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!

Berlin III. Berlin Wall

The third article about Berlin will talk about the Berlin Wall, one of the most famous elements of the city. The wall was built in 1961 during the worst moments of the Cold War, to separate the areas occuppied from Soviets from the areas occuppied by the Western powers at the time. Besides, it cut the city in two areas, breaking appart families, friendships... It is without any doubt one of the most infamous creations of the human being. Anyway, since it fell in 1989, it is still there to tell us what should not be done. The wall surrounds all Western Berlin and passed by the Bradenburg Gate. It was not a wall, but two with a contention zone in the middle. The Bradenburg Gate, the symbol of Berlin and Germany, stayed in that contention area for 28 years! Nobody from Berlin could see it for all that time...

Now, there are remainings of the walls in several areas of the city. These are the most important (or at least i think so...):

- Downtown, between the Holocaust Memorial and CheckPoint Charlie:



- Postdammer Platz. There are still a several pieces of the wall in the middle of the street. This square is the symbol of modern Berlin and it was in the contention zone until 1989!



- East Side Gallery. This is the longest remaining part of the wall. It extends for several kilometers and has been painted by artists, some of them famous. We walked along it for a while and these are some of the most interesting paintings we saw.





The last two pictures are courtesy of Jorjaibjes.

Berlin II. Tacheles

In Berlin, near one of the main metro stations, Friedrichstrasse, you can find one of the most surprising things we came accross in that city. It is a shopping mall turned into a squat! It is called Tacheles. The whole building together with the surroundings has been squatted and inside there are concert rooms, artists painting modern art and any other kinds of underground art. At night, this place gets full of people willing to party, but we couldn't make for it... time is too limited... always...

Berlin (I)

Well, the winter seems to have frozen my blog and my energy... these days I do not feel very much in the mood to write lenghty posts, it must be the cold weather in the Netherlands. Anyway, I have an obligation with you, my readers, and I should tell you about my last trip. This time it was Berlin!

When I decided to organize a trip to Berlin with some friends, I did not really know what there was there appart from the Brandenburg gate, the wall or other World War II historical elements... the rest of the city, I expected it to be just like any other German city I had been to. However, once there, I was quite surprised! So far, I had only been in cities from Federal Germany... and Berlin was in the Democratic Germany side of the country before the fall of Berlin's wall and the reunification. Therefore, the main influences in the city are from eastern Europe... Actually, this city reminded me of Moscow or even Helsinki. This also had an influence on the people and buildings. The underground scene in Berlin is pretty well developed, not only in clubs or music, but also in clothes, graffitis in buildings or even squats! One of these days I will post some pictures from Tachelles, a complete shopping mall which has been turned into squats! There are rock shows, artists' exhibitions and other stuff going on there. Cool!

So, in general, Berlin is cool! Berlin mola as Tonaka would say ;-)... well, he did actually already say that!

Now, let's proceed with some photos!

First, as it could not be otherwise, the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of Berlin and even Germany. You can find it in 10, 20 and 50 euro cents coins. Hehe...



And also the infamous Berlin's Wall:



Checkpoint Charlie, a control point between the two sides of the city which has a lot of history (check in Wikipedia), such as the tanks crisis which was about to unleash WWIII...



Of course, being in Germany, what else could we do but drinking nice beer! :)



And one of the twin cathedrals with the Xmas market in the square. Berlin was full of Xmas markets that weekend!



Detail of a graffitti in the part of the Wall in Postdammerplatz.



And this is the most modern thing in the city, the gorgeous Sony Center, a complex with shops, cinemas and Sony stores...



And at night back to Brandenburg Gate.



I will continue posting something more in the coming days!