captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> "euromaxx highlights." in this edition -- fab pics, a new comic tells the story of the beatles' hamburg days. slow train, a nostalgic three day train trip from moscow to nice. music meltdown, a german artist turns old cds into sculptures.

"euromaxx highlights." and here's your host robin merrill >> and a very warm welcome from berlin. we begin in spain with a stunning work in progress -- the new cultural centre in santiago de compostela in the north west of the country. santiago is the capital of the region of galicia and is best known as a destination for pilgrims, indeed there are rather more than usual this weekend due to the pope's visit. but now there are some more reasons to visit as their new "city of culture" is already causing quite a stir. >> santiago de compostela is famous as a place of pilgrimage. now on "monte gaiás" -- a small hill overlooking the city -- a huge building project is underway: >> galicia's "city of culture" covers 175 thousand square meters and incorporates six buildings, designed by peter eisenman. the first two - the archive and

the library -- are now complete. the public response -- overwhelmingly positive. >> the dimensions are spectacular, it's really moving! >> it's all fascinating: the roof, the height of it, the architectural standard, the way everything has been designed, the use of the materials, how they've been linked together - the lines and alignment. >> the new library alone offers 26 thousand square meters of space, spread over six floors. the building will house galicia's literary treasures. a photo exhibition is being held to inaugurate the building, showing libraries around the globe -- from brazil's rio de janeiro to the nearby library in the cathedral of santiago de compostela. all the pictures were taken by german photographer candida höfer. >> i took the pictures to show

the various structures in the rooms, the architecture, the light, the colors and aesthetics. >> santiago's new library also holds its own special fascination for her. >> the monumental size and the way this room has been designed has something sacred about it. >> santiago de compostela is one of the world's most famous places of pilgrimage. this year alone, the city of 100 thousand people will probably receive 200 thousand pilgrims. not to mention four million tourists. the ambitious project has not been without controversy - mainly because of the 300 million euro price tag. but the six new buildings can only boost santiago's global standing.

an event centre and the museum of galicia are scheduled to open in 2011. while the centres for international art and for music and performing arts are to follow in the future. though very modern, the buildings are specifically designed to fit in with their surroundings. >> the complex is based on the map of santiago's old quarter and is built in a similar way. it was with this idea that peter eisenman won the design competition in 1999. the shape of the building exterior is reminiscent of the scallop shell -- the symbol of santiago. the next challenge will be to fill the huge buildings with life. locals are confident that won't be a problem: >> the new cultural centre be for santiago what the city's old quarter - which is a world heritage site - has been for the

past thousand years. >> it's the perfect attraction, people will get to know santiago better and see that we're more than just an historical place of pilgrimage. >> most people in santiago de compostela are agreed -- the "cidade da cultura" hails a new era that will open up the city to culture lovers from all over the world. designer fashion is too expensive for most of us but that is changing. top designers want their clothes to be more affordable for the general public and many have started bringing out cheaper second lines. jean paul gaultier and karl lagerfeld are among the pioneers and we've been investigating the "masstige" trend - the idea is prestige for the masses. jean paul gaultier's exclusive prêt-à-porter collection for next summer. the designer is presenting two

different lines with one big difference -- the price. this outfit costs about 40% less than this one. >> i'm responding to the crisis. i want to show that you can offer fashion from the luxury segment for considerably less. and that lets me reach more people. after all, clothing is there to be worn. >> german designer karl lagerfeld, too, is currently working on a more competitively priced line due to be launched in 2011. the "masstige" collection will bear his name, and will be available only through the internet. >> exactly. i create a collection with my name, but lower priced, because lagerfeld should not be the poor relation of chanel and fendi. i make quality, but the other market can also be quality. >> the british designer matthew williamson has also announced a lower-priced second line.

the french fashion journalist jean paul cauvin has been watching this development in the fashion market for some time now. >> designers simply had to become pro-active. more and more brands are copying their fashions and offering them at lower prices. and so the great designers have responded, creating lower- priced fashion under their own names that presents their style with dignity -- and securing their own turnover instead of enriching their imitators. >> the fashion expert has inspected the quality of jean paul gaultier's new line. >> this here is absolutely designer quality. this dress is made of the cotton used for jeans. but it has more to offer: the typical designer components. >> for example, the buttons. they are made of high-value metal, antiqued.

and the print pattern is very original, the motif continues on the inside. this is a genuine designer piece. >> the explanations for the relatively low price differ. >> the new line is part of the collection. it has the same style elements of the season. but you can't simply say: this is gaultier, but cheaper -- the clothes are lower-priced because they are made from other materials, for example the jeans or t-shirts, or because they require less labor. >> the price can be markedly reduced if larger numbers of the item are produced. with a line like this, the fashion company can commission 2,000 or even 20,000, instead of 200 exclusive prêt-à-porter models. >> several renowned fashion trademarks have meanwhile expanded the principle of the reasonably priced second line. with attractive prices, they

draw a new, younger clientele. >> i always watch what people wear. recently i complimented a waitress on her belt. and she answered: it's by roberto cavalli. but the belt wasn't really from roberto cavalli, but from just cavalli -- the second brand. people don't seem to make a distinction. >> avenue montaigne is considered paris' luxury boulevard. those who shop here know their big names. "masstige" designer fashion draws varying responses. >> i think for people like me, who only buy the first line, it's risky for the image for them to sell so many things. >> not everyone can afford a luxury label. if you can buy designer fashion at a lower price, more people will buy it. >> the french fashion house sonia rykiel was one of the first luxury brands to offer a lower-priced second line -- and that as early as 1989. the collection "sonia by sonia rykiel" is sold in the company's own boutiques and has

its own style and target group. >> sonia by sonia rykiel' differs from the main line primarily by the price. the clothes are 30% to 40% cheaper. but also by the look: it's more leisure wear and not as elegant. >> an exclusive sonia rykiel coat made of ostrich feathers can cost 3,500 euros. but the second line offers coats for just under 400 euros. >> in the 'sonia' line, we make this coat from artificial fur. in 'sonia rykiel', it would be made of real fur. >> the market is booming. turnover in the lower-priced sonia line is increasing at 15% a year. >> the fashion landscape has changed. the designers no longer play the same role they did in the 80s and 90s. the celebrities are meanwhile more important than the fashions themselves. today, if a designer doesn't try to democratize his brand, then people lose interest in him.

>> louis vuitton designer marc jacobs has taken this democratization to the extreme: t-shirts with his name can now be had for less than 20 euros. fifty years ago the beatles played their first gig in hamburg. at that time there were five of them. a young man named stuart sutcliffe played bass. he fell in love with german photographer astrid kirchherr who took many famous pictures of the band. and it's stuart and astrid's tragic love story that is the subject of a comic book that's just been published. >> astrid kirchherr was a young photography student when she first came across an unknown band performing in a basement club in hamburg. they were the beatles. between 1960 and 62, stuart

sutcliffe was the beatles' bassist. he and astrid fell in love at first sight. arne bellstorf is a comic artist, and has just published a book about their love story called "baby's in black". it's about 200 pages long, and took him three years to complete. >> i concentrated on astrid and stuart, i wanted to tell their story, and document the whole hamburg scene at the time, how the beatles arrived and were such a novelty. it's a story that's usually told from the perspective of the beatles, how they came here and met this mysterious woman. i always felt that nothing much was said about her as a person, who she was. >> it was astrid kirchherr who

took the first professional photos of the band in the early 1960s. today, these images have become iconic. >> what i'd originally wanted to do was set a story in hamburg in the early 1960s, so i researched images from that time and found astrid's pictures. then i started to get more interested in her story and realised that it was a pretty exciting one. >> the press conference marking the comic book's publication took place in the hamburg museum "beatlemania". among the guests was astrid kirchherr, who usually shuns the limelight. she and arne bellstorf had many long conversations about her memories of the beatles. >> of course i was familiar with comics like superman and batman and mickey mouse.

but when arne came to visit me and brought some things with him i saw that it was actually quite different. something quite fresh and new. and we talked and immediately got on well and there was a real sense of trust there. >> the two of them walked around st.pauli singling out key places from the past. the district plays a central role in "baby's in black" -- many of the places that played a role at that time no longer exist or have changed beyond recognition. arne bellstorf has lived and worked in hamburg for ten years. >> i've spent a large part of my life here and know all the places that i talk about in the

book and that i drew. i couldn't have set it in munich or berlin. that was what motivated me to do it, because it's a place that i know. arne bellstorf's book coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the beatles. he's preparing an exhibition for the beatlemania museum. >> i saw it had aesthetic potential, and also in terms of the plot. it's a good story, which described the life then and i knew i'd be able to render as a comic. >> but the story of astrid kirchherr and stuart sutcliffe ended in tragedy. sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage in 1962. he was just 21 years old. "baby's in black" is a tribute to him and to an entire generation.

>> fed up with low budget flights in cramped planes? there's a better way to travel and one that's also more environmentally friendly. take the slow train. you've probably heard about the orient express and the trans- siberian railway but now a new route has reopened after almost a century connecting moscow and nice. the trip through seven countries takes three days but you will arrive perfectly relaxed. the belarus train station in moscow is a key hub for long- distance trains. even back in the days of the tsars, trains bound for the mediterranean departed from this station. and today, passengers on the no. 17 train are once again following exactly the same route. the train's destination is the french city of nice some 3300 kilometers away. the trip takes nearly 53 hours. >> the journey never seems so long. on the contrary, the time flies

by - and you can see the whole of europe out the window. it takes us six days to go there and back. i've done the journey six times now and never tire of it. at 16:17 on the dot, the train pulls out of the station. russian businessman gissa baste from sochi is one of the passengers. he's going to austria - one of seven countries that the train will pass through. four of the twelve carriages offer deluxe-class travel. a ticket for a double compartment with dvd player and en-suite bathroom costs 1200 euros. gissa baste sees it as a good investment. >> it's a nice, very comfortable train - i like it a lot. this is quite different to the trains i used to travel to europe in. this is all very comfortable. i would go anywhere in the world in a train like this.

>> the mitluschka family from st. petersburg are having caviar and cognac in the restaurant car to celebrate the start of their journey. others have their meals sent to their compartment. 90% of passengers are russians. >> all those travelling today, mainly do so out of curiosity -- although the tickets aren't cheap. you could fly business class to nice for around half the price. but we're all keen to see what the train is like. >> the first class compartments are certainly a lot more sumptuous than their aviation equivalents. all the deluxe compartments come with generously-sized beds.

while the passengers start turning in for the night, train attendant maxim kurbanov keeps watch. the unusual working hours don't bother him. >> russian writers, poets and musicians have always hung out in the cote d' azur. so i'm very proud to be part of the first regular russian train service on this route in nearly 100 years. >> breakfast the next morning is served in poland. during the night the train left western russia and belarus behind. it's day two of their journey, and most of the passengers are starting to get into a routine -- while the train rattles on through the czech republic and into austria. after two days of travel, passengers finally get their first glimpses of the mediterranean.

train manager igor golubev hopes that more french people might decide to use the service in future. >> more and more people from france and italy are travelling to moscow these days. it's become quite a tourist destination. it would be great if the tourists would travel with us. >> the train has meanwhile reached its destination. at twelve minutes past seven in the evening, train no. 17 from moscow opens its doors at the central station in nice -- after nearly 53 hours travel. >> there were so many wonderful impressions. it was a great journey. and it's warm here -- not so cold as in russia. and the air is so fresh. >> after the long journey, many are happy to just take in the fresh sea air - even a brief rain shower doesn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits.

nice is always worth a visit - even if the journey takes a little longer. finally it's time to take a look at the extraordinary sculptures of german artist matthias hintz. his bizarre creations are made by melting down old cds. he's replaced the traditional tools of the sculptor's trade, the hammer and chisel, with the blow torch and the hair dryer. >> it's hard to tell that this sculpture is made from cds. matthias hintz uses tens of thousands for his art work. his first exhibition in germany is at the "k 2010" plastics fair in dusseldorf. on show are 11 sculptures made from cds. >> we're used to seeing cds in their normal form in shops or at home.

most people can't imagine that you can make something like this from them. >> the artist's work space is here on the grounds of hülchrath castle near dusseldorf. matthias hintz is working on a transparent sculpture. it is also made from cds - but without their usual aluminum coating. the cds are heated with a hot air gun. this makes the makrolon plastic pliable. some of the cds still have data on them. >> that's what fascinates me. this is not some boring foil that you can get in every hardware store that's used to build garages. these are cds that have personal data or symphonies from great artists on them.

>> one manufacturer is looking into whether some of this data can be retrieved from the finished art works. matthias hintz studied at the dusseldorf art academy initially using materials like stone, wax and wood. he's been working with cds for three years. his work as a sculptor has changed over the years. >> many people have said to me: you're a sculptor, you need an axe or a chainsaw. and now i have a hot air gun, pliers and a cd. but that's me, too. >> "k 2010" in dusseldorf is the world's biggest plastics exhibition. it's an important trade fair for the plastic industry. matthias hintz's art work can be seen as an interface between art and artificial raw materials. his works are on display at the stand representing the state of north rhine westphalia.

>> lots of people look at the mr hintz's art work and get a whole new take on plastic. they see that plastic can be an art material. >> making art from an industrial product is an exciting process for matthias hintz. the idea of creating art from plastic came from eckard foltin. he's the head of the creative department at a cd maker and is thrilled with hintz's willingness to experiment. >> he is very focussed on materials. he likes to try new things and he looks on things from a different perspective. that's important for us, gaining a different view of things. >> his biggest and most expensive sculpture stands in the lobby of the maritim hotel in dusseldorf.

>> i want to work with greater detail. the material enables me to create even taller things. it's all about structural support and that's what appeals to me. i want to go to the limit with this material. but i think there are no limits. >> innovative art from cds -- matthias hintz gives this modern medium a whole new life. >> and if you'd like to know more about the show try our website at dw- world.de/english/euromaxx and there's lots to see there. that's all for this edition so until next time from myself and all the crew here in berlin, bye bye.