Here is a collection of photos I took on my first tourist sightseeing adventure on 12 Sept 2010, nearly 4 weeks after arriving in Berlin.
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- Fußball!
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- More Fußball!
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- This always happens during a match…
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- At a park west of Moritzplatz.
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- Need a hand?
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- Fun for kids in the sandbox.
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- A cute bouncy toy.
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- I’d never seen this above Berlin before.
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- Checkpoint Charlie from the American side.
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- Oh no! Don’t leave!
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- Looking back towards the American side…obviously.
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- The telephoto and image stabilization on this new camera is awesome!
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- The other side of the famous Checkpoint Charlie sign.
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- I found the “Die Welt” balloon. The price of admission.
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- They pull it down…
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- …and load the next group.
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- What’s up with the pink pipes?
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- Still getting distracted by the pink pipe…
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- I’m standing under the pink pipe for this shot.
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- This caught me by surprise: the British Embassy.
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- Too cool.
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- Found it: the Brandenburg Gate.
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- I’ll give this a shot the next time I go to the beach.
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- Amazing detail…even the camera detected the face in this shot.
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- The Brandenburg Gate from the front…
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- …at an angle…
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- …and from the back.
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- The southeast corner of the Reichstag.
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- The east side of the Reichstag.
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- The Reichstag can wait…this building is really neat.
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- Looks like a fairly narrow bridge crossing the river between buildings.
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- This is the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus from the riverbank.
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- Was Marie Elisabeth Lüders as cool as this building?
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- Neat angles and shapes.
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- The Paul-Löbe-Haus facing the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus. There is a restaurant on the ground floor.
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- Neat! I’d seen this bridge before, but I don’t remember where.
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- Under the bridge…
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- Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the main train station. This is an impressive building of glass.
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- This is an example of “The Pope’s Revenge” which is a cross-shaped reflection on the Fernsehturm.
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- Bundeskanzleramt = The German Chancellery
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- The Reichstag from the front (west) side.
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- Artifacts in the Reichstag chapel…
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- Artifacts in the Reichstag chapel…
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- What is your quest?
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- Artifacts in the Reichstag chapel
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- Artifacts in the Reichstag chapel
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- All the pieces in the chapel are made of nails. It looks really trippy in person.
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- Two more pieces with nails.
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- Even the rocks are fastened to the piece with nails.
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- Interesting walls in the Reichstag.
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- It looks like part of an old building exists underneath the walls.
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- The chamber of the Bundestag (aka parliament).
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- It looks like a jet turbine is mounted over the chamber. This is part of the dome that you’ll be seeing more of soon.
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- Up on the third level of the Reichstag…looks like a party is going on.
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- The Bundestag chamber from the third floor.
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- Looking down…
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- If you’re gonna snipe someone, this is the place.
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- Towards the front of the chamber from the third floor.
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- Against the outside wall on the third floor.
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- On the fourth floor, outside facing west towards the huge park in front of the Reichstag. I don’t know what that funny roof is in the distance, but I may have to find out at some point.
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- The Kuppel (dome) atop the Reichstag.
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- Again, it’s an amazing zoom lens on this camera. This water tower (or whatever it is) was super-tiny on the horizon,
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- Another interesting roof. Sort of reminds me of Denver International Airport. Sort of.
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- The Kuppel again with the sun behind me.
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- Zooming in, you can see an interesting cone structure hanging down inside the dome.
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- My self-portrait in the mirrors of the Kuppel cone.
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- The spiraling walkways go to the top of the dome.
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- The mirrors reflect sunlight down into the Bundestag chamber.
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- Pretty wild looking, especially with all the moving people on the walkways.
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- Looking northeast from the dome walkway. I love all the colors!
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- The Hauptbahnhof from the Reichstag dome.
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- It appears I’m as high as the Die Welt balloon up in the dome!
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- The top of the dome.
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- Looking down, there are some really cool angles and perspectives.
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- All they way down to the Bundestag chamber. “The People are above the Government.” Literally.
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- Coolness.
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- It looks as if the top floor of the Reichstag was built on top of an older building.
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- All the people waiting to get into the Reichstag.
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- A statue along Unter den Linden.
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- Humboldt University, I believe.
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- Staatsoper Unter den Linden…an operahouse, I believe.
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- Neue Wache
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- Killer zoom lens strikes again!
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- The German History Museum
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- By the museum towards the Berlin Cathedral.
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- Germans really seem to like spiral-shaped buildings.
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- The Fernsehturm…again. (What can I say, I really like this thing.)
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- Berlin Cathedral
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- Altes Museum
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- Statue #1 outside Altes Museum
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- Statue #2 outside Altes Museum.
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- This appears to be really big bowl out in front of the museum. I have no idea if there was any water inside.
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- Everybody loves the park in the summer! People sleeping everywhere.
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- This is the last one of Fernsehturm for now, I swear…
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- Neptunbrunnen
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- One of three ladies around Neptune.
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- A second one.
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- Mighty Neptune himself.
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- The whole fountain.
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- Rotes Rathaus, I believe.
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- Indeed, it is!
4 Responses to “Berlin Tourist”
Hey, Chad, I really liked the tour. I’m looking forward to seeing it myself next summer. It appears that Berlin does not have any hills or mountains around it. Is that true? Having always lived in the shadow of mountains, that must be strange. Do you use architectural references to know which direction you are going like we use mountains? I loved your self portrait. The jeans look bagging–are you losing weight due to the bike riding?
Yes, Berlin is more or less flat. That makes biking a lot easier compared to Southern California. Since there are no mountains to use for navigation, most people use the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) at Alexanderplatz for reference since it is the tallest structure in Berlin. Sorry to disappoint, but the jeans are probably just baggy. I’ve only had the bike for a week now, and part of that last week I was sick at home, so I don’t think there’s been enough riding to see any changes yet. But I would’t know either way since I don’t have a scale to weigh myself.
The pics of the Bundestag chamber from the third floor are sick! I think north of Nuremberg is for the most part flat if I remember correctly. If you go to Amsterdam you REALLY learn what flat is all about. Kansas has more dimension and I am not even kidding. Oh except Holland has endless fields of tulips and other farms to look at.
Chad you will likely lose weight there, they just don’t have as much sugar, fat, or salt in their food as we do here. This includes when you eat out. Does not include McDonald’s or BK though
In the end I think it’s all the walking you do there as well. Especially if you are out and about seeing stuff. I drop about 10 every time I go to Europe and I eat and drink quite happily while there.
Any thoughts about other places you are contemplating exploring? Bavaria? Holland?
It’s true I’m walking a lot more, or biking. It was actually kind of weird the last time I was in a car (which was the taxi back home from Tresor). I know my soda consumption has gone waaaay down since I got here, the main reason being that it’s just too expensive to buy drinks with lunch. In America, the drink was usually included with lunch and came with free refills (which was every day). Here, a schwarma in flatbread sandwich costs 2,80€ while a 12oz bottle of Coke costs another 2,50€! Nobody buys drinks during lunch–we just eat, then go back to the office where they provide huge bottles of water for everyone (plus tea and coffee).
As for future destinations, I haven’t given it much thought yet since 1) there’s still plenty to see right here and 2) I still have a few other things to worry about (like getting a permanent apartment and figuring out my finances) before I can plan ahead for new outings. I would love to go to Holland and Bavaria, and even get over to France, Austria, and Italy if possible. Holland is not far from Bremen, I’m told, so maybe I can make a trip with my friends out there. That would be extra-fun!