Friday, December 28, 2012

Europe Post: Berlin, Part 1 (Historical Walkabout)


From Amsterdam, we took a night bus to Germany. It was really not the most comfortable ten hours of my life, but I knew it was going to be worth the sleeplessness. I was going to Berlin! :)

Like most of Europe, Berlin is a historical city. However, large parts of it were destroyed in the Second World War, and have gone drastic changes with the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. 

What's left of the old world, of course, lends to a more beautiful and dynamic city.  

Among the cities we visited, Berlin is unique in that it looks and feels more modern than old --  four-lane roads instead of narrow cobblestone streets, glass/steel structures instead of intricate gardens, high rise buildings instead of grand palaces, and... more street art and grafitti one can stuff inside a museum. 

Here are a few sites we visited.

The East Side Gallery. This is the longest preserved part of what used to be the Berlin Wall. The Gallery consists of paintings done by artists from all over the world. 



We also saw this near the Wall, a gig poster of one of my favorite bands, The Temper Trap. Too bad we didn't get to see them.



The Berlin TV Tower, one of the highest structures in Europe. 



Berliner Dom and beside it, the Altes Museum (Old Museum)



Here's Bee, being silly again.



We followed the stream of tourists to the iconic Brandenburg Gate.



Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper by the Gate. 



The Reichstag -- home of the German parliament (Bundestag), equivalent to our Congress. 



The Holocaust Memorial, built as tribute to the Jews who died in WWII. 



That's part one of my Berlin post.  

Binky

~photos by Star, Bernard and Binky, please don't steal. :)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...