Berlin part 2 (12/9-19/9)

Welcome back to part 2 of Berlin - where I basically spent 3 days just wandering around the town on foot and on bike, checking out stuff and taking photos of buildings. Such as the Brandenburg Tor.

The building site next to the Brandenburg Tor belong to the US Embassy which is under construction, in its prime Berlin position.


The bear is the symbol of Berlin, and the Buddy Bears are a leftover from the World Cup, where artists from all around the world decorated a bear to represent their country. They pop up in all sorts of places.


The Holocaust Memorial. Controversial - I mean how could it not be: a massive amount of prime land dedicated to it, nothing but plain 'concrete coffins' on wavy ground, contstruction ingredients provided by a company with wartime connections to the gas chambers.... Apparently it is meant to represent fields of wheat in the wind.

OK, so the Fed Square architects get around. The Jewish Museum

Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrichstrasse, one of the first commercial hubs to be redeveloped in the East - the street is lined with designer stores.

The quest for live music continued, and was guaranteed every night at the Junction Bar in Kreuzberg. That night it was Ofrin, an Israeli performer, singing pop songs about love and breakups in English with mixed country/cabaret feel. She had a good voice, though I'm not sure about the 'domestic violence look' with hair akimbo and a shiner painted on. The only downer was the smoky atmosphere; both Sweden and Melbourne are mostly smoke free and I forgot about what it was like in the rest of Europe. Which meant it was a bit of a nostalgia trip to be in a small, smokey venue like this watching live music. Some samples of Ofrin can be heard at http://www.ofrin.com/


The aussie girl (Rebecca?) from the hostel I went with was falling asleep midway through the gig, so she went home but I went looking for more funky bar action. But even though I was in the right area for the famed Berlin bar scene, I needed more exact info than I had find the single hotspot that would be open and jumping at 1am on a Sun night. Which I didn't have.

Philharmonie - home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra

Potsdamer Platz was one of the first large-scale redevelopment projects after the wall came down. Lots of funky architecture, shops, theatres, the Sony Center, and more.

Daimler Chrysler Building

New Potsdamer Platz Housing

Old Potsdamer Platz Housing

Sony Center roof

Reflections

Tiergarten

Don't Jump!

Reichstag, with Norman Fosters Dome. The queue to get in was way down the street, and I'd been there before, so for funky pics of that with all the mirrors and reflections - you'll have to come over to my place in Melb and check out the albums.


Lots of funky new buildings popped up around the Reichstag to support the shift of government here. Such as Marie-Elisabeth Luders Haus.

Bundeskanzleramt - The Federal Chancellery

Paul-Löbe Haus

Swiss Embassy. Kinda turning it's back on the swiss cheese philosophy. I don't really know how, as I haven't fully worked out this line. Somehow the the new and starkly different addition to the building, was meant to represent the holes or something... anyhow, this is one buildling that doesn't gel.

The new Hauptbanhof rail station, the nexus for north-south and east-west regional trains. Not only does it run underground, but it runs under the river. And The boot looks huge here, but isn't really - it is distorted perspective - the camera is right next to it and the station is over 10 kilometers away and huuuuuge.

The Nordic Embassies

Even in the West can ugly, new, buildings be built

The A-train, jazz bar back around the corner from where I first stayed during the conference. The third night of music, and 2nd featuring vibraphone. Great musicianship from local regular Andreas Schmidt and guests, and a packed crowd on the Mon night. The "Not quite right tango" was cool, with percussive scat singing and all. And although you can't see it in this photo, the pianist Andreas bore a striking resemblance to a certain Germanophile and guidebook giver from Melbourne called John.


Ampelman - the figures from their Walk / Don't Walk signs. Apparently they were going to be updated, you know change the granpa hat to a backwards baseball cap etc, but a big campaign stopped it. You can buy a whole range of Ampelman accessories and gifts, if you wish.