Since I knew I'd be busy this morning, I did most of my exploring when I got into the city yesterday evening. I've been to Berlin three times before, but really only played tourist the first time. Unfortunately, most of my photos from that visit have disappeared, so I my main goal was to revisit the places I had been previously and snap some pictures to retroactively fill in the blanks. This included such spots as the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church, Brandenburg Gate, St. Hedwig Cathedral, Gendarmenmarkt, Checkpoint Charlie, etcetera etcetera...
I also added the Holocaust Memorial, which I hadn't seen before...
Another new sight in the city... iPad advertisements. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is impossible to walk anywhere in Berlin and not have iPad staring at you. The ad-buy must have been hugely expensive, but there's no denying the effectiveness of covering every available space on streets, train stations, bus stops, and even multiple buildings with iPad...
And, of course, I had to make time for the new Hard Rock Cafe, which has been moved to a much better location right on the Kurfürstendamm. Despite being one of the newer-style "lacking-in-memorabilia-hipster-lounge-type" properties, I have to admit it's very nice. Not to say it couldn't use a bunch more cool pieces of memorabilia to make it a real Hard Rock... it definitely could... but so far as restaurants go, it's pretty sweet...
Just as in the Netherlands, World Cup Fever is crazy-serious in Berlin. Most of the Germany supporters restrain themselves to face-paint, hats, flags, and the occasional horn-blowing. Those supporting teams outside of Germany are an entirely different animal. They drive through the streets screaming their heads off and honking their horns continuously. I understand team-spirit, but it's fucking annoying to be subjected to this crap. The biggest offender seemed to be Ghana (who ended up winning their game 1-0, so maybe being annoying works)...
Germany won their match 4-0 against Australia, so there were many happy celebrations in the streets of Berlin. Somehow, I still managed to get a good night's sleep.
After finishing work this morning, I wanted to go to the Gemäldegalerie Museum (housing many amazing works of art from the European Masters), but it's closed on Monday. Instead I wandered back to Brandenberger Tor to see if I could get a better photo of the Quadriga sculpture that sits on top...
Mission accomplished. All that was left was to head back to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) for my trip back to Amsterdam. The beautiful glass and steel structure makes it hard to take a bad photo of the place...
One of the best parts of being in Germany is eating Spritzringe donuts (of which I am a big fan). It doesn't get much better than that!
Or does it? Because this time I happened across MINI-SPRITZRINGE!!!...
Cutest. Donut. Ever.
Four days in Europe hardly seems adequate, but that's all she wrote for me this time.
I love comments! However, all comments are moderated, and won't appear until approved. Are you an abusive troll with nothing to contribute? Don't bother. Selling something? Don't bother. Spam linking? Don't bother.
PLEASE NOTE: My comment-spam protection requires JavaScript... if you have it turned off or are using a mobile device without JavaScript, commenting won't work. Sorry.
Atom Entries Feed Comments Feed
I LOVE your photos!!!
Again, thanks for sharing your travel photos, Dave!
The 3rd shot is my fave, Brandenberger Tor, I believe?
The 1st shot has very intriguing architecture & the 5th shot is a very beautiful building. The red-roofed building in the background looks cool too.
I’m not sure what to make of the Holocaust Memorial. Reminds me of stock footage I used to log that was full of shipping containers. The blocks remind me a little of coffins but their blank sides seem dissociated from humanity and emotion. Maybe that was intentional. Always interesting to see what artists come up with for memorials though.
My only trip to Berlin was part of a three-week tour I helped lead for Jewish college students from the States. Of course, due to the nature of the group, there was a focus on the Holocaust.
The museum and memorial were beautiful and… well, weird. So The blocks especially (you can’t really tell from Dave2’s picture, but each of those rectangles exists at a different height). It certainly left a memorable impression on us.
What would be the reason that they changed the design of the HRC’s. Is it because they are running out of memorabilia or do they really believe this is better.
Berlin is on my list of cities to visit before I die. Kicking myself I never went when I lived in Europe – would have been so much easier 😉 Oh, awesome photos as always.
I love that Checkpoint Charlie is just right there, still in the middle of the street. If it was in the States, we would have already shut down the street, put a glass building/enclosure around it, and charged people $35 a head to go gawk at it.
In Berlin they took it away shortly after they broke away the wall. This is an exact copy.
I love your photos Dave. And that donut looks so yummy!
I haven’t been back to Berlin since before the wall fell.
Nice photos. Now I want to go back.