Further exploration into Berlin: East and West

Since there is so much history behind Berlin I wanted to take some time to walk around the city a bit. Much effort was made to differentiate the two sides of the city during the construction of the wall and up until its fall. Therefore the architecture of the city was developed differently as well as how the roads and transportation were laid out. This fact is starting to slowly change as all of the city becomes more developed in terms of real estate and housing. It's all slowly becoming more "gentrified" as they say, but so is every other major metropolis in the "developing" world.

Noticing the West side of the city is a bit small corridors and more classical European housing style that you might find in Amsterdam or Paris.

East

Can be characterized by much wider streets and the tram runs throughout this part of town as the tracks have been there already. I walked down Karl Marx Allee from Alexanderplatz. It is quite a nice street and shows some of the communist architecture. I took the tram up to the northern part of the city and found a Sunday market in which I would later buy a couple of cool tote bags as well as some old Deutschemarks. 

Karl Marx Allee

This is more something I would expect from the East side, the block style housing.

A pic from the market.

To round out the history tour I went walking around the Brandenburger Tor. This was very near the center of the Third Reich’s bunkers. There is also a marking for Hitler’s Bunker – its now comprised of a car park as well as a children’s playground. I took the liberty of disgracing it.

This is the Brandenburg Gate, a very long standing structure in Berlin.

This is my pee roughly on top of the Führer bunker.

This is a monumental structure to the Jews killed in WWII.

All in all a good trip to Berlin, I really would love to go back and spend more time. A week gives you a kind of taste but not really a proper bite. 

Herr Walch and co.

Part of my time in Berlin was also spend with Raul Walch (www.raulwalch.net). Super chill guy living in the Kreuzberg (where the hipsters thrive, though he begs to differ). Here's some pics of his place, he's been living in the same spot for about 10 years. It's really nice and central location - really helpful.

Onto Oranienstraße 33

A nice setup with lots of books.

Raul does photography frequently.

Raul's just gotten back from Japan for a 3 months or so residency. He's got a lot of little treasures lying around.

One day I helped Raul a bit to move some of his stuff from his old studio to new. We rented what is the equivalent of a uhaul but soo much less hassle. Not to mention that they use a way cooler logo.

Its like 5€ or something per hour and pay for gas.

One of Raul's works, not sure if it still runs.

This is like a freezone where some bums call their home. Lots of hub smoking and the like taking place there I think. It's directly across the street from the old place.

After getting the things out we delivered a kind of portable kitchen to Raul's buddies who have just gotten a new place near Mitte. Raul has been doing these things for some time, its a modular kitchen that can be easily transported and setup anywhere. It runs on a gas tank so no reason to worry about the electricity. 

Dudes setting up the kitchen. The found this place for a crazy deal and have started rennovating and tearing out walls and ceilings.

Overall Raul and his peeps are super chill dudes, looking forward very much to our next meeting.

Famously, Germany's "Weihnachtsmarkt"

The term basically translates to Christmas market - and damn is there a lot of them. That and mulled wine. Which I rather like so thats alright. And not to mention when you buy the wine they normally give you a mug that goes with it. It is super sweet but 1 or 2 cups ain't bad, then simply switch to the 3.5€ beers.

This is one of the main markets to find, though they are literally everywhere. Every neighborhood has one - every part of town. Festive lot those Berliners.

Found a weiner finally, got too excited and took a bite before I got the pic off. Thats a really nice mustard, and curry catchup. Not to be confused with Katsup, or curywurst for that matter. Which I never tried unfortunately. Moments later I would spill some mustard on my nice jacket - it blended well with the hummos that i spilled in London.

These guys tore it up moments later with a xmas tune.

Here's a nice view down the isle. Lots of small nicknacks and festive food here. I got Gran a santa cause she collects them - only about 5€.

There's a ferris wheel.

Fernsehturm opposite.

Parting pic: Here's a really drunk dude trying to skate.

Overall it was nice to walk around here, at least just to see what exactly the popular Christmas thing was to do in Berlin. I could successfully cross off a few things off of my list as well - bratwurst and a few xmas presents down.

The Museums of Berlin

During my week stay in Berlin I managed about 8 museums and art spaces. There's quite a bit happening with something like 600 galleries in the city alone. I saw most of the major ones including: Kunste Werk, Hamburger Bahnoff, Martin Gropius Bau, The Bauhaus Archive, Museum of World Cultures. I did not enter all but most of the good shows I saw.

On the way to the Bauhaus there is this relic of WWII one of the train stations used to deport older people to the camps. Pretty creepy in the fog.

Bauhaus Archive

Theres a giant forest in the middle of the city.

The following day I went around Checkpoint Charlie. This is close to the center of the city "Mitte" and nearby is the Wall and next to that is Martin Gropius Bau.

Here is the Berlin Wall. It's the last remaining stretch still up. Beside it there is a musem setup by the German government called the Topography of Terror. This details the entire history of the Nazi Party up to and including the fall of Hitler and the Reich. 

Next was Christoph Schlingenseif - really big player in German Art/Political movement. He has died a few years ago. At Kunste Werk they are now holding a giant retrospective of his work. He works mostly with Video and Installation pieces. Very extensive. Much of it I did not fully comprehend as it enters far into german cultural and socio-policial spheres. 

These folks are prescribed to sit on these high tree thingys throughout the run of the exhibition. 

This was nice, a kind of chair for elderly then installed is a video which an audience of one can see. 

There were easily like 30 different videos between small screens projections and tv monitors. The guy was extremely productive.

Outside of the museum he has a kind of protest piece that talks about the poor treatment to African migrants to Germany.

Filler pic of the river - been thinking about them alot recently.

Lastly I made a short trip to the Hamburger Bahnoff. This actually used to be an old train station, as it's name refers to. This is situated next to the newly (within the last 10 years) Hauptbahnoff, Berlin's central station. The museum houses lots of contemporary art, there was a big group show on when I went. Lots of Twombly and Beuys.

This was the great hall of the station. The woman standing in the front was reenacting a piece by Tino Sehgal.

That's about all the museums I visited, quite a long post but thanks for looking!