Many debates are still on going of what should be done with the high commercial value property....

On the main floor of the factory you’ll see the big ice machine that made the magic happen. Also there are smaller rooms if you go up to the floors and explore each one. There is of course some great artwork from graffitti artists that shouldnt be neglected. You can also access the roof and just relax with some company and beer with a great view of the Spree (river) and Fernsehturm."

Taken from here.

You can see some pictures of the interior here, I must admit that after looking at these pictures and watching the video below, it really would have been pretty cool to have had a look inside.