Friday, January 11, 2008

Berlin IV. The other places

In other to wrap up the series of posts on our visit to Berlin last December, I will show you some photos of other interesting places we went to and I have not commented on them yet.

For example, the German Parliament, the Reichstag. It was remodeled by the famous architect Norman Foster and his main contribution to the building is its glass dome from where the congress men and women can be seen while they are debating.




Not far away, and next to Brandembrug Gate, the Holocaust Memorial can be found. It is a collection of concrete blocks of different sizes and localized on a wavy ground. It creates uncertainty on the people who go through it... At every corner, and this is every two meters, you can crash with people coming in the perpendicular direction... it is also quite oppresive... many people compare it to a graveyard.



In Berlin, there are also many flea markets, like this one we went to. It looked like a lot of rubbish was being sold... :P



For the cultural tourists, and specially for those interested in churches, there is a square downtown where there are two twin cathedrals. They are one in front of the other and are exactly similar. When we were there, there was a Xmas market in the middle of the square.




Another of the most beautiful places in Berlin is the cathedral together with the television tower which can be seen from all the city. That tower is next to Alexanderplatz. Actually, wherever you are in Berlin, you can see the tower and you think averywhere is near... it kind of makes the city smaller than it actually is!




Finally, the cathedral is connected to the parliament and the Brandemburg Gate by means of a famous avenue called Unter den Linden ("under the lime trees", "bajo los tilos"). The trees there were gorgeously illuminated... where is the Kyoto Protocol? I think everybody forgets about it around Xmas... if not all along the year...



And that is all for Berlin. After all these posts, I think you can get an idea what it looks like!

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