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'Flying over Berlin' on Europe's Highest Swing

Hotel worker Wendy Sorice swings 120 meters above the rooftops of Berlin. RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP/File
Hotel worker Wendy Sorice swings 120 meters above the rooftops of Berlin. RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP/File
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'Flying over Berlin' on Europe's Highest Swing

Hotel worker Wendy Sorice swings 120 meters above the rooftops of Berlin. RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP/File
Hotel worker Wendy Sorice swings 120 meters above the rooftops of Berlin. RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP/File

Pascal Vent let out a nervous laugh as he peered down at the ground from Berlin's newest tourist attraction, a swing on the top of a 40-storey tower block.
Billed as the highest swing in Europe, the contraption on top of a hotel next to Berlin's famous TV tower is a novel way to take in the city -- with a dose of adrenaline thrown in.
Once strapped into a harness, customers are propelled forward so that when they are at the high point of the swing, there is nothing between them and the ground 120 meters (nearly 400 feet) below.
"After the first few swings, you get used to it and you feel free," said Vent, a media worker who wanted to try out the swing for his 36th birthday.
"I came here to feel a bit younger," he said.
The swing, which charges around 20 euros ($22) for five minutes, has attracted more than 100 visitors a day since it opened in June.
Victoria Voigt, a 34-year-old care worker, discovered the attraction via social media.
"It feels a bit like flying," she said.
Wendy Sorice, a 30-year-old hotel worker, described the experience as an "adrenaline rush" and said she could happily have done it for longer than five minutes.
But her boyfriend was not so enthusiastic -- overcome by vertigo, he stayed on the ground to film her instead.
"We wanted to create something simple and easy to access," said Andi Hoefer, managing director of the company that set up the swing, which operates several attractions in Germany.
The company had previously offered base jumping from the top of the building, but it attracted only limited interest.
The swing offers some competition for the 368-meter TV tower, a famous symbol of the former East Germany with sweeping views across Berlin.
"They have sloping windows, but we have a terrace and fresh air," Hoefer said.
And the fact the attraction beats the record for the highest swing in Europe, previously held by a 100-meter swing in Amsterdam? "Pure chance," he said.

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Meet America’s Newest Giant Pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao

Xin Bao the female Panda sits in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo prior to the opening of the new exhibit Panda Ridge Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Xin Bao the female Panda sits in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo prior to the opening of the new exhibit Panda Ridge Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
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Meet America’s Newest Giant Pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao

Xin Bao the female Panda sits in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo prior to the opening of the new exhibit Panda Ridge Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)
Xin Bao the female Panda sits in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo prior to the opening of the new exhibit Panda Ridge Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in San Diego. (AP)

California’s governor flew in for the young bears’ debut. Throngs of media gathered inside the zoo, while the city of San Diego warned of traffic jams ahead of the much-anticipated event Thursday.

The San Diego Zoo rolled out the red carpet for the first public showing of its celebrity residents, who were already dressed in black-and-white attire. The two giant pandas, the first to enter the US in two decades, seemed unfazed by all the attention, sunbathing and chowing down on bamboo in their new home.

For years, the Chinese government has loaned pandas to zoos around the world in a practice called “panda diplomacy.” These fuzzy ambassadors have long been a symbol of the US-China friendship, ever since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in 1972.

But in recent years, China stopped renewing panda loans to zoos and calling back home the animals it had given to Western countries as relations soured. The San Diego Zoo’s previous pandas left in 2018 and 2019.

Then in February, the China Wildlife Conservation Association announced it was sending two more pandas to San Diego and also signing agreements with the zoo in the Spanish capital of Madrid, quelling fears that Beijing was ending its historic panda diplomacy. San Diego's pandas arrived in June and have been acclimating to their new home before being seen by the public.

“This is about something much deeper, much richer, than just the two beautiful pandas we celebrate,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the opening ceremony that included dancing, music, and remarks from Chinese ambassador Xie Feng, and other local officials. “It’s about celebrating our common humanity.”

For the occasion, Newsom proclaimed Aug. 8 as California Panda Day and recognized the San Diego Zoo as the first organization in the US to establish a cooperative panda conservation program with China.

Xie said he met someone on his flight who had traveled all the way from Washington, DC, to see the pandas.

“Two little panda fans from California wrote several letters to me proposing giving China grizzly bears to get pandas,” Xie said, eliciting laughs.

Only four other giant pandas currently reside in the United States, all at the zoo in Atlanta. However, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo will receive a new pair of pandas by the end of the year after its last bears returned to China last November. As part of the loan agreement, US zoos typically pay $1 million a year toward China’s wildfire conservation efforts, and all cubs born in the US must return to China by age 4.

Both pandas at the San Diego Zoo were born at the Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base in China’s Sichuan province.

Yun Chuan is a nearly five-year-old male panda described by the zoo as “mild-mannered, gentle and lovable.” He is the grandson of Bai Yun and Gao Gao, who both lived at the San Diego Zoo for more than a decade. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was the fourth cub born at the zoo.

Xin Bao is a nearly four-year-old female panda described by the zoo as a “gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”

“Her name means a treasure of prosperity and abundance, and we hope she will bring you good luck,” Ambassador Xie said. He also spoke about China being California’s top trading partner as well as the large Chinese community in the state and the abundance of Chinese tourists.

Among the pandas' biggest fans are two kids who were proudly wearing “Panda Ridge” t-shirts and carrying plushies at the zoo Thursday morning.

“Pandas are their favorite animals, if you could only see what our house looks like in terms of stuffed animals,” their father James Metz said.

It was also his seven-year-old daughter's birthday, making it an extra special occasion. For weeks, the family has been eagerly watching live panda feeds from China in anticipation of the bears' arrival.

Yun Chuan and Xin Bao were hanging out and relaxing after eating, Metz said.

A portrait of one of the panda's grandmothers, who lived at the zoo for more than 20 years, was created by California-based artist Shepard Fairey, who is best known for designing the “Hope” imagery in former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.