Yesterday's adventures in Berlin Ringbahn reminded me of a new environmental development in the city. Namely, this summer might be the last one for retro cars. In 2008, all the cars without catalytic converters (Katalysator) will be banned inside the city encircling S-Bahn railroad. As all of them cannot be refitted to comply with Euro 1 emission standard, a great deal of Trabants, Citroëns, Minis and W123s might be gone next year. Automobilists protest accordingly.

Before I left for Helsinki I had a chat with Tibor, who stayed in our flat for a couple of days. He studies architecture at TU München and they have designed a really nice solar powered boat. Called "Solar Proa" its design is based on eponymous proas (a.k.a. catamarans) from Pacific Ocean and it's powered by solar panels, which cover the whole deck surface. The picture shows how clever it is, with that convertible canopy and everything. So far, the design has been featured in Der Spiegel, and their own website will go live later.