Berlin: some views

[selenak]

Back from Berlin, quite exhausted. I seem to find myself there every third month or so, so given that this time, the weather was mostly great and being there involved a boat trip, I took my camera along. Which means photos. (The last time I took pictures from Berlin I actually was there as a tourist, and it was long before the digital age. If you go there for non-touristy reasons, you usually don't bother.)

So, some glimpses of our capital, hopefully not too clichéd.





The Dom (i.e. cathedral). I'm usually a bit of a snob about post-Gothic churches, with a few baroque exception, but this is rather impressive. It's also where most of the dead Hohenzollern ended up.



From the other side, which means you also see the tv tower from the Alexanderplatz in the background.



It's located at the Spree, the river running through Berlin, which brings me to the main theme of this pic spam and a word of advice: if you've only one hour to watch most of the famous Berlin sights, go on a boat trip. This avoids traffic jams and offers lovely perspectives. Proof below.



The golden-ish roof you see is of the New Synagogue, completely destroyed during WWII and then rebuild.



That's one of the museums on the so called "Museumsinsel" - i.e. "island of the museums" - so named because there are several, obviously. This is where we keep our archaeological loot. (Except for the treasure of Priam, which the Russians still won't give back, neither to us nor to the Turks who might have a better claim, given that Schliemann smuggled it out of the country.) Most famously the altar of Pergamon, and the bust of Nefertiti.



There are a few theatres you associate with one particular playwright. Shakespeare = Globe, obviously. One such is the Theater at the Schiffsbauerdamm, which = Bert Brecht. Today's seat of the Berliner Emsemble. Also known as the inducement the East German goverment offered in order to get Brecht to move back to Berlin.



And the man himself:



That evening was a bit cloudy, but the sun was back the next day. The guided boat tours offer their guides dressed as the "Captain of Köpenick" (this was Wilhelm Vogt, a shoemaker who disguised himself as a captain and in uniform-obedient pre-WWI Prussia was completely believed and made away with the city hall cash, having ordered the mayor locked up first; this made him into a kind of folklore hero).



Coming up: our parliament, the former Reichstag, where the Bundestag moved back into after reunification. I always find the view from the water far more pleasing than the queue of buses in front. Glass roof courtesy of Sir Norman Foster.







And then we get the national library:






Next: what happens with a chancellor is best pals with Mitterand and really into immortalizing himself. Helmut Kohl ordered this gigantic seat of goverment, the "Kanzleramt" to be build, but got elected out of office before ever being able to move in. Instead, his successful rival Gerhard Schröder was the first German chancellor to work and live there. Our current chancellor, Angela Merkel, only works there; when elected, she chose to remain in her (way more modest) house with her husband, since it was in Berlin anyway. The Kanzleramt, given to you from various perspectives because it's way too big to get into one picture, is also known as the Kohl-osseum.








The building below was one of the first big building erected after the war, as a concert hall. It's nicknamed "the pregnant oyster" by the people of Berlin. (During the late 70s, it was also known as "Jimmy Carter's grin".) Today, it's the exit station if you want to disembark to visit the Kanzleramt as well.



The white building you can see between the trees is called Bellevue; it's the seat of the German president. (Who, remember, is just head of state, not head of goverment.)



One last look at the Spree, that river running through Berlin:

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! I assume I may iconise them?

By the way -- I'll be in Munich in July, more precisely from the 17th to the 20th. If you're around, I could drop by, or we could meet for lunch or coffee, or stroll through a museum? I saw the Alte Pinakothek the last time; how about its baby brother? & ;-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Iconise away, but alas, I will be in Bali when you are in Munich! At any rate, you must see the Neue Pinakothek, which has some wonderful impressionists.

[leviathan0999.livejournal.com]

I lived in Germany for five years (1981-1986) but never got over to Berlin. Of course, that was the days when the Wall still stood!

But never having visited I have a love for your cosmopoliton, vibrant capital, so this was great to see. WHen was it, 1995, 2000, that one Sunday the Berlin radio stations simulcast a classical suite, and all the construction cranes Berliners had been dealing with (When I was in Heidelberg, the joke was that the German National Bird was the crane) performed a ballet to the music? No other cirty in the world would attempt that.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

When I was in Heidelberg, the joke was that the German National Bird was the crane

It so is.*g* And yes, getting to Berlin in the old days was trickier. Mind you, if you were German and visited a Gymnasium, then pre-reunification you got a school trip to West Berlin for a week in 11th grade, and this included a one-day-visit to East Berlin since this was pretty much the only possibility to visit the East without spending months requesting a visum. (And they did the 24 hours thing only when you went from West Berlin to East Berlin.)

I'm a Southern girl myself, so as a place to live I prefer Munich, but I enjoy each visit to Berlin, which is really very vibrant, and always in flux.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Terrific pictures. I was in Berlin... six, seven years ago? I had to stop for coffee at a Starbucks near the Brandenburg Gate and the (American) friend I was with said he would tell that story about me forever.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, deservedly so, since there are any number of cafés where you could have gotten less generic coffee.*g*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, there was no excuse! It was a great trip (I was there for an academic conference); I think the Film Museum was my highlight.

[elisi]

Oooh thank you so much! Beautiful *and* informative! :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome!

[kskitten.livejournal.com]

Yes, Berlin is beautiful! Tell me when you come here the next time, maybe we can meet up?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I will, promise!

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

Oh, this brings back so many great memories. I was only in Berlin for four days - seven years ago - but we did manage to do the boat cruise on the Spree and saw many of these same views. I would gladly have stayed in the city much longer. Lovely pictures (they came out much better than mine ever did, heh)... thank you for sharing these! :)

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

Awww, I miss Berlin – thanks for the trip down memory lane.  Although I spent many a happy hour on the Museuminsel, the Kanzleramt didn’t exist yet when I lived there (and Nofretete was still in Charlottenburg) – wow, that’s … not pretty. (Although I still the Garnier Opera House is uglier :P)

And all the water around Berlin is lovely - I fondly remember trips to the Pfaueninsel and the Nikolassee in summertime!!

(Obviously, this isn’t an icon OF Berlin, but hey, Schinkel did lots of architecture in St. Petersburg too, right? :P)

[wondygal.livejournal.com]

I'm usually a bit of a snob about post-Gothic churches, with a few baroque exception

This is where we keep our archaeological loot.

I love your picspam/historical posts. They're fun, pretty and educational.

this was Wilhelm Vogt, a shoemaker who disguised himself as a captain and in uniform-obedient pre-WWI Prussia was completely believed and made away with the city hall cash, having ordered the mayor locked up first; this made him into a kind of folklore hero

FUN, I tell you. Oh, Europe, you so wacky. No wonder there are so many movies about you.

And, can I just say, your National Library is way cooler than mine. Take note, Brazil(our history mostly consists of "and then X was corrupt. And then Y was corrupt" *is bitter today*). Yes, Berlin is very pretty. And the "Kanzleramt" is gorgeous.

Say, I can't recognize the scene in your mood theme. Is that from Donna's perfect computer life?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

FUN, I tell you. Oh, Europe, you so wacky. No wonder there are so many movies about you.

*g* The whole incident was made into both a play and several movies. More about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Voigt). But you know, corrupt rulers were and are in Europe a plenty, too, and everything looks better if you're just looking in as a tourist. I know I was enchanted to travel through Brazil (http://selenak.livejournal.com/tag/brazil)...

Yes, that's Donna when arriving in the virtual world (from CAL's pov.)

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

I have vivid memories of my one visit to Berlin. I came over from a research trip in England to visit my friend, who was living there on the Prenzlauer-allee in a old walkup that had a coal stove rather than central heating and an illegal shower that only had ten minutes of hot water. It was bitterly cold that winter and I remember spending most of the time half-frozen. I had the Schloss Charlottenburg practically to myself the day I went over there.

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely pictures. I was in Berlin last, oh, 2002? I currently don't really have friends living there, so I don't really have any anchoring point for a visit, but I really need to go again at some point.

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to Berlin for about ten years, so thank you for sharing these impressions of the current state of the capital!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

The Dom is a bit of a fake, but I love all the others! (And the Pergamon, how I love thee...)

[by7the7sea.livejournal.com]

Wow!

All of the pictures you have posted here and in other posts just makes me want to do some traveling and take my own.

Very nice! Thank you.