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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 16, 2019 21:22:25 GMT
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Post by fumobici on Dec 17, 2019 1:12:57 GMT
Yay, a new Berlin thread. I've been putting off visiting for so long, I'd like a good spur to go.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 5:34:48 GMT
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Post by bjd on Dec 17, 2019 6:43:37 GMT
Great! Lucky you to be in Berlin, even at this dreary time of year. I just looked up where Rosenthaler Platz is -- right in an interesting part of the city.
I like the bike helmet ad.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 6:56:11 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 17, 2019 6:58:48 GMT
The Invalidenstrasse bridge info board looks like a direct cut and paste from Wikipedia, including the little reference numbers. Those blue pipes may be temporary, I don't think so, but there are numerous blue and pink pipes that run around the city anyway. They have a reason for being there - www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-24773752/berlin-s-pink-pipes-what-are-they |
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 10:59:01 GMT
I have read since then that they are temporary drainage pipes. I have not seen any pink ones.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 14:07:01 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 17:15:22 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2019 18:13:19 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 18, 2019 6:42:50 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 18, 2019 14:08:43 GMT
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Post by bjd on Dec 18, 2019 15:22:41 GMT
When I went to Berlin in April 2008, Alexanderplatz was indeed rather empty but there was a fountain, statues of Marx and Engels as well as a socialist-realist worker and a peasant. Two years later, in June 2010, the statues were gone but there was a beer garden. I don't remember any of the big stores and buiildings but it's possible that my memory is failing me and that I didn't take any pictures of them.
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 18, 2019 15:42:45 GMT
A couple of years ago when I first went to Zambia, Mrs M had a conference/meeting thing in Berlin. She got off her train at Alexanderplatz and got herself completely lost. She was supposed to turn one way after coming up to ground level but turned the other.
She ended up ringing me in Lusaka to ask me where she was.
I had to guide her in using google maps.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 19, 2019 9:10:18 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 19, 2019 16:00:15 GMT
"I struck out in a new direction the next day just as the morning was beginning."
You must have had a lie in. Considering sunrise is about 8.15am(?) that photo looks like 8.37am(ish).
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Post by casimira on Dec 19, 2019 16:45:04 GMT
The first set of pics are not showing on my computer. However, the second set are fabulous.
I have heard from friends how much they love Berlin and expressed how much they feel I would enjoy it which is very much in evidence from your report.
There is so much allure to visit there some fine day.
Thank you for sharing your visit with us.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 19, 2019 19:58:08 GMT
"I struck out in a new direction the next day just as the morning was beginning." You must have had a lie in. Considering sunrise is about 8.15am(?) that photo looks like 8.37am(ish). Yes, even though I got up before 6am every day, I had to wait and wait to get started. The hotel didn't start breakfast before 7am, which I found very late for an Accor hotel. And after breakfast I had to sit in my room watching the news on TV until it got light. That's one of the drawbacks of December visits in Europe. But you know that. The trams and U-Bahn start running at 4am, though, which is great. In lazy Paris we have to wait until 5:30. |
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 19, 2019 21:04:49 GMT
I stay as often as I can in an Accor hotel and the last 4 nights I've been in one, including where I am tonight. A lot of advantages, not the least being earning points that I use from time to time.
They are certainly a bit of a cut and paste chain but I think recently they've been varying the standard to buy/use more characterful places. I know you like to stay in the 'Styles' of which I've stayed in precisely zero. Not much for any reason as they aren't usually where I want to be.
The Mercure, Ibis and Ibis Budget are my usual places though a couple of times when a bit desperate it has been F1.
On this journey from Spain the Germany I've also been itching to get going in a morning but this 8.15/8.30am sunrise thing is a pain.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 20, 2019 14:12:29 GMT
A lot of advantages, not the least being earning points that I use from time to time. They are certainly a bit of a cut and paste chain but I think recently they've been varying the standard to buy/use more characterful places. I know you like to stay in the 'Styles' of which I've stayed in precisely zero. Yes, I am a big collector of the points. The reason that I prefer the Ibis Styles a lot of the time is precisely because they make an effort for each hotel to be unique in the way it is decorated. Sometimes there might be a railroad theme or a fishing theme or something like that. The Berlin Mitte hotel had not gone overboard in design, but it has a very disturbing trompe l'oeil carpet in the corridors. And yes, I did actually have to bend down to verify it by touch when I was there. Since Ibis Styles includes the breakfast in the rate, I have noticed that it often works out cheaper than a normal Ibis with the breakfast added.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 20, 2019 14:28:10 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 20, 2019 14:35:36 GMT
(Yes, strange carpet. And I don't eat breakfast until at least 10.30am as I'm not hungry till later. Anyway, carry on.)
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Dec 20, 2019 15:45:30 GMT
Superb report Kerouac, you certainly packed a lot in. Hamburg is the only German city that I've visited and I found it very impressive, even though I was there for training (at the Olympus centre learning how to run a blood grouping analyser)...got to explore a lot...would love to visit Berlin. Altho my Polish friend Zofia says that I'm not sophisticated enough for Berlin.
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Post by mich64 on Dec 20, 2019 15:55:38 GMT
Very interesting, extremely urban with an industrial appearance. This report makes me more and more intrigued to visit.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 20, 2019 16:02:07 GMT
Superb report Kerouac, you certainly packed a lot in. Hamburg is the only German city that I've visited and I found it very impressive, even though I was there for training (at the Olympus centre learning how to run a blood grouping analyser)...got to explore a lot...would love to visit Berlin. Altho my Polish friend Zofia says that I'm not sophisticated enough for Berlin. Your Polish friend Zofia knows nothing!
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Post by bjd on Dec 20, 2019 16:03:54 GMT
Zofia is full of nonsense, Cheery. Most of Berlin is not very sophisticated, on the contrary, it's a very easy city to feel good in.
I never went up into the Reichstag dome either -- at the time you didn't reserve, just stood in line and I don't like to stand in line.
We got a street map from the owner of the hostel we stayed in.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 20, 2019 16:14:25 GMT
I had a street map from a "Berlin weekend" guide that I got at FNAC, but it had too much big print showing the location of things that didn't really interest me and covering the locations that I was looking for. I probably should have just popped into the tourist office at the train station (and at several other locations).
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2019 6:52:14 GMT
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Post by bjd on Dec 21, 2019 7:00:40 GMT
My reaction to that Holocaust memorial was the same as yours. It didn't have any emotional impact at all. There is a much smaller and more touching sculpture at the old Jewish cemetery in Mitte.
Interesting that the British embassy street is closed off like that. It's usually the American embassies that become bunkers.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 21, 2019 15:33:48 GMT
Certain harbingers of the future frighten me. I think we all might become androids if certain firms have their way. i.postimg.cc/L536fyr0/Berlin_2019_183.jpgI arrived at Potsdamer Platz, the site of the largest construction project in Berlin. The wall ran right through the centre, and since the area had been completely flattened during the war, it remained completely empty on both sides until the wall came down. And that left a huge site for new buildings. Apparently, this created much controversy because the space was divided out among just four companies (Daimler-Benz, Sony, Beisheim and Park Kolonnaden, which made an absolute killing off their creations while everybody else was shut out. In spite of all of the disputes, there is a general consensus that the new buildings are quite nice. i.postimg.cc/9MwPvPYJ/Berlin_2019_185.jpgI have my own doubt about the pertinence of some of the things that have been put there. i.postimg.cc/KjnPYZVT/Berlin_2019_188.jpgAnd for the holiday season, I think this extremely ugly plastic sled run was not indispensable. i.postimg.cc/mr5NXpCP/Berlin_2019_189.jpgThe new museum area looks like was designed by a video game company. i.postimg.cc/Nfc8zH9k/Berlin_2019_190.jpgI was just passing through, so no big deal. Onward. During my first trip to Berlin, this site impressed me quite a bit. Now it seems totally ignored. i.postimg.cc/yxqhBJfB/Berlin_2019_192.jpgi.postimg.cc/L63kK8jK/Berlin_2019_193.jpgThe world moves on, so this whatever-it-is was built behind the ruin. i.postimg.cc/6QyCvVgt/Berlin_2019_194.jpgi.postimg.cc/y8fFxpfL/Berlin_2019_195.jpgI learned the planetary population as I passed by the ministry of whoever counts this stuff. The counter advances quite rapidly. i.postimg.cc/8C9MBJgW/Berlin_2019_196.jpg
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