The rest of my trip aka Berlin + pics
Ok, I'm back, surely no1curr but whatever, my trip was over on Monday evening which was pretty sad but at least there's only one month and a half to go until I'll visit south/center of Germany and a bit of Poland, can't wait for that !
After I went to Hugh's concert in Berlin, I spend the next 3 days visiting and by visiting I mean lots of sightseeing ,tens of km's walked every day and only one museum . I had great, awesome ,perfect weather ,sun was shining ,birds chirping ,life was goooood ,beer was perfect and in large quantities (I gained a kg ) . I was surprised that I didn't mind being alone because I had so much to occupy my time with .
During these 3 days I visited all the major sites like
- the Brandenburg Gate which I got to after foolishly walking the entire length of the 17th of June boulevard ,looked shorter on the map fml, after having already walked several km's that day followed by more km's after a brief stop at the Brandenburg Gate. But I liked the boulevard as well and hello Albert Speer's streetlight thingies and Soviet Memorial with tanks and communist symbols and interesting history .
- Wilhelmstrasse where the center of power used to be and where Speer built Hitler's new Reichchancellory with the Fuhrer Bunker. There were also several other official buildings like Ministries , a Gestapo/SS building, official buildings from before the Nazi Regime ,etc. Now the most interesting thing still standing from that time is the former building of the Aviation Ministry (Goring's) which became the Finance Ministry building now. It's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge and I kinda' like it for some reason, maybe it's the color or the simple classic architecture but there's something nice about it, I must be insane. Nothing is left of the Reichchancellory on the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and VossStrasse ,there are some communist built apartment buildings in its place and right on top of the entrance to the bunker there's a playground (which I took a picture of cause, guess what, I am a most PATHETIC history nerd) .
- the Berlin Wall (remaining part) is also right at the intersection between Wilhelmstrasse and some other street ,right across the street from Goring's former Ministry building . Right behind it there's a sort of memorial thing called Topography of Terror I think with pictures and some documents that basically tell the story of the Holocaust and the Nazi Regime and are placed right where the SS/Gestapo building was
- Checkpoint Charlie and some other Cold War/Communism related stuff + the commercial area around Friedrich Strasse
- Kreuzberg area ,I walked a little around there before the concert , it was rather nice
- Oranienburg (sp?) area with lots of restaurants and stuff like that
- Olympia Stadion built for the 1936 Olympic Games, still very much in use.
- Flakturm Humboldthein (sp?) , an above ground bunker build during WWII to house civilians and especially to use Flak guns from its 3 towers. There were 3 built in Berlin, only half of this one remains and they were extraordinary buildings, with incredibly thick reinforced walls that could withstand massive explosions and attacks and house tens of thousands + a hospital floor .It now stands on a hill which is a man made hill made to cover up the half of the building that they (by they I mean the french) managed to destroy and the lower floors of the structure still standing. What can be seen are the two upper floors including the 2 remaining towers where the Flak guns were positioned . A Flak gun is an antiaircraft defense gun that was very powerful , one of the most known guns used in the 2nd WW .
- Spandau area cause I went to look for the place where the former Spandau Prison stood but I forgot at first to look for a street name and then I realized I should have haha so I just ended up walking around the old part of Spandau and then to the Citadel , it was very nice and then I came back another day to find the place where the prison was.
- commercial area around Kurfursterdam(sp?) including KaDeWe where I bought nothing (surprise,surprise)
- other residential areas and around Invaliden Strasse since I went to find Fritz Todt's tomb in the nearby cemetery but there was no tombstone or at least I couldn't find it although I knew where it should have been . Oh well....
- Tiergarten ,very nice
As you can see I had 3 full days and I loved Berlin more than I thought I would , I'd like to go back one day and I still can't decide if I liked it better than Hamburg or not. It was also a good trip because it was the first time I was really on my own for a full week and had to completely look after myself full time and manage everything . Mom thought I was going to certainly lose either money or my passport or something but I proved her wrong ,that was good too, I had no problems at all.
So, on Monday morning I took the ICE train to Frankfurt and then the metro to the airport and boarded the Lufthansa flight home and here I am now feeling really bored and sort of out of place.
Here are some pictures. CLICK ON ALBUM LINK FOR MORE if interested. Oh and BTW, if I post my little Albert Speer music video will anyone watch it?
Brandenburg Gate
Wilhelmstrasse
Olympia Stadion
Berlin Wall/Topography of Terror and Hermann Goring's former Ministry building in the background
Reichstag (now called Bundestag I guess)
on the lower platform of the Flak Tower and yes, those cracks in the wall was from a projectile
Albert Speer streetlight
Spandau
I think these were guard towers of the Spandau Prison complex but I am not 100% sure
Speer's model of the large Dome Hitler wanted to build
Checkpoint Charlie
Albert thanks you for your time with his lovely self and invites u to click the link underneath to see more pics
Berlin April 2011
After I went to Hugh's concert in Berlin, I spend the next 3 days visiting and by visiting I mean lots of sightseeing ,tens of km's walked every day and only one museum . I had great, awesome ,perfect weather ,sun was shining ,birds chirping ,life was goooood ,beer was perfect and in large quantities (I gained a kg ) . I was surprised that I didn't mind being alone because I had so much to occupy my time with .
During these 3 days I visited all the major sites like
- the Brandenburg Gate which I got to after foolishly walking the entire length of the 17th of June boulevard ,looked shorter on the map fml, after having already walked several km's that day followed by more km's after a brief stop at the Brandenburg Gate. But I liked the boulevard as well and hello Albert Speer's streetlight thingies and Soviet Memorial with tanks and communist symbols and interesting history .
- Wilhelmstrasse where the center of power used to be and where Speer built Hitler's new Reichchancellory with the Fuhrer Bunker. There were also several other official buildings like Ministries , a Gestapo/SS building, official buildings from before the Nazi Regime ,etc. Now the most interesting thing still standing from that time is the former building of the Aviation Ministry (Goring's) which became the Finance Ministry building now. It's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge and I kinda' like it for some reason, maybe it's the color or the simple classic architecture but there's something nice about it, I must be insane. Nothing is left of the Reichchancellory on the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and VossStrasse ,there are some communist built apartment buildings in its place and right on top of the entrance to the bunker there's a playground (which I took a picture of cause, guess what, I am a most PATHETIC history nerd) .
- the Berlin Wall (remaining part) is also right at the intersection between Wilhelmstrasse and some other street ,right across the street from Goring's former Ministry building . Right behind it there's a sort of memorial thing called Topography of Terror I think with pictures and some documents that basically tell the story of the Holocaust and the Nazi Regime and are placed right where the SS/Gestapo building was
- Checkpoint Charlie and some other Cold War/Communism related stuff + the commercial area around Friedrich Strasse
- Kreuzberg area ,I walked a little around there before the concert , it was rather nice
- Oranienburg (sp?) area with lots of restaurants and stuff like that
- Olympia Stadion built for the 1936 Olympic Games, still very much in use.
- Flakturm Humboldthein (sp?) , an above ground bunker build during WWII to house civilians and especially to use Flak guns from its 3 towers. There were 3 built in Berlin, only half of this one remains and they were extraordinary buildings, with incredibly thick reinforced walls that could withstand massive explosions and attacks and house tens of thousands + a hospital floor .It now stands on a hill which is a man made hill made to cover up the half of the building that they (by they I mean the french) managed to destroy and the lower floors of the structure still standing. What can be seen are the two upper floors including the 2 remaining towers where the Flak guns were positioned . A Flak gun is an antiaircraft defense gun that was very powerful , one of the most known guns used in the 2nd WW .
- Spandau area cause I went to look for the place where the former Spandau Prison stood but I forgot at first to look for a street name and then I realized I should have haha so I just ended up walking around the old part of Spandau and then to the Citadel , it was very nice and then I came back another day to find the place where the prison was.
- commercial area around Kurfursterdam(sp?) including KaDeWe where I bought nothing (surprise,surprise)
- other residential areas and around Invaliden Strasse since I went to find Fritz Todt's tomb in the nearby cemetery but there was no tombstone or at least I couldn't find it although I knew where it should have been . Oh well....
- Tiergarten ,very nice
As you can see I had 3 full days and I loved Berlin more than I thought I would , I'd like to go back one day and I still can't decide if I liked it better than Hamburg or not. It was also a good trip because it was the first time I was really on my own for a full week and had to completely look after myself full time and manage everything . Mom thought I was going to certainly lose either money or my passport or something but I proved her wrong ,that was good too, I had no problems at all.
So, on Monday morning I took the ICE train to Frankfurt and then the metro to the airport and boarded the Lufthansa flight home and here I am now feeling really bored and sort of out of place.
Here are some pictures. CLICK ON ALBUM LINK FOR MORE if interested. Oh and BTW, if I post my little Albert Speer music video will anyone watch it?
Brandenburg Gate
Wilhelmstrasse
Olympia Stadion
Berlin Wall/Topography of Terror and Hermann Goring's former Ministry building in the background
Reichstag (now called Bundestag I guess)
on the lower platform of the Flak Tower and yes, those cracks in the wall was from a projectile
Albert Speer streetlight
Spandau
I think these were guard towers of the Spandau Prison complex but I am not 100% sure
Speer's model of the large Dome Hitler wanted to build
Checkpoint Charlie
Albert thanks you for your time with his lovely self and invites u to click the link underneath to see more pics
Berlin April 2011