24 Sunday May 2015
Posted in Berlin, photography
Tags
Broken, broken window, photography, photos, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken
Don’t tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass
Russian physician, playwright and author: Anton Chekhov
a broken window – I loved the lace behind the holes
a detail of the window
20 Friday Sep 2013
Posted in Berlin, photography, travel
Tags
Berlin, photography, photos, travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, weekly photo challenge – from lines to patterns
What a wonderful theme, here are a few photos I took in Berlin this summer. As you can see I do love lines!
inside the lobby of the Frenseh Turm in Berlin
at the foot of the Fernsehturm
shadow -play
some detail on the old part of the Reichstag
the roof into the Friedenskirche (Peace Church) in Potsdam Sanssouci
the old university in Potsdam
going upstairs in Schloss Charlottenburg
someone drew a rainbow right around the Neptune fountain Alexanderplatz
on Unter den Linden
under a bridge
inside the Hamburger Bahnhof, now a museum for modern art
metal reminders of where the Wall stood
a stripy welcome when you cross the Oberbaum bridge, Kreuzberg
under the Ostbahnhof
stairs
02 Monday Sep 2013
Tags
42, bank balance, Berlin, daily chores, distant memory, divided by four, Douglas Adams, german capital, humdrum life, summer, summing up, time
With three weeks left until the new term begins summer is really coming to an end. The days are getting shorter and even though the weather is still warm and pleasant autumn is just around the corner.
When I look back over the past months I can’t believe how fast the summer has past by. I had so many plans and ideas about what I wanted to do, but somehow my clock and that of the season ticked at different speeds.
Berlin feels like a distant memory: meandering around the German capital snapping photos, sizzling in the heat and enjoying the thrill of the new all so long ago. But the five weeks of stepping away from normality helped me clear my head if not my schedule and even if I didn’t do all I had intended at the very least I had a chance to air out the attic of my mind.
But on my return my calendar was quickly filled with visitors and visits, catch-ups and chatter, parties and premiers but now I have to slow down, breath deep and try and get my routine back on track. And I need to not forget to carve out time to create beside all those daily chores.
I have to remember lessons I have learned, the experiences I have gained and make sure I don’t lose them amongst the boxes and to-do-lists of my humdrum life. Maybe bring a little bit of Berlin to Dublin, mix up the capitals and create a cocktail to fit my heritage.
If I sum up my summer I think it was a success, more pros than cons and the have column is defiantly in the black. But with my bank balance tipping dangerously close towards the red I have to say the return of autumn also thankfully means the return of a regular income.
So if 60 seconds are in a minute, and the same amount of minutes to the hour adds up to 24 hours in a day, of which there are seven in a week, times four to create a month times twelve to get a year, divided by four to create a season can only mean that time is moving on and maybe Douglas Adams was right and the answer is 42.
01 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted in Berlin
Tags
In a few hours I’ll be pulling the door into it’s lock, ending my time here in Berlin. I’ve enjoyed my stay in Germany’s capital, I have loved wandering the streets and trying to find the unusual. But I have to say that even after four weeks I still haven’t been able to see it all, which means I will need to come back, maybe when it’s a little cooler.
But for now my head is bustling with memories, my bags bursting with keepsakes and my camera full of photos. And can’t wait to catch up with friends back in Dublin and share my adventure, show off my finds and force them to look at all my pictures.
However I still have six days of family fun ahead of me. I’ll have to entertain and cuddle my two year old nephew, play with my teen-age niece and nephew, chat with my siblings and in-laws and spend some time with my mother and god-mother. So if you don’t hear from me in the next few days it will be due to a combination of no time and no internet connection.
Before I can leave I still need to pack a few bits and pieces into my already bulging bags and try and carry them all to the train station a feat I am not sure how quite to master but i am sure I wlll somehow survive. So I bid you all a farewell for now and wave Berlin goodbye, a happy sigh on my lips as I pull the heavy blue shut for one last time.
behind this door lies my Berliner home
31 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Berlin
Today is my last full day of Berlin and I am taking it slow, trying to get organised for my train-trip to Hamburg tomorrow. I am packing my bags, repacking them and then packing them all over again, somehow I will have to find room to bring everything back to Dublin with me. I have had to buy an extra bag as hand-luggage to be able to transport all my breakables, yet ,somehow even so my luggage has gone super nova.
Thankfully the weather is cloudy and wet, a little like yesterday, so I don’t mind staying in and relaxing, mentally preparing myself for a week of family fun near Hamburg.
But while I busy myself with the mundane and rummage around with my stuff I can leave you with some images from my last trip in Berlin, my day on the Museumsinsel in the middle of Berlin. this tiny island holds Berlin’s most important treasures. In six museums you can find art work from ancient Egypt, the Babylonian era all the way up to famous paintings of the last century.
In 1999 the Museumsinsel was declare a World Heritage Site and although there is still lots of digging and restoring going on it is one of the main tourists attractions Berlin has to offer.
outside the Bode Museum, which is filled with sculptures
the large dome
wall stucco
a bronze bird
I think he looks like a pirat
stunning colour
looking up at the small dome
doors and doors
a marble Bacchus
a skeptical boy, sculpted from clay
I fell in love with this beautifully sculptured woman, burnt clay
walking towards the Neues Museum where the Bust of Nefertiti is … and yes she is stunning but no photos allowed
the roofed passageway
you could have met me here
a rider in the sky
inside the Pergamonmuseum, the home of some spectacular architecture ans the famous Pergamon Altar
walking through a Roman Gateway
even then graffiti was around … Latin anyone?
a Babylonian wall, no idea what kind of animal this is meant to be
walking back towards the Alexanderplatz I passed by the Dom
bright green angels watching over the door
a special exhibition is lining the streets of Berlin reminding everyone of the Nazis rise to power 80 years ago. These Pillars show the faces and tell the stories of those people who dared to disagree. many where artists, actors, journalist, but some where just brave citizens of Berlin
some bucket lights
Berlin lacht (Berlin is laughing)
31 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Berlin
Tags
alois senefelder, Berlin, frog prince, Germany, Kathe Kollwitz, Lithography, Märchenbrunnen, parks and playgrounds, photography, photos, travel, yummy mummies
Late Post due to internet issues!
If Kreuzberg (my post on Kreuzberg is here) is Berlins angry, alternative little brother then the Prenzlauer Berg is the prettier and posher big sister, and I paid her a visit yesterday afternoon.
Everywhere you look you’ll see hipsters, yummy mummies, pretty kids and men in expensive suits. They sit and chat in the vast array of coffee shops, restaurants and ice-cream parlours that line the streets of Prenzlauer Berg. Most of the old houses have been restored, renovated to modern standards and are sold as homes to the young and upcoming yuppies of Berlin.
Admittedly it doesn’t have the same kind of edge that Kreuzberg does but the atmosphere is lovely and the paths are lined with trees, flowers and beautiful stucco facades. And due to the young growing families there are lots of kids on bikes, in parks and playgrounds, providing for a giggling, laughing, chatting and squealing sound-collage.
There aren’t any “big” sights to see in Prenzlauer Berg but as you stroll around you’ll find lots of little interesting sights to spot. One of the bigger ones is possibly the Käthe Kollwitz Park, the artist lived on the square and provided Germany with some stunning art work but also helped the destitute, providing shelter, food and clothes.
Another interesting person from the neighbourhood is the German actor Alois Seefelder who invented Lithography in 1796, which then of course led to the possibility of mass printing. Come to think of it, I probably should thank him for my job!
After wandering up and down streets in Prezlauer Berg I took a walk over to Friedrichshain (my post with photos from Friedrichshain) to see the Märchenbrunnen (Fairy-Tale fountain) in the peoples park. I had missed it on my earlier visit and wanted to see it before I left. And it didn’t disappoint. A little tacky for my taste maybe but my favourites where all waiting for me: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and of course the frog prince. So, just like I did as a little curly haired girl, I finished the day with a happy end, prince and all!
flowers outside a shop
waiting for a guest
at the Kulturbrauerei (Culture Brewery), an old brewery turned into a cultural center
Liebe =Love in big letters
stepped on this
old street sign
Bücher Tauschbaum, a free book exchange inside some tree trunks
stepped around this
wouldn’t fit into my bag
renovated in multi-colour
good to know but you need good walking boots
a fruit and veg shop display
at the Rykestrasse Synagogue
keeping the signs warm and colourful
at the old Wasserturm (water tower) … during WWII the Nazis used it as a prison now filled with pie shaped flats
keep your shoes clean
urban gardening at it’s best
pretty in pink
a squirrel at the Käthe Kollwitz Platz
and a snail at the playground on the Käthe Kollwitz square
no water anywhere near on this hill, but you should always be prepared
ice-cream parlor
I found this wonderfully exciting children’s playground with a fire pit, a wreaked car and lots of things to walk on, climb up, crawl through and even a place where you could create … I really was wishing I was ten again
hand-made flags
a plant-pot
a cool seat
even some low hanging fruit, not quite ripe
at Alois Senefelder statue … his name is mirrored as it would be using his printing technique
up high .. wonder if this means the same thing as it does in Dublin
another playground
balancing act … on my way to Friedrichshain
at the Märchenbrunnen … can you name them all?
30 Tuesday Jul 2013
Tags
Had issues with my internet connection hence the late post this was from Monday
I only have three days and one morning left to take in as much of the Berliner Luft (Berlin air literally translated) as possible. The song “Berliner Luft” was written by the famous composer Paul Linke 1904 and has become the synonym to describe the atmosphere and free-spirit of Berlin and it’s people.
For Berlin is more the way the German Jazz musician Roger Cicero describes it in his song “So Geil Berlin”. He talks about how Berlin is unconventional, very direct, a little dirty and with it’s very unique odour… exactly the way I have experienced it.
For me Berlin is loud, colourful, filled with the usual and unusual sitting happily side by side. People are friendly but a little rough around the edges, culture, both traditional and alternative, is everywhere.
Food is cheap, if you want it to be, but you can find really expensive places too. But no matter what size your purse you are sure to find what ever you hearts desires and taste-buds demand … every country, flavour, spice and combination you can’t even dream of is just a s-bahn trip away.
No matter what time-period or era you are looking for Berlin has something to offer but somehow Berlin is timeless, shops open both early and late, a day becomes a week and before you know it the month has passed.
Since I only have a few final days left to fill my lungs, heart and head with the unique flavour this wonderful European Capital has to over I think I’ll put on my shoes and take a walk in the rain and enjoy a bit of bustling Berlin from underneath an umbrella, something i haven’t been able to experience yet during this hot summer.
28 Sunday Jul 2013
Tags
Alexanderplatz, aunt, Berlin, family, fernsehturm, neptune fountain, photography, photos, rotes rathaus, travel, worldclock
Berlin decided to turn up the heat this weekend and has become a boiling oven. Not the perfect time to be wandering the streets with two teenagers but I did what I could, sweating like a dripping tap and trying to imagine the north-pole, ice-cream and snowman-hugs.
Alexanderplatz right in the middle of Berlin
The 1970s Eastern German Fountain of International Friendship
the worldclock
even superheros hang out here
Our first stop of the day was the Alexanderplatz, I wanted to show them all the sights around the former Eastern German hub. Unplanned, as it was still meant to be closed for cleaning, we stood in line for tickets to go up to the visitors platform in the Fernsehturm. But since there was a long waiting-list for the lift we walked around the Alexanderplatz, went down to the Neptune Fountain, walked over to the Nikolaiviertel and passed by the Rotes Rathaus to while away the time.
70s flair outside the Fernsehturm
yes we want to go up there … 203.78m above the ground
built in 1891 the Neptune Fountain
someone scattered “lucky” butterflies around the fountain
the door to the Rotes Rathaus were locked, after all it was a Saturday
After some cool drinks and ice-cream it was finally time to view Berlin from the top, after all the Fernsehturm is the highest building in Germany and the fourth highest in Europe. We really did get quiet a spectacular view even if it was an expensive treat.
inside the lobby
the lift … the little red light tells you where it is
somewhere way over there is Friedrichshagen
that’s where we went yesterday … how tiny the Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstagskuppel look
After that we took the S-bahn to the Ostbahnhof and took a walk along the East Side Gallery for two reasons: 1) to show my niece and nephew some part of their countries past 2) but more importantly because me niece wanted to take a photo in the exact same spot where Harry Styles from the boy-band One Direction had his photo taken while touring Germany … GIRLS!
as the good aunt that I am I even had a pen so Sarah-Ann could sign her name … *sigh*
After that I took them to Friedrichshain where we had food opposite the RAW Temple,once the Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungs-Werk = RAW, now a cultural workspace and quite alternative. My niece and nephew sadly weren’t that impressed with the area, I think they don’t have my liking for the wacky, weird and unconventional. nevertheless they enjoyed their food and by the time we got home all the wanted to do was play a few rounds of memory and go to bed.
some quirky graffiti on the RAW temple
even in the roughest place a rose can bloom
a uninvited feathered guest
even the lighting is a little “dirty”
some table decoration
Luckily for me they told me they enjoyed their stay in Berlin when I dropped them off at the Train Station, two tired, hot teenagers who got a small taste of a big city. And as I waved them good-bye I have to say I felt more than a little relieved that my aunt duties were done and was delighted that I hadn’t broken, burnt or lost either of them.
back in Freidrichshagen on my own … enjoying a little bit of peace after three days of aunty duty
27 Saturday Jul 2013
Posted in Berlin
Tags
Berlin, brandenburger tor, chocholate, famiy, Germany, niece and nephew, photography, photos, ritter sport, the wall, travel
Yesterday evening I picked my niece and nephew up from the train-station. They will be staying with me until Sunday and I am full on aunty duty, which with teenagers is no easy task.
Since I can’t stand the “don’t care – don’t know – whatever” answers teenagers have so perfected I did what every good aunt should do and dragged them around Berlin all day long, hitting some main sights along the way and tiring both them and me out.
even the man-holes give you tips on what to see
However even before we saw anything of interest my niece and nephew disappeared into the Ampelmännchen Shop. Now to understand this phenomenon I will have to explain about the Ampelmännchen. It is one of the few eastern German things to have survived the Iron Curtain and the little man wearing a hat has become an icon. He has even gotten company from a pigtail wearing woman, after all we can’t the the guys take all the glory. You can but t-shirts, pencils, postcards, pens, soaps, tea, sweets, bags, cup, lamps … really anything you can thing of with an Ampelmännchen on them, probably Berlins most desired souvenir.
The nostalgic “Ampelmaennchen” from the DDR … now the must-have souvenir
Once out of the store, more than a few Euros lighter, we headed down to the Brandenburg Tor. Me trying to teach them things, they enthralled by all what was happening around them.
Right a the Brandenburger Tor
two dudes dressed like statues fascinated my nephew
blowing massive bubbles
From there we wandered through the shade (thankfully) to the Reichstag. I had asked for an appointed (you need one to enter the Dome designed by Norman Foster) earlier in the week and was glad it all worked out as both me niece and nephew where thrilled. We spent a while up over looking Berlin and I invited them to a special treat of cake/ice-cream on the roof-top terrace.
The Reichstag,, he meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag.
inside the dome, my niece and nephew hiding between bars
looking out over Berlin
my Berliner Weise mit Schuss (Berlin white Beer with wood-ruff flavor) and a Herrentorte (a gentlenmans cake)
my nieces lavish chocolate cake which she enjoyed with tea
my nephew went for strawberry ice-cream and ginger ale
some detail on the old part of the Reichstag
a big balloon up in the sky
outside the Reichstag a reminder to all murdered political heroes
Happy and fed I made them walk back to the Brandenburger Tor to see the Holocaust memorial as I really enjoyed it with my friend. At first they were unsure but after a while they got it and we played hide and seek between the slaps.
the holocaust memorial
hiding or seeking, am unsure
shadow -play
From there we went to the Ritter- Sport house. For all non-Germans, Ritter Sport is a chocolate brand that sells there delicious goodies in multi-coloured squares. The reason behind this trip was that you can mix and match the contents of the chocolate and create your every own chocolaty treat.
chocolate as far as the eye can see
tubes filled with tiny bars reminded me of Willy Wonka
what to chose was tricky
even the chairs where square and colourful
We had to wait a while for the chocolate to cool and since it wasn’t far I took my niece and nephew to see Check-Point Charlie. This was the best know crossing point from West into East Berlin. Not only did they see the sign that you can buy all over Berlin as postcards but we went to an exhibition that showed what it was like when the wall was still there. A massive mural gives you the feeling you have stepped back in time and speeches from Erich Honecker (former leader of the East German Governmennt) and John F. Kennedy even gave you an auditory vibe of an era long gone.
The famous Check Point Charlie sign
some old pieces of the Wall reused for pop art
some old pieces of the Wall reused for pop art
the mural
As we walked back to collect our chocolate my niece and nephew where fading fast but I still had time to spot a few interesting things.
some colourful windows … the sun made them different colours
an interesting house
roadworks everywhere and the reason why we couldn’t take the subway
standing in our way – a big blue digger
some odd sculpture
Now the two tiered teenagers are fast a sleep, possibly dreaming of the adventures of the day . And I have to admit that I am totally exhausted from my aunty duties, my feet are sore and all I want is some sleep … after all I’ll have to do it all again tomorrow!
26 Friday Jul 2013
Tags
baroque, Berlin, Germany, photography, photos, potsdam, roccoco, sanssouci, travel, world heritage site
This is the second part of my Potsdam post …
After spending most of the morning and my lunch in Potsdams historical town center I wandered down towards Sanssouci and the park. It was hot that I took my time and was thankful for any spot of shade. Sadly that meant I didn’t have as much time at the park so am contemplating to go again … maybe next week if I can somehow arrange it Otherwise I will just have to come back.
Sanssouci (without worries) was Friedrich the Greats summer residence. It is often compared to Versailles, but is more Roccoco than French Baroque as it breaks with the strict symmetry and is more playful … for my taste overdone.
Friedrich the Great wanted the summer palace to be a place he could retreat too from the pomp and circumstances in Berlin, lead a simpler life hence the name “Sanssouci” – without worries, concerns, being carefree. Built between 1745 and 1747 it reflects a time when the Prussian dynasty was very powerful and remained the residence of the German imperial Family (Hohenzollern dynasty) until 1918.
As it is in Brandenburg, Potsdam was a favourite holiday place for many eastern Germans, with Sanssouci and its expansive gardens as its main attraction. After the reunification it became a World Heritage Site and is visited by more than 2 million people from around the world every year.
If you ever think on going, you will need more time than you think, take good walking shoes, lots to drink and make sure that your camera is fully charged.
entering vial the Obelisk ortal
pillars across the water
lounging nude
flowerbeds
a happy sunflower
welcome shade
the roof into the Friedenskirche (Peace Church)
two old peacocks
inside the church, pain sitting
lights
rows waiting for Sundays service
the decorative ceiling
pillars everywhere
hand painted detailing
around the courtyard
church tower
the chapel
a pillar made of bright blue glass
odd headgear
haystacks being made in the grounds
my first glimpse of Sanssouci
the scope is incredible, and no shade anywhere near
a friendly griffen
love the ribbon
weird looking pots ….
… and ugly cupids seem to be the taste of the era
blue sky
gold glistening in the sun
from behind
the Bildergallerie (Picture Gallery)
leaving new potatoes on old Fritz’s grave … or maybe the Irish were just here
main fountain from above
a mammy sphinx
more pillars
across the way the Norman Tower
mill detail
The historical, still working, mill
jensinewall 