johnsunter.com >> adventures - europe >> city visits 1 >> berlin 1
Weekend visiting Berlin (1/2).
Frank, Sarah and I pack our day sacks, and head of to the amazing city of Berlin.
Here, Frank and I Pose in "unter den linden" a boulevard of lime trees, which literally means under the limes.
The famous Berlin Sculpture.
Before I setup, I saw lots of pictures of it, in the Internet, but they all made it look about 100 metres high. I deliberately Photographed it with 2 people walking under it, so a measure of its real size, could be gauged.
A remaining section of the Berlin Wall, next to the Topography of Terror museum.
Checkpoint Charlie.
A superb museum, about escape attempts from east Berlin was next to it, and was the highlight of our trip.
Leaving/Entering the Checkpoint sign.
Everyone always seems to photograph it from the other side, which says "you are leaving the American sector"
I decided to photograph it from the other side.
The sign is a replica, the original, was donated by the American government, to the Checkpoint Charlie museum.
The Berliner Dom cathedral on museum island.
Taken from the steps of the Egyptian Museum.
To the right of the Berliner Dom, is the Stasi building.
The Stasi building is extremely controversial, and is to be torn down soon.
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
I have tried to photograph things from different angles, as otherwise you just end up with the same picture as the one in the guide book.
Centre of world culture.
Built by the Americans during the cold war.
Unfortunately, the roof collapsed in the 80's and had to be replaced.
Brandenburger Tor.
It was the busies place in Berlin, at the top of "unter den linten".
There was a memorial nearby, to the Russian soldiers killed taking Berlin at the end of the 2nd world war.
Overall, the city was very modern, and here, featured peddle power taxi's.
The Jewish Museum.
Designed by Daniel Libeskind 1998 (museum opened 2001) Jewish museum.
Some information states that it is modelled on a "burst" star of David.
I have also read that it maps geographical events in Jewish history, and the building plots a course across these locations.
Impressive and moving.
The garden of exile, next to the Jewish Museum, which contains the memorial to victims of the holocaust.
We arrived early in the morning, when no one was around.
