Berlin Day 3
Alright, time for more Berlin stuff. I think Day 3 was my favorite day so far. I walked all the way from Charlottenburg (my hostel) over to Mitte and Checkpoint Charlie. Right now, I wish I hadn't, but it was a great scenic walk while I was doing it.
If you think it would be weird and/or distasteful for the Germans to erect a large monument with a giant soldier on it after WWII, you'd be right. This is actually a Russian memorial to soldiers lost in the attack on Berlin and the entire inscription is in Cyrillic.
The Brandenburger Tor (Gate) is awesome. I think most of the videos people have seen of the tear down of the Berlin Wall are from this general perspective, since this is a pretty main city square. I think the wall would have stood in front of the gate pretty much in the middle of this intersection while it was standing.
There are no identifying signs anywhere near this installation other than "careful, slippery," but (I think) this is actually a memorial to murdered Jews. It's also completely irresistible for children to climb upon it and jump around. So it's multifunction like that. This takes up an entire square plot of land between four roads, and if my map is accurate, the wall actually once cut through that plot.
The coffee here was great, but avoid the nuts.
This may or may not be a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall, but dammit, I'm in Berlin and I'm going to photograph every tall concrete wall I see.
This bear means business. Do not mess with him. He blew apart the Berlin wall just by looking at it, just imagine what he'll do to your face.
Despite the reunification, Checkpoint Charlie is still pretty hard to pass through. It's mostly because some people STAND IN THE STREET GAWKING, instead of LOOKING FOR ONCOMING TRAFFIC. It looked like they had some guy dressed in US soldier clothes who would stamp pretend transit papers for tourists. Because everyone's favorite part of international travel is customs.
Ooh, the Reichstag, I should totally go there.
Errr, no thanks.
If you think it would be weird and/or distasteful for the Germans to erect a large monument with a giant soldier on it after WWII, you'd be right. This is actually a Russian memorial to soldiers lost in the attack on Berlin and the entire inscription is in Cyrillic.
The Brandenburger Tor (Gate) is awesome. I think most of the videos people have seen of the tear down of the Berlin Wall are from this general perspective, since this is a pretty main city square. I think the wall would have stood in front of the gate pretty much in the middle of this intersection while it was standing.
There are no identifying signs anywhere near this installation other than "careful, slippery," but (I think) this is actually a memorial to murdered Jews. It's also completely irresistible for children to climb upon it and jump around. So it's multifunction like that. This takes up an entire square plot of land between four roads, and if my map is accurate, the wall actually once cut through that plot.
The coffee here was great, but avoid the nuts.
This may or may not be a remaining piece of the Berlin Wall, but dammit, I'm in Berlin and I'm going to photograph every tall concrete wall I see.
This bear means business. Do not mess with him. He blew apart the Berlin wall just by looking at it, just imagine what he'll do to your face.
Despite the reunification, Checkpoint Charlie is still pretty hard to pass through. It's mostly because some people STAND IN THE STREET GAWKING, instead of LOOKING FOR ONCOMING TRAFFIC. It looked like they had some guy dressed in US soldier clothes who would stamp pretend transit papers for tourists. Because everyone's favorite part of international travel is customs.
Ooh, the Reichstag, I should totally go there.
Errr, no thanks.
8 Comments:
Cool pix. That line didn't look so long compared to Disney World...
It's hard to believe that Christo wrapped that Reichstag building in silver fabric. That crazy em-effer..
Not necessarily a Disney World line, no, but not necessarily Florida weather here, you follow?
neato pictures. and did christo really do that?
http://www.nyc.gov/html/thegates/images/photos/09_wrapped_reichstag_02.jpg
what would have been really cool, was if christo had subcontracted David Copperfield to remove the fabric and then make the reichstag disappear!! does christo own a fabric company or something? we watched The Gates on HBO the other night. also, lots of fabric in that project too. christo and the mrs. say these projects depict their commitment to the artistic process. i think they just own the fabric company that produces the materials for the art.
I believe I read that they financed the entire project by selling off the fabric after they were done.
PS, why is this the most commented thing in Europe?
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