Postcard from Berlin

Here you go - finally!! A few pics from Berlin,

1st is a manhole cover!

2nd is the Kaiser Willhelm Memorial Church, which was bombed during the War and now has only half a spire..

3rd is the New Memorial Church, right next to the one above. Which looks just like a plain cube from the outside, but WOW when you go inside!

4th is the towers at the entrance of the Olympic Stadium

5th is the Berliner Dom - we climbed all the stairs to the very top of the dome in this Cathedral and had great views across the City

6th is the Reichstag building - I would have loved to have seen it a few years back when some artists that I love (Christo and Jean-Claude) covered it in canvas type fabric. Will try and find a picture of that for my next post.

7th is the new dome at the top of the Reichstag, designed by Sir Norma Foster who designed Ken's offices in London - don't they look similar? For free you could go up to the roof of the government building and walk up inside the glass dome, more great views.
8th - finally a very new "buliding" the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz, lots of cafes, restaurants cinemas etc... a great piece of modern architecture that looks fab at night!

Colin and I have been to several European cities in the past 18 months or so (7 in fact) and I have to say Berlin is the one that I struggled to understand the most. For example, Rome is all about the history and churches, Dublin is all about chilling out and relaxing, Amsterdam - the canals, but Berlin?? Like I said in my previous post it's very scarred, there's still bits of the wall (left as tourist points with lots of information). There's also a very distinct difference between East and West. We stayed in the East and as we walked into the centre of the City each morning you could see a marked difference. Particularly alongside Museum Island, where you've got some very grand old buildings including the Berliner Dom (Cathedral) that look great, then across the river just old shells of 1960's style steel frame and concrete buildings. You can definitely where they've put the money and where they haven't. It was an experience and one city that I'm glad I went to, if only for the immense sense of modern history there.

Well - it's Saturday, hoorah! AND it's Cyber Crop weekend on the Tude, so off to sign up for bingo, get a few plants put out in the garden then scrap scrap scrap (oh and I may watch a bit of TV tonight, Dr Who and the final of Joseph anyone?)

Happy Saturday!