The Berlin Schönefeld airport....this used to be the main airport serving the Communist half of East Berlin during the divided era, whilst Tegel airport served West Berlin.
You know u've just landed in Germany, when every damn taxi around is a Merc !!!
Adarsh, Shiva and Krishna ....and some hardened snow !
Berliner Fernsehturm - the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz.Standing at 368 metres, it is a cool 40 metres taller than the Eiffel tower
Some of the other high-rises around Alexanderplatz
The view of Alexanderplatz from our balcony at Hotel Agon
The same view in the morning !
Berlin had turned into one large skating-rink, thanks to all the ice that had formed across the city !
The sidewalks were so slippery that it was almost impossible to walk
That's what you get when you cross an East German crow with a West German Dove :)
At a square near Alexanderplatz ...the temperatures were sub-zero that day !
"OK, agreed that the Germans are huge ....but who on earth would wear an XXXXXXXXL size ???"
The Alexanderplatz S-Bahn station in the backdrop of the TV Tower
The iconic tower was built in the late 1960's by the East Berlin Govt. as a show of Communist Power ...
.....and can be seen from any nook and corner of Berlin !
The Marienkirche or St.Mary's Church ....dating back to the 13th century, this is one of the oldest churches in Berlin !
Adarsh checking-out the frozen Neptune Fountain .....
The old and the new ...with about 700 years of age difference between them - Marienkirche and the TV Tower
Adarsh finds a spot unspoilt by ice and decides to relish it [ ...even if it is in the middle of the road ] :)
On the banks of the river Spree !
The 'Berliner Dom' or Berlin Cathedral !
The river Spree flowing along the Berliner Dom
When you can hitch-hike on floating ice, who'd want to swim in the freezing waters ??? [ thats how u differentiate the intelligent ducks from the rest :) ]
German works of art !
"That's a statue ..for God's sake" ;)
Tired after all the walking, we decided to sit and rest for while :)
The 'Old Museum' at the museum island
It pays to be a taxi driver in Germany, I guess :)
The most famous landmark of Berlin - the Brandenburg Gate !!!
Trying to bridge the gap between the Soviets and the Americans :)
The statue of Goddess Victoria on top of the Gate, was taken to Paris by Napoleon when he defeated the Prussians in 1806 ...8 years later the Prussians defeated the French and brought it back here and named this square as 'Pariser Platz' (Paris Square), mocking the French !
Hotel Adlon - charges around 15000 euros for a single night......and it was from one of its balconies that Michael Jackson notoriously held his baby out, back in 2002 !
The French Embassy at Pariser Platz
The building at the back is the Reichstag - the German Parliament !
The sprawling 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe'. It covers an area of 4.7 acres ...bang in the middle of the city !
Our guide Linus describing the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews of Germany
The memorial consists of 1000's of abstract blocks of concrete designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere to anyone who walks through it !
The blocks start out at ground level on the outer edges of the memorial, and then grow taller towards the middle !
Behind me is one of the most notorious spots of Berlin ..no, not the girl, but under where she stands, used to be Hitler's bunker, where he spent the last few days of his life, until he shot himself !
The location of the bunker is today hidden under an innocuous parking-lot in the middle of a posh residential locality, and had it not been for this board, no one would have even guessed !
The enormous headquarters of the former Nazi Luftwaffe (air-force) ! At its time, this was the largest office building in Europe with over 2000 rooms, and it was from here that the Nazis unleashed the terror of the Blitzkrieg ! The building continues to haunt Germans as it currently houses the German Tax Department ;)
During the years of East Germany, the Communists painted these contrived murals on the walls of the Luftwaffe Headquarters, depicting the society under Red rule ....
...where everyone is happy and satisfied whilst embracing Communism .... Yea, rite !!! :P
Krishna finds an interesting subject :)
Finally, the Berlin Wall !
Though the wall was extremely thin, it was virtually impregnable, as it used to be guarded by Communist Soldiers on Watch towers who wouldn't hesitate to shoot at anyone who dared to cross over from East to West !
The Western Side of the Wall ! A few decades ago, East Germans would have killed to be on this side of the Iron Curtain !
Check-point Charlie - named after the 3rd letter of the phonetic alphabet (after Alpha and Bravo). During the divided era, this was the border check-point between the American and the Soviet sectors of Berlin.
Checkpoint Charlie was an iconic symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of East and West, and for some East Germans - a gateway to freedom ! [Many daring escapes - some successful, some not .... had been carried out here]
Image of a Soviet Soldier looking on towards the American sector. On the reverse, is the same guy dressed up in American uniform !
The most famous sign-board in Berlin !
Krishna on the other side of the sign-board
Why's the German flag flying so low ?
Linus - our guide, makes a point ...at the Gendarmenmarkt square - proclaimed to be one of the most impressive squares in Berlin !
The French Cathedral at Gendarmenmarkt ...on the other side is an identical, yet slightly taller German Cathedral !
Having received ignominious responses to his German skills, Krishna decides not to speak, but merely greet everyone with a broad smile :)
The University of Berlin - founded in 1810 ! Albert Einstein used to be a professor here, before he fled to the US fearing Nazi oppression !
The square behind is the Bebelplatz, where in 1933, the infamous Nazi book-burning incident took place ! Over 20,000 books, that were deemed 'un-German' were destroyed here by Nazi youth groups !
A frozen 'Unter den Linden' boulevard. Named for its Linden trees, this is the grandest and most important boulevard in Berlin !
Statue of the Prussian king 'Frederick the Great' - one of the only persons to be named 'the Great' during his lifetime. It is said that he always wore a 'Red' coat during battle, so that his soldiers wouldn't make out if he was injured and bleeding ! [...and according to our guide, it was for a similar reason that Hitler always wore 'brown' pants ;) ]
The Neue Wache (New Guard House) - Originally built as a guardhouse for the nearby Prussian Palace, the building has been used as a war memorial since the 1930's.
Inside the Neue Wache
The 'Mother with her dead son' sculpture inside the Memorial
The river Spree on the edge of Museum Island
The Berliner Dom on Museum Island, and on the right - the TV Tower
We came across this massive protest march against the Israeli attacks on Gaza
It was surprising to see so many Palestinians or Palestinian sympathisers on the streets of Berlin .....
....accompanied by hoardes of German riot police !
My German may not be all that great, but I guess that reads "Stop the Massacre in Gaza. Breach the Blockade in Gaza!"
A boat cutting through the icy waters of river Spree
The Berliner Dom as seen through the gaps of a modern arcade
Reichstag - the German Parliament building ! This was mysteriously burnt down in 1933, and led to Hitler taking over dictatorial powers ! It was never officially established as to who caused the fire ! [ Yea rite, the bloody Nazis did it ! ]
The glass dome on top of the Reichstag is open to public for free from morning till late night
The dome is designed such that the Parliamentarians in the assembly below, only need to look up to see where the real power lies [ ...in the people ] !
At the summit of the Glass Dome !
The Dome presents a wonderful panoramic view of the city of Berlin
Shiva, Krishna, Adarsh and I having our own Parliamentary sessions ...on top of the Reichstag !
A lit-up Brandenburg Gate !
Potsdamer Platz - Up until 2 decades ago, this area largely used to be a No-man's land with the Berlin wall passing through its heart.
With the fall of the Wall, came massive sky-scrapers like these shooting up from the desolate land !
These ladies were standing there to receive a Dentists' Convention !
Inside the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden !
I went for a guided Pub Crawl tour with these bunch of party animals !
With some of the Hungarian friends I jammed up with
Betty, Ben and Imran
The Alexander Platz station at night
Day 2 - Breakfast at Hotel Agon
"Excuse me, mate ...but I guess your jam is dripping into your corn flakes :) " !!!
One of our rooms at Hotel Agon
The TV Tower - built by the East German authorities in the 1960's, this is the 4th tallest free-standing structure in Europe..and was meant to be a symbol of Communist power - that cannot be missed from the Western side of the city !
Krishna at the viewing gallery on top of the TV Tower
The shadow of the tower falls on the city !
At the bottom-right corner, u'll notice an S-Bahn train cruising towards West Berlin
The 'Berliner Dom' as seen from the tower
Schloss Charlottenburg (or CharlottenBurg Palace) - The largest palace in Berlin and built during the 17th Century
The palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte - wife of the Prussian King Freidrich I !
Heavily bombed during WW2, much of the Palace was restored to its original glory in the years following the Great War !
The Palace was inspired by the 'Palace of Versailles', but is much smaller in size
In the background, under the statue, notice Shiva eagerly waiting for his turn to be photographed :)
Planning a winter trip to Berlin ? ...don't forget to pack your skating shoes !
The royal gardens behind the Palace ....again, this was inspired by the Gardens at Versailles !
Inspite of it being sunny, the ice wouldn't melt !
Shiva, in one of his many classic poses !
Adarsh, I and a frozen lake behind the palace
From BC15 to Berlin ....its been almost 5 long years :)
Walking on the frozen lake !
Hard to believe that this would have been liquid water under normal circumstances !
Balancing on the slippery ice !
Part of the Royal Gardens
On the bench .....
....and above it !
Heading back from the Royal Gardens
On our way back to the city, we stopped by at the posh Kurfuerstendamm boulevard !
In the 1930's, most of the Jewish Businesses on this street were confiscated by the Nazis and the Jewish owners eliminated !
A Deutsch Bahn train cuts through the shopping district
The area around the boulevard hosts some of Berlin's most upmarket stores and malls
The boulevard leads up to the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church... that was bombed out in 1943 during WW2 !
The ruins of the bombed-out Kaiser Wilhelm Church (on the right) and the new spire (on the left) which is currently in operation.
