Travel Album Germany



	Germany 2

Berlin isn't a place to praise ancient architects nor to enjoy beautiful scenery but rather to analyze forms of governance system. Hence, this Reichstag Building in Berlin, being the Parliament of Germany, to me, has deeper meaning than other vainglorious victory squares or triumph monuments.
The open igloo of the parliament is quite symbolic. It represents the transparency a parliament should have. Open to every general public. People can look down on the parliamentary session. If the MPs fail to remember who they are working for, look up, it's for the people.
		I lived a day life and a night life in every 24 hr day I stayed in Berlin; woke up at 0.0 and slept at 6.0, woke up at 12.0 and slept at 19.0. Crazy! but def not the only one coz Berline is a never ending party city! It was so COOL and FUN!! Cheap sexy party city, they did live up the name!
			There are so many venues I haven't been to, and the TV tower is one of them! Oh, it's like I'll need to come back again. =)
		The City is so free and you can feel it from the air and the people around. Oh, I just enjoy it so much!
Communist Parliament	<- The German initially planned to demolish the building. But if you can't tolerate the difficult past or opposing opinions, then it may be again a dictatorship.
Berlin Wall, splitting the country, and even a city, in halves, while each side went thru extremely different political system and direction. Simply said the Berlin Wall is just a wall has over simplified the situation. It is a strip of land where shooting order were given for un-authorized trespassers. The Wall marked the Cold War era during its first construction in 1961 to the final collapse in 1989 and significantly symbolized the stretch of the Iron Curtain between the Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc. Being able to be in Berlin and understand the history. It was quite emotional to watch youtube of people finally could cross the wall and subsequently Germany united as one county a year later on Oct 3, 1990.		Memorial to the Murdered Jew of Europe Designed by Peter Eisenman and inaugurated in 2005, the memorial consists of a 19,000 square meter site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The site are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere. To me, the site resembles the Jew cemetery in Prague which the resting place levelled vertically. I interpret and condole this site as the resting place for the 6 million victims during WWII. The memorial locates across the government quarter and the business district, to remind them the massacre should never happen again. Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer St.
This wall is one of the brainwashing propagandas used by the GDR government depicting a prosperous and carefree life under socialist rule. Farmers, workers, politicians and businessmen were all happy. However, in front of this wall		laid the Monument to the 17 June 1953 uprising. On the ground is a photo of GDR citizens protesting against their living conditions. 125 or more East Germans who were killed on that day by the GDR army.
Book Burning Monument		This glass plate set into the Bebelplatz, giving a view of 7m x 7m empty bookcases, commemorates the book burning on May 10, 1933. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books, including works by Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors. Ironically, a line of Heinrich Heine's play from 1821 which is now engraved on the ground, stating "Where they burn books, eventually they will also burn humans", foreshadowed the intolerance of the Nazi would eventually killing people. However, history repeats itself in many other region of the world. As a scholar, it's really painful to comprehend...
This car park, once was Führerbunker - the "shelter for the leader", was quoted as where the hell's gate opened coz 'tis where Hitler and wife committed suicide and cemented. To avoid the site becoming a Neo-Nazi shrine, the location of the bunker was left anonymous and unmarked. We, as civilian, should learn what not to happen in future and while someone and some actions shall never be remembered...
Neue Wache, now being the Monument to the Victims of War and Tyranny		Inside the Neue Wache lies a replica scripture of Mother with her Dead Son. - designed by Käthe Kollwitz whose son and grandson died in WWI and WWII. This sculpture is directly under the oculus, and so is exposed to the rain, snow and cold of the Berlin climate, symbolising the suffering of civilians during World Wars. "There has been enough of dying! Let not another man fall!"
Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by Karl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791.
	The gate situates at Pariser Platz; with the quadriga on top facing the French embassy, resulting in triumph/ victory over Paris, France.	Berliner Dom
Now the gate is surround by block-built embassies. Personally I think the gate has been over shadowed...
Berlin Victory Column (Berlin Siegessäule)		TV Tower at Alexanderplatz. A night club I haven't yet visited.
State Opera House at Bebelplatz.	Museum Island ->
	Hotel Adlon, where late King of Pop performed baby dropping.
SchloBgarten		I was laying at the lawn of Schloss Bellevue, later figured out it's the residence of President of Germany! Good that didn't get caught. =)	Checkpoint Charlie, the original look.
Kaiser William Memorial Church, locates at Breitscheid Platz. Built in 1890s but was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. Now, preserved as it is as a memorial hall.		Things had changed. This board is the only one thing original from Checkpoint Charlie, which is the boarder crossing between the US-side Germany and Russia-side Germany.
	The trams route on the pedestrian street. You can be easily hit by them...	I had quite a lot chickens and Kebabs. Yummy!
Gay and Lesbian Festival. cool~			I had quite lot detours and unnecessary trips due to this bike competition.
	Somewhere I stayed. The environment is quite good.	Strike at Humboldt Uni! They sell books once burnt across at Bebelplatz.
Berlin is rushing up with re-modernizing the city after 90% destroyed in WWII and minimal development during the Cold War era. Quite some historical buildings were covered under big canvas pending for renovation. 'Tis famous one at Bebelplatz and while there are some others at Potsdamer Platz.		It is either the Französischer Dom or the Deutscher Dom coz they both look the same. Franz Dom was built in 1701 to woo French immigrants while Deutscher Dom was to mitigate internal jealousy =) All the domes were destroyed during war, while the statues were preserved and stored elsewhere, so you can see the color difference.

		Potsdamer Platz, it was totally laid waste during WWII and then left desolate during the Cold War era. While the Berlin Wall bisected the platz (square), it became a no-man's strip. But since the fall of the Wall it has risen again as a glittering new heart for the city. Now emerging as the most visible symbol of the new Berlin. As a matter of fact, the buildings are not yet packed like NYC, HK, or other major cities. but thinking of just a mere 20 years development after the unification, the pace is amazing.
Potsdam After an hour Zone C S-Bahn ride, I arrived the City of Potsdam. In Germany, the city has the status as Windsor has in England as it was the residence of the Prussian kings until 1918. Potsdam is where the Sanssouci Palace locates (right pic). It's a huge site! Interesting enough, "Sans sourci" is French, meaning "carefree". It's in 1685 Louis XIV forced conversion to Catholicism. As result, the religious freedom offered by the Potsdam attracted immigration from France, Russia, and rest of Europe in 1685, and hence, the city grew!
Chinese Tea House		Sanssouci, summer palace for Frederick the Great. the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power, so named it "free".
	Back in the 17th century, Chinese were luxurious and the fashion at the time. Guess the era will come back in the 21st century. =P	Fortunately Sanssouci was unscratched during WWII and was preserved by the East Germany Gov't. But all else were left neglected...	Hope no one caught I was stealing peach, j/k.
New Chamber and historic windmill
Archery statue at the middle of Palace Park, must be modelling me...!		Orangery Palace