Berliners are known for their affection towards sausages. Especially for the Currywurst, the #1 fast food in the city. You must try this one at least once, and now you can even do that without traveling to Germany.
Daniels Counter writes about Berlin Snack, a place in London where you can grab Currywursts, Bratwurst, Knackwurst and other traditional German snacks.
This is the third part of this project, and the last for the time being. But if you took nice shots of other graffiti and street art, and want to share them with us – please do.
Although we did choose the best, finest looking, most intriguing and/or most interesting artworks from our point of view, what you saw here was really no more than a tiny fragment of the real thing. Check out the previous parts as well.
Berlin Graffiti Project
Berlin Graffiti Project II
Click the images to enlarge (and get into the slideshow mode)
When the communist era was over and the Berlin Wall came down, the graffiti street art was already strongly embeded into Berlin’s culture. Though considered by some as pure vandalism, it continued to flourish and win the youngsters’ penchant.
The monumental East Side Gallery was a way to preserve this special cultural entity, but it didn’t stop people from creating new graffiti, sometimes on the expense of the works made by some of the world’s finest artists, most of which were partly defaced.
Many people come to see the official Gallery; most, don’t even suspect that on the back side of this Berlin Wall remain, there are some stunning works of art. We decided to include a few of them in this project, as well as some photos of “the hand”, and anarchist symbol which can be found all over Berlin, in many strange places. Read the rest of this entry »
Part 1 of a 3-part project: the best pictures of graffiti and street art in Berlin.
There must be tens of thousands of graffiti and graffiti-like works, scattered all over the city of Berlin. You can find them on walls, buildings, pavements, and ever cars. Some where made by famous artists, like the wonderful East Side Gallery artworks. Other by anonymous artists and anarchists. Read the rest of this entry »
Berlin isn’t a “City of Lights” like Paris is. True, it is known for it’s lively nightlife, but but only on weekends. Actually, on most week nights it is rather dark. But this only made these festival days last October even more exciting. Here’s a taste of what we saw (click on the images to enlarge / for a slideshow). Click here for more about the Berlin’s Festival of Light.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is a protestant church, located at the Breitscheidplatz, one end of the famous Kurfürstendamm boulevard, in the center of former West Berlin. The church was damaged in the war, and left in ruins as a monument to peace and reconciliation.
My personal favorite Ostalgie item, as I mentioned before, is the Ampelmann, the man in the traffic lights of East Germany (“Ampel” is “traffic-light” in German).
My first encounter with the Ampelmann was actually in a traffic-light. I immediately liked that cute darling. And then I found out about his oh so naïve and sweet history, but also about its outrageous commercialization. I mean, I really wanted an Ampelmann bag, but not at these prices. So I settled for a woolen hat and shirt, and a little green man for my key chain. I also got a small book elaborating on the history of the man, the brand and the various products.
The Ampelmann was created by the traffic psychologist (what a weird profession, I’d say) Karl Peglau, in 1961. The rationale was to combat the danger of road accidents by using appealing symbols, since “road users react more quickly to appealing symbols” (well, maybe. I don’t believe it would have worked here). Read the rest of this entry »
The communist era is heavily commemorated in Berlin, with memorials, museums, special tours and more, scattered all over the city. We have already mentioned and elaborated about the Berlin Wall, and mentioned the sweet and sour issue of German Unification, but there still remains a lot to be said.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Spree is the river that passes through
The TV Tower (Fernsehturm) on Alexanderplatz is, as mentioned before, enormous. It can be seen from virtually everywhere in Berlin, and actually, it’s a very good navigation mark. It was built in 1969, and is 365 meters high (so every schoolboy could remember its height, you see…). Apart from fulfilling the former GDR’s technical need for a separate broadcasting system, it became an architectural and political symbol.
