here's part 2 of my berlin trip. we went to see checkpoint charlie, which was a little bit disappointing, but what can you say about a historic place being overrun by tourists? especially when those tourists are not really interested in the history itself but only into posing with american border soldiers or buying stupid gdr paraphernalia. the whole place didn't make any impact on me, only one transparent on a house wall was memorizable. i wanted to also take a look at the museum site, but my cousin wasn't interested. so we cut our time down to taking a few photos and sitting on the mcdonald's balkony overlooking the street, eating something and chatting.
gdr flag emblem.
they're tons of these hats in appropriately 10 souvenir shops in the street. one can only buy so much, but still, they all need to make money, i guess?
this transparent is very important.
one of the very rare moments when the 'soldiers' were not surrounded by any american or asian tourists.
i had a quick peek into the installation near the checkpoint. i was a little sad to leave this place, but alas, what's the point of spending some time on something, when you're companion is not interested in the things you want to see? this is a photo of when people took wall pieces down after the fall of the wall.
dreamy american sector sign.
the asisi panorama.
a little sparrow again, being incredibly perky sitting right next to us. i loved these birds so much during my visit, even though they were kind of rude sometimes.
even though my cousin is not very interested in the past, we still decided to drive to the eastside gallery. there was a little music festival going on in this area and also there was a food party as well. the area of the eastside gallery is a place for young people these days, but you can also look at the best reserved and longest portion of the berlin wall here. i visited and photographed some of the murals in past trips to berlin, but i still like this place a lot, even though it's quite ugly. sitting by the river spree near the oberbaumbrücke is just really nice. and i like looking at the murals. every time i visit, there is something new to explore on the walls. and some murals just stay the same forever, pieces of art.
this is the former o2 arena, and now it got a new name.
we were travelling back and forth through berlin and ended up at alexanderplatz and the world time clock. in the back it's the tv tower of berlin.
strange rainbow-y light phenomenon in the sky.
and i discovered bits and pieces of art deco architecture everywhere - like the underground station klosterstraße! i love finding art deco and art nouveau related things.
the klosterstraße is home to a lot of art nouveau buildings like this one which was built for the brothers tietz as a business building,
i really loved this entrance.
the tv tower is ever present.
by accident we stumbled across this church ruin - the remains of the franciscan monastery church. the sculpture 'rising man' is by fritz cremer. inside the ruin was also another exhibition of sculptures, but the ruin itself was closed, so we didn't have a closer look. only through railings and bars. i really liked this place.
the sculpture in the front is called 'berserk' and was made by waldemar grzimek. the woman in the middle is ludwig g. schrieber's 'drying woman' and the woman in the back is another sculpture by fritz cremer: torso trini.
a view onto a building of berlin's district court.
another grzimek sculpture, bathing woman.
church gates.
on the green area next to the church was this pieta by jürgen pansow.
her face was beautiful - the damage on the sculpture really contributes to the feeling of grief and mourning that the sculpture sends out.
district court - now a better view of it.
after hanging around at the church ruins for a while, we made our way back to the undergound to drive back home. i love those stations that still breathe the air of the early 1900s, and the underground station klosterstraße is especially beautiful.
old rail cars depicted on tiles!
this tile mosaic was especially beautiful.
on the next day - the day i had to leave berlin again - we made a morning walk through charlottenburg and came by some really beautiful backstreets and alleys. this building is modern, but doesn't it have an art deco feeling going on, as well?
saying goodbye to the lietzensee.
it greeted me on my arrival and it said bye on my departure. such a welcoming area.
i even discovered some white ducks. we then proceeded our way to the main bus station and my cousin and i bid each other farewell. it was a really nice short trip to berlin, and this time i didn't say to myself: hopefully we're not going to see us soon, but instead: see you soon, hopefully! there is still so much i want to see in berlin, but i can only digest it in little bites. berlin is okay with me for 2 - 3 days, but i wouldn't want to visit a day longer, as the sheer gigantism of this city overwhelms me after a while.
but thank you, berlin, for showing me one of your nice sides this time!
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