And again with the topical picture:
American embassy, Brandenburg Gate, glass dome of Reichstag building which houses the German parliament.
Am I a cynic that I am not the least bit surprised that friends spy on friends?
Partners snoop. Parents read diaries.
"It just shows that I care and worry about you."
Kanzleramt.
In honour of #merkelphone this is today's picture:
It's the Chancellery Building in Berlin.
It's the Chancellery Building in Berlin.
Entry tags:
Brandenburg Gate.
So, you've seen the Brandenburg Gate and decided it was a lot smaller than you expected, so apart from its symbolic value when it was closed due to the city being split in half, it's irrelevant which means that you can safely ignore it on subsequent visits?
Yes, that's what I thought.
City marketing made me see the light. (Pun intended.)
( Like this: )
Yes, that's what I thought.
City marketing made me see the light. (Pun intended.)
( Like this: )
Democracy.
In honour of today's first session of the new Bundestag I'll show you what it looks like at night:
We don't have a new government yet - the coalition talks have just started - and this is the building where all the Members of Parliament have their offices:
( Here: )
We don't have a new government yet - the coalition talks have just started - and this is the building where all the Members of Parliament have their offices:
( Here: )
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Berlin by bus.
Taken while sitting in gridlocked traffic. The light was fading, the bus was full of whining teenagers and you can see half the name of a drugstore chain reflected in the bus window: ROSS means horse.
A typical travel photo.
Entry tags:
Art!
Photographs of an art project in Berlin: Innen Stadt Außen.
Interview with the artist (in German).
Official site (in English) with more pictures.
Driftwood logs in the middle of the city, mirrors small and great in unexpected places, kaleidoscopes, white lines that you may know from a football field all squiggly and disappearing into the undergrowth. And I nearly forgot to mention the bicycles with mirrors for wheels.
Interview with the artist (in German).
Official site (in English) with more pictures.
Driftwood logs in the middle of the city, mirrors small and great in unexpected places, kaleidoscopes, white lines that you may know from a football field all squiggly and disappearing into the undergrowth. And I nearly forgot to mention the bicycles with mirrors for wheels.
Entry tags:
And now for something completely different...
I've mentioned the East Side Gallery before and back then I talked about the futile attempts to restore the artworks that were painted twenty years ago, a year after the fall of the wall.
Now they're trying again as reported by the BBC - and I don't think it's a particularly good idea. It's just not going to work. Street art is temporary. This is a public space. The only way to make sure that the restored artworks remain undisturbed would be to turn this stretch of the wall into a museum that is guarded day and night which would cost a lot of money.
How would you finance this? Corporate sponsorship? Charging admission? Private donations? Money from the state or the city?
It would change the whole atmosphere and it wouldn't be a public space anymore. Instead, we'd get a history theme park. Re-creating the past doesn't work.
I may not have the most thought-through arguments, but my gut tells me that I don't like it.
On the other hand, we try to preserve historic buildings, but this seems to be different.
What do you think?
Now they're trying again as reported by the BBC - and I don't think it's a particularly good idea. It's just not going to work. Street art is temporary. This is a public space. The only way to make sure that the restored artworks remain undisturbed would be to turn this stretch of the wall into a museum that is guarded day and night which would cost a lot of money.
How would you finance this? Corporate sponsorship? Charging admission? Private donations? Money from the state or the city?
It would change the whole atmosphere and it wouldn't be a public space anymore. Instead, we'd get a history theme park. Re-creating the past doesn't work.
I may not have the most thought-through arguments, but my gut tells me that I don't like it.
On the other hand, we try to preserve historic buildings, but this seems to be different.
What do you think?
Famous Place.
This is Sanssouci. We walked a lot in the park. It was a hot day and I ruined my feet.
( Pictures in here )
( Pictures in here )
Entry tags:
Berlin Street Art.
I don't have many words today - too tired, because I got to meet thirty new little people today (and some of their parents), but I want to give you some Berlin walls.
( Pics inside )
( Pics inside )
Thursday Part IV: Obama Day
Been absent for a while because of a friend's hen-night (Junggesellinnenabschied is definitely too long and so stereotypically German!) and two days of installing laminate flooring for the boyfriend's parents in one of the flats that they rent out. Now I'm sore.
Tomorrow I've got an administrative meeting at school and Monday is the official start of the new school year.
So, I'd better finish with my Berlin picspam, because the next weeks will be very busy.
I still haven't finished posting the pictures of the first full day of our holiday, but then it was rather eventful.
We decided to go and see Mr Obama speak and we arrived early at the barriers erected at the end of Straße des 17. Juni to be let into the fenced-off area around the Siegessäule in the middle of Tiergarten park. This is the same place that saw several Loveparades and the Fanmeile for Euro 2008 and World Cup in 2006. That is to say that this is where people go to celebrate and have a good time and drink beer and eat Bratwurst while staring at a huge video screen.
( Long account of Obama Day with lots of pictures )
Tomorrow I've got an administrative meeting at school and Monday is the official start of the new school year.
So, I'd better finish with my Berlin picspam, because the next weeks will be very busy.
I still haven't finished posting the pictures of the first full day of our holiday, but then it was rather eventful.
We decided to go and see Mr Obama speak and we arrived early at the barriers erected at the end of Straße des 17. Juni to be let into the fenced-off area around the Siegessäule in the middle of Tiergarten park. This is the same place that saw several Loveparades and the Fanmeile for Euro 2008 and World Cup in 2006. That is to say that this is where people go to celebrate and have a good time and drink beer and eat Bratwurst while staring at a huge video screen.
( Long account of Obama Day with lots of pictures )
Thursday Part II: Architectural Representations of Power Part I
Isn't that a wonderfully pretentious title?
While we were drinking our cafe latte sitting outside a Vietnamese-run bakery plus Imbiss, i.e. a fast-food place selling chips (B.E.)/fries (A.E.) and the ubiquitous Currywurst, Mr Obama took the back entrance to his hotel and the crowd of people standing in front of the hotel kept the police officers busy. From where we were we couldn't observe Mr Obama's arrival but that was the word on the street and it was also in the papers the next day, some of which had a minute-by-minute account of the senator's day. Yes, I can see why some Republicans latch onto that. But then most of our politicians are so dull that they make the British bunch (including David Cameron, but maybe not William Hague) look positively lively and fascinating. But more about Obama's appeal in another post.
( Two iconic buildings ) My, this is getting long. Originally I had planned to include the Chancellor's Washing Machine and the Pregnant Oyster in this post, but I'm done for now, I think.
While we were drinking our cafe latte sitting outside a Vietnamese-run bakery plus Imbiss, i.e. a fast-food place selling chips (B.E.)/fries (A.E.) and the ubiquitous Currywurst, Mr Obama took the back entrance to his hotel and the crowd of people standing in front of the hotel kept the police officers busy. From where we were we couldn't observe Mr Obama's arrival but that was the word on the street and it was also in the papers the next day, some of which had a minute-by-minute account of the senator's day. Yes, I can see why some Republicans latch onto that. But then most of our politicians are so dull that they make the British bunch (including David Cameron, but maybe not William Hague) look positively lively and fascinating. But more about Obama's appeal in another post.
( Two iconic buildings ) My, this is getting long. Originally I had planned to include the Chancellor's Washing Machine and the Pregnant Oyster in this post, but I'm done for now, I think.
Thursday Part I
Thursday, of course, was Obama Day in Berlin.
We started it fairly leisurely with an underground ride to Potsdamer Platz to see the new buildings that have sprung up there since the fall of the wall. I must confess that I don't like it there much, as most of the buildings are so generic, like the hotel that looks like a 1930s New York skyscraper.
( Read more... )
We started it fairly leisurely with an underground ride to Potsdamer Platz to see the new buildings that have sprung up there since the fall of the wall. I must confess that I don't like it there much, as most of the buildings are so generic, like the hotel that looks like a 1930s New York skyscraper.
( Read more... )
Ruins.
You can still ask me questions about my Berlin trip here, but impatient that I am I've decided to post my first pictures before the first questions. ( Not something you see on the postcards )
I'm back!
I disappeared for a while from the internet and went on holiday. Yep, fairly spontaneous as always, but nevertheless much-needed. We booked the hotel on Tuesday and left for a couple of days in Berlin on Wednesday morning. Got back on Sunday evening and I needed yesterday to catch up on what's been going on in the world.
There will be picspam and accounts of what we did and saw, but right now I don't really know where to start, so ask me questions and I'll answer them.
There will be picspam and accounts of what we did and saw, but right now I don't really know where to start, so ask me questions and I'll answer them.
Entry tags:
Fanclub
Two things happening at the same time.
I'm trying to update with an old picture while the boyfriend is on the phone giving user support to his dad who has trouble with his computer. He has recently upgraded from a C64 (no kidding - he still uses that one for his business mail!) to our old computer which he mainly uses for printing out lyrics and notation for old jazz classics (he plays the trumpet). I'm only getting one side of the conversation, but it's hilarious. Mind you, that computer still has Windows 3.11 running on it. He seems to have about a dozen windows open and can't seem to close them.
Sorry, where was I?
( Street Art in Berlin )
I'm trying to update with an old picture while the boyfriend is on the phone giving user support to his dad who has trouble with his computer. He has recently upgraded from a C64 (no kidding - he still uses that one for his business mail!) to our old computer which he mainly uses for printing out lyrics and notation for old jazz classics (he plays the trumpet). I'm only getting one side of the conversation, but it's hilarious. Mind you, that computer still has Windows 3.11 running on it. He seems to have about a dozen windows open and can't seem to close them.
Sorry, where was I?
( Street Art in Berlin )