Berlin Redux

Last weekend, a friend I made at Oktoberfest visited from Darmstadt, and showing him around gave me an excuse to wander around some of Berlin's more famous sites and take photos. It was a beautiful clear sunny day with blue skies (unbelievable!). We started at the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch of the Berlin wall still standing, on the banks of the Spree between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. It has been painted all along its length by various artists with a range of images, here's a sampling:
GET HUMAN

Kissy kissy

A different kissy kissy...one of the more famous images

Shadows in the night

At the end of the East Side Gallery is the Oberbaumbrücke, a beautiful brick bridge over the Spree, which the U1 train runs across, as did Lola in Lola Rennt:

And the view was wonderful with the unseasonable sunniness and blue skies:

We ate a delicious Indian lunch, with real spice in the lamb vindaloo (!), and then made our way to Mitte and the Brandenburg Gate. As we walked along Unter den Linden, it slowly dawned on me that Parisen Platz would be totally overrun because of the Mauerfall festivities, and indeed it was:

We shouldered through the crowds to the other side, en route to the Holocaust Memorial, and found the "dominoes" that had been set up between Potsdamer Platz and the Parliament Building along where the wall once stood:


They were each decorated by artists, schoolchildren, etc. and were going to be knocked down Monday night. It was really fun to see all the different designs, and to pause and think about the historical moments behind Monday's celebrations. After checking out the Holocaust Memorial (kind of ruined by the Mauerfall crowds running rampant), we headed over to the Reichstag, beautiful in the fading light:

then behind it to see the tail end of the domino line. The Parliament building looked beautiful by the water:

Afterwards, as it was getting dark, we made our way to Kunsthaus Tacheles. I couldn't believe I hadn't been yet! It's a big building in Mitte where a bunch of artists squat and have studios and put on exhibitions and sell work and such. We wandered the courtyard, where there were several small galleries, indoor and out, and which was littered with sculptures large and small. Round a corner at the back, in a quiet and empty area, I found a big iron sculpture lit from below:

and two mysterious mini-igloos glowing from within:

It was really neat. I will definitely go back, especially if I can figure out how to get inside the actual building!
A bit worn out, I finally headed home, where I rested up a bit before cooking dinner with Celia. It was a good Berlin day!
Bis bald,
D.