A late post on Berlin

[pez]

The weather in Berlin was very, very good. Cloudless everyday, and hot (around 27/28 C). We stayed in a cheap but decent hotel in East Berlin. There's a restaurant which isn't busy, but the food amazing. We ate twice there, sitting outside and drinking cocktails and watching football. We saw Germany win during one of the group matches and every time Germany scored, lots of people in the area would like fireworks! The atmosphere was rather cool XD

Berlin's a great place for learning and sightseeing because of its history, and I found the Holocaust Memorial very, very sobering. On the top there are over 2000 concrete slabs which you can walk through, and the information centre is underground. It gives a full timeline of the Nazi's persecution of the Jews, followed by documentation, letters, photos which pierce together real stories of what happened to real families.

At Potsdamer Platz there were pieces of the old Berlin Wall, with a lot of information displayed and someone dressed in military uniform ready to stamp passports with the East Berlin visa stamp, and to provide explanation. Checkpoint Charlie is the crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War and where the tank stand-off between Soviet Union and US happened. Just like everywhere else there was a lot of information displayed in a easy-to-read way. It seems like the Germans are quite good at this sort of thing.


Brandenburg Gate



The Berlin Bear thing. They have bears everywhere, and painted bears dotted around the city, like how we had Cow Parade. But the bears are really ugly. =/



Checkpoint Charlie



The Holocaust Memorial



The Holocaust Memorial



The Holocaust Memorial



New Potsdamer Platz



New Potsdamer Platz



New Potsdamer Platz



Liz making sure we weren't lost XD



Akaya/Dane



......



WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE HELL.



Radioactive ice-cream!



........



Ice-cream break



CAKE!



LLAMA!



Siegessaule. This is for Leila. XD We have no Tezuka with us, so Niou pretended to be Tez to take a picture.



XD XD















Incoming hedgehog!









Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Wall display



A better picture of the Siegessaule.



This was taken near our hotel. I DON'T KNOW OKAY?



Also near our hotel. The shop says PHYSIOTHERAPY. Apparently this is what they mean.



The Ampelmann are the pedestrian crossing lights of East Berlin. They are now a brand of their own and you can get t-shirts, coasters, book ends, bags, mugs etc with their images.

I still look at the green man and go O_O. (It also reminds me of SUNKRUS in Japan.)

Comments

[seregil-1982.livejournal.com]

hi! *waves*

Berlin inhabitant here! it's good to see that you liked Berlin quite a bit, because it really can be an awesome city when you know the right places.

good thing that you stayed out of some of the more questionable districts (take certain parts in Kreuzberg for example...where you will find only Turkish men and not a single woman - if there are any at all without a headscarf in the near vicinity. believe me, you'd feel very out of place as a white Christian woman.)...
though, it's not dangerous there for anyone, it just makes one feel a bit uncomfortable.

I got sick the first time I visted the The Holocaust Memorial, because the ground is so strange and it made my head spin quite a bit.

really loved Akaya and Niou there. hopefully they liked it quite as much as you did.

and the last 2 pics...*ROFL*
seriously I love languages! it took me a bit to understand why you would find the sign "Grabmale" so funny, but when I considered it from the viewpoint of an English speaking person, I understood...*ROFL again*
wanna know what "Grabmale" really means? (it's not as funny as it is in English, but it makes a kinda sad word not so sad anymore...)

Grabmal(e) = tomb(s),

and omg! I'll never see the Ampelman in the same light again *snorts*! seriously, fandom has corrupted my innocence!

*hugs*

p.s.: sorry for the lengthy comment, but I just couldn't resist!