Month: April 2021

Berlin, Germany

I have been to Berlin before circa 2002… but it’s safe to say that I didn’t see much of the city because I was stuck in the hotel room with a horrific stomach bug. In fact, the family joke about Berlin is our renaming of the famous landmark to “Chuckpoint” Charlie. For reasons you can […]

Berlin, Germany
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No Good-byes without the Ouzo! Zervakis walks away from Tagesschau with a toast!

Linda Zervakis leaves the anchor post Tageschau for Future Endeavors

HAMBURG- The Greeks never say farewell without a toast- with the famous Ouzo!  On her last day as anchor of the ARD network show Tagesschau and Tagesthemen, it was a toast with many thanks. Linda Zervakis was the anchor for the 8:00pm show Tagesschau for eight years but had worked for German public TV’s arm NDR for almost 20 years. Last night, the „lady in red“ took her last bow with a future that is unknown, except the fact that she plans to take another step into the future unknown, as long as she is still young. And with that, a toast with the Ouzo with her former colleague Ingo Zamparoni, with whom she had worked together for 15 years, beginning with the NDR show „Eins Extra Aktuell“ in 2006. Zamparoni is one of three anchors for Tagesthemen and has written two books on his adventures in the USA.

Zervakis has her roots in Hamburg; she born there to Greek immigrants who moved to Germany in 1960s and had owned a kiosk, where she had worked there until she turned 28 years of age. Her career as a journalist started with being a reporter for NDR’s radio station NJOY before covering stories about Schleswig-Holstein in 2004. Two years later she co-hosted the TV news show Eins Extra Aktuell with Zamparoni. Zervakis joined Tagesschau in 2010 as reporter but took over as one of the five main anchors for the 8:00pm show in 2013. She assisted as a news anchor for Tagesthemen at the same time. That show runs in the late night hours after a movie or show.  Zervakis was the first person who hosted the show whose parents were immigrants, a first for ARD but one that also was part of the package. She was a straight-forward anchor who presented no-nonsense news stories and caught the attention of much of the audience. On stage, she was known as the lady in red because of her attire, a mixture of poker colors- red, black and white.  Poker-face would be one of the names if we look at it from a card-player’s perspective. Yet off-stage, she had a light-hearted sense of humour. which makes a person wonder: Could she have a future as an actress? From this writer’s perspective, that answer is definitely yes.

Zervakis‘ departure comes four months after Jan Hofer, who had been the anchor for Tagesschau for 35 years. He stepped down in December, but is currently working for the network RTL. Yet her departure doesn’t mean she will disappear, riding off into the sunset. While she has her family and her roots in Hamburg, married with two children, Zervakis will definitely reappear somewhere on the set. She still has her podcast on Spotify entitled Linda Zervakis präsentiert: Gute Deutsche, which was launched last year. Yet what her future holds and what she will do next, no one knows. One thing is for sure, the lady in red will reappear again on stage, no matter where and when she will be.

So have the Ouzo ready. Before that, a big round of thanks for the work you did and for the fans you collected over the years. Best of luck wherever you go. And yes, Rock on! 🙂

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What you think of yourself … Berlin Street Art

On a frozen January day, the brightly-coloured futuristic traveller emblazoned across the entire side of a block of apartments on a quiet residential street in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg, stopped me in my tracks. It’s not so much the size, although this mural must be 50 metres high, it’s more that our traveller looks like they […]

What you think of yourself … Berlin Street Art

Berlin’s Best Walks: Natur-Park Schöneberger Südgelände

While Tempelhofer Feld attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, there is no doubt that far fewer people know about the nearby Natur-Park Schöneberger Südgelände. Just a few S-Bahn stops away from the beloved airport-turned-public-park, you’ll find another impressive urban space with eighteen hectares of nature, art, and technology.

Berlin’s Best Walks: Natur-Park Schöneberger Südgelände

California’s “Dark Watchers” that have been spooking hikers for centuries

For at lest 300 years, hikers in California’s Santa Lucia Mountains have been reporting sightings of shadowy, mysterious silhouettes popularly known as “dark watchers”. If you want to see one of them, you should wait until the late afternoon. As the sun begins its descent behind the waves, look to the sharp ridges of the […]

California’s “Dark Watchers” that have been spooking hikers for centuries

Alps: nightmare creatures of German folklore

Alps are creatures that appear in nightmares in the middle of the night. This mythical creature would appear in the dreams of men and women but prefers to disturb women more. It is defined by the Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch as a “nature-god or nature-demon, equated with the Fauns of Classical mythology…regarded as eerie, ferocious beings…As the […]

Alps: nightmare creatures of German folklore

Why It Matters – Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a word thrown around by a lot of environmental groups as something really important. What is it, exactly?  It’s short for biological diversity, and it refers to the entire variety of life on earth that comprise of all the ecosystems and elements that make the planet “work.” From mushrooms to minke whales, corals […]

Why It Matters – Biodiversity

What to do for Earth Day and after that

I know that Earth Day was yesterday, but I want to emphasise on the fact that every day should be Earth Day, and that we should take care of our one and only Earth literally 24/7. How? Well, let me tell you how! Plant something Not only do trees cool things down (together they can […]

What to do for Earth Day and after that