 e made a long awaited visit to Berlin during December, the capital city
of Germany. I have been wanting to visit Berlin ever since I first visited
Germany, but the right time never really came along. But as they say, better late
than never. It is great to be able to visit a part of the former Eastern Block,
although all that is best left to history, and anyhow there is very little
physical evidence of it left in Berlin nowadays.
Our first port of
call was the Chriskindlemarkt
at the Gendarmenmarkt for a glue wein. The Konzerthaus stands to the right and
the two buildings either side are the German & French Dome's
Unter den Linden and
Korina outside the famous Hotel Adlon at Pariser Platz, which is located near to
the Parliament & Government district where all the foreign embassy's stand
Probably the most
famous sight in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate. It was the most spectacular of 18
gates within the city and seperates Unten den Linden from the Tiergarten
I can't believe I am
standing on the East side... East Berlin... East Germany... I mean the Eastern
Block!
The Central Memorial
building of Germany at Unten den Linden, and the black and white office block of
The International Trade Centre
The German Historical Museum in the backdrop, and me on the
steps of the German State Opera
Unten den Linden,
the Cathedral of Berlin `Berliner Dom` & the Television Tower `Fernsehturm` at Alexanderplatz,
oh and of course Korina
The 60m high Column
of Victory `Siegesäule` or popularly called the `Golden Elsa` situated in the
Tierpark with Korina, and the Bismarck Memorial
The Soviet Memorial
flanked by two T34 tanks, on Strasse des 17 Juni, which is situated between the
Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate
Robert at the Soviet
Memorial, it commemorates the 20,000 soldiers of the Red Army who fell in the
battle of Berlin. The monument was inaugurated as early as October 7th 1945...
No time wasted there then!
Robert & Korina at the front and rear of the Brandenburg Tor.
The gate was built in 1789 and from 1961 to 1989 was a `symbol of a divided
country`, but now stands today for `the reunification of a country`
A remaining section
of the Berlin Wall, this section is very close to the famous `Death-Strip` near Potsdamer Platz
The building
standing in the background is the monumental Martin-Gropius-Bau, which has held
many world famous exhibits
The area to my
right, from the Martin Gropius building to Wilhelmstraβe
is the `Topography of Terror`, The Prinz-Albrecht grounds. It was the
headquarters of the Gestapo and SS from 1939 to 1945 and was the most fearful
address in Berlin. Obviously the building does not exist any longer! There now
only stands a small visitor centre
The Berlin Wall construction was started in 1961 and was 161km
long, it's destruction came 28 years later on November 9th 1989
The most famous crossing from East to West or vice versa
`Checkpoint Charlie` the crossing to the American Sector of West Berlin
The name Checkpoint
Charlie came from the fact that there were 3 checkpoint crossing's between the
East and West; being Helmstedt, Dreilinden, and Fridrichstrasse. The checkpoints
were named phonetically Alpha (Helmstedt), Bravo (Dreilinden), and Charlie (Friedrichstrasse)
One
of the most famous photo's from Berlin was of the
East German border guard, Hans Conrad Schumann, defecting on August 15, 1961;
Photo by Peter Leibing
Robert & Korina at
Schloss Charlottenburg
Scloss
Charlottenburg is the former residence of the 1st king of Prussia, Frederich 1st
and his wife Sophie Charlotte
The ruin and the
modern Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church `Gedächtniskirche`, and Korina at the
gates to the Zoological Garden
The ruins of the
church are from various air raids that took place on the city during the second
world war, and in particular 1943. Most of the buildings shown on this page have
been extensively rebuilt since then.
The entrance to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, it does not
quite have the presence of `Wembley Way` and neither do the `Twin Towers`
As you can see the stadium is currently under reconstruction
for the World Cup in 2006, it originally had a capacity 0f 100,000 people, and
although it is still the largest football stadium in Germany, the new capacity
will be reduced to 78,000
The stadium was built to home the 1936 Summer Olympic Games,
which was famously attended by Adolf Hitler and was intended to show the world
Germany's new found power and wealth. It was an extremely grand event,
considering the entire western world had been in a depression
The football match
was a Bundesliga game between the homeside Hertha Berlin and 1860 München. If
anyone has any interest, Hertha are in white and 1860 in the navy blue-ish
colour
I nearly forgot... the final score was 1-1
Robert & Korina at the Olympic Stadium
Some night photo's
of the lit up trees on the avenue of Unten den Linden, leading upto the
enlightened Brandenburg Gate
Unten den Linden, a view from the Eastern side of the Gate
The SONY Centre at
Potsdamer Platz, one of a list of major international companies to build offices
in the square
Potsdamer Platz, was formerly split in two by the Berlin Wall,
it is now the most modern square in Berlin. It has been totally re-constructed
since 1993 and during it's development it was the largest inner-city building
site in Europe
Sorry... but I had
to add this advertisement, cos I like it!
At the
Chriskindlemarkt again... just can't get enough of that gluewein!
Korina & Robert at The Reichstag, home of the German Bundestag
`Parliament`. The dome at the top is one of the most popular tourist attractions
in Berlin, it was designed by British Architect Sir Norman Foster at great
controversy and expense. When inside the dome you can see into the Parliament
from above through glass panes below the mirrored centrepiece
The mirrored centrepiece within the Reichstag Dome, with it's
spiralling walkways around it
Korina & I in the Dome, the glass viewing panes to the
Parliament are at the base of the mirror behind us
Oh no I think I have
been blinded by my own reflection!
The reflection of Robert & Korina in the mirrors
A view over Berlin from the roof of The Reichstag
Looking South: The strange looking building is the DG Bank,
then the Brandenburg Gate, the waste land above is left for the Holocaust
Memorial
Looking West: Column
of Victory in the Tierpark, The Bell Tower to celebrate Berlin's 750th
anniversary, The House of World Cultures, The Chancellery and the Platz der
Republik
East: The Television Tower and The International Trade Centre
Me inside the Dome
with the German flag in the Backdrop and a view of the Dome itself from outside
All photographs were taken
at various locations in Berlin - Germany from the 10th to 14th December 2003.
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