The second half of my trip was two weeks in Berlin. Our apartment was fabulous....penthouse with wrap around deck with views of the river, old museum buildings and churches. Again we do the European thing which is walk, look at art and go to cafe's. I have divided up the photos by categories like architecture, art, fun stuff, history, etc.....
ENJOY!
MUSIC:
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| music hall at the Gendarmenmarkt, Berlin ...there is a church at either end of this magnificent square |
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| music club we did not go to |
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| The Spiegelsaal Dance Hall since the 40's |
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| drum set at the Spiegelsaal |
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ARCHITECTURE: they have been building madly in Berlin over the past few years. There are cranes everywhere. Lots of modern as well. Just a few squats left.
colourful
modern
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| The main train station in Berlin |
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| reminds me of cardboard |
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churches
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| this church was bombed and the whole middle is gone |
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| even though it is open to the air now they still have amazing events |
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| another damaged church |
the view from our apartment
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| museum island |
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| a bauhaus building |
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| our sunset view of the new Synagogue |
The Berliner Dom: The Berlin Cathedral was built in 1894, bombed in 1944 and the whole dome collapsed. In 1975 they started 18 years of restoration to complete what we see today. It was a main part of our view and I photographed it a lot. I also went and toured through it.
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| the basement had about 50 of these coffins in it |
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| stairs to the top...a long climb |
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| all the statues are different around the dome |
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| view from above |
odd and unusual
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| place to sit and play or hear music |
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| love this entrance...carpet is painted on |
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| old building - modern art |
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| fountain |
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| modern art gallery |
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| stairway to? |
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| precise garden |
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| love the curtains |
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| fabulous hoarding |
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| the building is huge...this is less than 1/4 of it |
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| wow...bronze door |
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| so many layers |
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| modern sculpture in West Berlin |
bridge details
STATUES:
GRAFFITI: quite a few of these photos are from the "wall"
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| love this poster |
CAFES:
HISTORY:
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| the wall going up and people stuck on one side or the other....families separated for years |
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| wall coming down |
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| love this photo mural |
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| I learned a lot about the history...did not realize how it was divided up |
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| got my passport stamped at Check Point Charlie |
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| this side of the wall is the "no holds barred" side and the other has more commissioned murals |
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| east meets west |
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| the mural side had some lovely, poetic, political and sad messages |
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| me at the wall |
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| an old Jewish cemetery with a mosaic mural |
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| detail of the tiles below |
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| another tile detail |
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| The Holocaust Memorial 2005 by Peter Eisenman at a cost of E25 million |
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| almost 5 acres with 2711 concrete slabs or stelae |
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FUN STUFF:
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| every night this small square hosts different dances..this was ballroom night |
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| they have food trucks too |
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| not sure what this truck does but I like it |
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| and of course the coffee truck |
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| words to ponder |
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| a cockroach out of the side of a building...hmm not sure. |
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| everyone loves a snowman |
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| the green man was a traffic icon in East Berlin and is one of the few communist symbols left |
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| Kevin and I spent a few hours catching up at this champagne bar in KaDeWe |
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| delicious! |
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| champagne with cosies |
I did a bike day with a ride with Levon through Tiergarten Park stopping for lunch and then visited Tiffany & Co at KaDeWe (the largest department store in Europe) and then upstairs to meet Kevin at the champagne bar.
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| Europeons love their patios and sun |
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| river entrance for ? |
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| love the locks...this is at the wall |
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| a great light store |
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| ingenious hot dog stand |
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| speaking of hot dogs???? |
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| went to see Levon play for Alba Berlin |
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| Levon concentrating on the play |
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| Lee not liking that play |
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| Alba won against Munich |
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| fans are serious and incredibly loud...I wore earplugs...they have cheerleaders, bands & mascots! |
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| Levon making some points....I did not understand one thing when I went to the game but some people explained for me. |
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| Kendall 8 points against their star player Delaney with 7! Yah Levon |
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| Munich celebrating winning the championship |
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| Munich receiving the trophy! Was very exciting and I learned a lot about sports. |
ART: Went to the Martin-Gropius-Bau art museum and saw the absolutely fantastic David Bowie show which had his unbelievable collection of memorabilia. He kept everything so on display was drawings, costumes, films, photos, journals with handwritten lyrics, videos of his concerts and his instruments. It had also been in England and was put together by the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Photos were not allowed. Go to one of these shows if you can:
Also at that museum was a show by Ai Wei Wei with his biggest show to date (3000 sq meters in 18 rooms) and a retrospective of Hans Richter highlighting film, assemblage and paintings.
Ai Wei Wei 6000 Chinese Stools
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| they create a wood floor above the museum floor |
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| This re-constructed rubble is from his studio in China that was demolished by the government as a way of punishing him. He eventually ended up spending 18 months in jail for his outspokenness. |
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| His photo project of giving the finger at historic and political sites |
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| crabs installation |
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| wall detail of crabs installation |
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| memorial installation made from reclaimed re-bar from 2008 quake which killed 5000 school children in Sichuan |
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| his painted ancient pots |
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| detail from Circle of Animals |
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| Circle of Animals |
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| pile of doors made from marble |
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| love his bicycle installations |
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| this is a giant wax painting by Norwegian painter Olav Christopher Jenssen |
The Boros Collection is contained in this bunker which has been a prison, banana storage, emergency safe house and now holds the families minimalist art collection from German and European artists. If you go you have to make an appointment 2 months in advance and make sure you take the "English" tour. It is fantastic. The family lives on the top floor when in Berlin. Thanks for the tip Landon.
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| The Boros Bunker |
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| Installation in reception |
Love the poster art from this era
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| I bought Arnt this one and it is the 1934 Workers Olympic poster |
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| I bought this painting in Prague for myself. |
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| Just Legs |
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| Rock art |
This piece honours the acceptance of gay life in Berlin with a film inside
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| cool |
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| super shiny stainless steel sculpture |
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| fake man on ladder |
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| more man on ladder |
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| chair in park |
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| nice orange bike |
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| art is everywhere...these are construction cement weights |
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We went to a privately owned museum called ME. This fellow Olbricht just started collecting 12 years ago and has amassed the most amazing "Cabinets of Curiosity" I have every seen. Thanks Kevin for the heads up! His collections from all over the world are made from bone, stone, precious gems, shells, gold, wood, silver and some taxidermy animals. Each piece really is exquisite. There are over 200 pieces in the permanent collection.
Also at the same time was an exhibition by costume jewelry, painter
and installation collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, which was curated by a 90 year old woman from
Guatemala. Each cabinet held at least 50 pieces and was colour
co-ordinated...beautiful!
This painter spent a year in Venice painting himself...at first I did not like them but once I spent some time with the series I really liked it. Part of her collection as well.
This is a vintage music studio with fab keyboards also at ME
That is the end of the Europe trip...thanks for stopping by!
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