As one of my 'goodbye Berlin' activities, I chose to do something that I had been also meaning to do for quite a while, but never got around to it. Berlin and the surrounding area is a land of many lakes, rivers and canals connecting these rivers....so, it was time to go for a ride on the Spree river and the Landwehr canal...
Floating right along we see that we're on the Spree river (Shhpray). The area right was 'West Berlin' and the left, 'East Berlin'. Many people died trying to get over to the western side of the river....so sad....
This is 'House of the Cultures of the World' and is an art center and performance hall for non-European art and culture. It was a gift from the US in 1957 and the Berliners call it the 'pregnant oyster'. ;)
This is the Bundeskanzlersamt (the German prime minister's offices, i.e. her Oval Office), but NOT the White House (where she lives)...
This is Berlin Main Train Station and is one of the largest in Europe. It opened in 2006, just 2 weeks before I moved to Berlin, and cost over 1 BILLION Euros to build!
Oddly enough the Reichstag was in West Berlin. I say odd because most of historical, downtown/Mitte Berlin was in East Berlin. You can see a memorial to people who died whilst trying to cross the border in the lower right corner of the photo.
Going on down the Spree we find the 'Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof' (Friedrich Street Train Station). During the Cold War this was known as the 'Palace of Tears' because this is where West Germans visiting relatives in the DDR had to say goodbye. So sad....40 years, and for what?!
On a lighter note, those 2 buildings directly behind the Bahnhof were NOT there when I moved to Berlin. As said in an earlier blog post, 'Berlin bleibt nie Berlin!' (Berlin remains never Berlin - i.e. it's always changing...).
Do you know that 'Mack the Knife' song by Louis Armstrong? It comes from 'The Threepenny Opera' by Bertoldt Brecht. This theater, the Berliner Ensemble, is where Brecht wrote and worked....drama-wise, very famous place...
This is the Bode Museum, part of the Museum Island complex. Another one of those I need to go see it for three years, but never did, but then I finally did in the week before I left, LOL....BEAUTIFUL building, especially inside....
'Just around the river bend...' we find....the Berliner Cathedral! I'll leave the infos for an upcoming blog post...
This is the area where Berlin started....
'Berlin - City of Peace'......
hopefully that is what it can be in the present and future....
I still love this whole 'lock' system. It's so 'simple' and yet so ingenious....here is our lock opening....
we float in and wait....back doors shut...water rushes in, raises us a few feet...
then the front doors open and we sail out...we're now at the same water level...ingenious!
This is near Jannowitzer Bridge...I just like all of those 'wharves' below....I think that would be a COOL place to put restaurants, dance halls, etc.
;) English is the 'world' language...I just thought this was funny....(speaking of English, I still find it hilariously weird that when people protest in Iran or Palestine or wherever, their signs are written in English! Obviously the signs aren't meant for somebody else other than the people/regime they are protesting...)
I just love...'renewal' projects where they combine something old, some old pumphouse (I guess that is what it was) and then add to it, make it cool, new/old instead of just leaving it to rot for another decade....
This is the new O2 World arena where they have concerts, hockey games and basketball games. That 'white wall' is literally the old Berlin Wall!
There is the Oberbaum Bridge - VERY cool looking bridge from the late 1800's, that recently was rebuilt....
Off in the distance, you've seen it before on the blog....
but this is why I love to take tours, you ACTUALLY learn stuff! I was told by a guy I interviewed in this area, that that is supposed to represent East and West Berlin coming to greet each other....well, you might not be able to make it out, but there is a THIRD 'GUY' THERE! IN TOTAL there are THREE GUYS in that sculpture! The arteest said that that was to represent the 3 Bezirke/District of Berlin that come together at that point! So...geography, not 'putting the Cold War behind us' brotherliness.....
And here we go into another lock...now we're headed into the Landwehr canal (Land defense canal)....
Pretty, pretty....the balloon is a bit of foreshadowing as well....
It was election time and here in the district Kreuzberg the Green party was having a 'rally'....
The blue and white pillared building is an old Jewish synagogue, that was not burned down during Kristallnacht, but instead today serves as a Jewish school....
Love it! Beautiful!
This is along the canal almost to where I live. The signs are reminding all of us to go vote. The elections results were that Angela Merkel remains Chancellor/Prime Minister, she doesn't have to 'share' power anymore with her rivals, the Social Democrats and that the Social Democrats received their biggest losses at the polls since WWII....it will be interesting to see what changes these results bring to Deutschland...
I loved the boat tour, so worth the money, HOWEVER, the weather turned VERY cold and so naturally I wish I would have chosen a sunny, warm day during the 2.5 years I've thought about doing this trip! :)
