Berlin heute: Prenzlauer Berg

Showing posts with label Prenzlauer Berg. Show all posts

Remember

A cross memorializes victims at the Wall Memorial near Bernauer Straße. Such a strange time in history and it wasn't really so long ago. I'm linking this one with Tuesday Treasures.

An imposing statue of Käthe Kollwitz stands right in the middle of Kollwitz Platz in Prenzlauerberg. There are tons of cute cafes and restaurants right around here and if you're lucky enough to be in Berlin in the springtime, you'll find an abundance of cherry blossoms lining the square.

This sculpture is both of and by Kollwitz. I really love her work. The people always look so ordinary, but somehow that's what touches me about them. I've shown another one of her sculpture selfies here.

Football fans unite!

A colorful place for football fans to gather! I happened upon this fun mural during one of my walks around town last November. I really tried to live it up in the weeks before I started my new job. Sadly, I haven't been out and about too much in the new year, so it will be archive shots for awhile longer. For more murals, take a look at Mural Monday.

Inspired by a great

I found this colorful mural at the Picasso Elementary School in Prenzlauerberg. Do you see inspiration from the great artist himself? It certainly is eclectic and eye-catching! For more murals, take a look at Monday Mural.

Park tour

We're back to Ernst Thälmann Park. It is actually not the prettiest of places, there was a lot of graffiti and vandalism, but I managed to find some nice things to show you during my stroll. These round benches must be popular during the summer months.

The pond and the vegetation around it was also really pretty with all the autumnal color in the trees and being reflected back.

And a last quick look at the leaves in close-up. Hope you've enjoyed the park. You'll find more reflections at Weekend Reflections.

PS: Don't forget to take a look at Halcyon Travels for more from my trip to Israel.

Larger than life

Here is a likeness of the man himself, Ernst Thälmann. It's only unfortunate that his life and death became a kind of propaganda story for the communist party of the DDR. I am not sure he would have agreed with all of the practices and policies of the German communist party that re-emerged after the war.

I also find it unfortunate that his memorial is covered with graffiti and broken beer bottles. Perhaps he'll never get the respect he deserves as a man who lived and died for his ideals.

PS: Don't forget to take a look at Halcyon Travels for more from my trip to Israel.

Memorial park

Ernst Thälmann was a German communist party leader who was arrested by the Gestapo as a political dissident in 1933. He spent more than ten years imprisoned under the Nazis, where he was most likely tortured, before being assassinated at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944. Check back tomorrow to see the centerpiece of this park which bears his name. Until then, you'll see more signs at Signs, Signs.

PS: Don't forget to take a look at Halcyon Travels for more from my trip to Israel.

December theme day: Shop window

Berlin has so many wonderful shops and most windows are decorated for the season now. Despite that, I couldn't resist showing this unique tailor-made jeans shop window. The combination of the funny shop name, the bright colors inside, the reflection and most of all that bright pink bench makes for a perfect shot. Hope you enjoy it!

Today is my first day on the job. I hope working won't cut into my blogging time too much! Don't forget to check here for other variations on this month's theme.

Wasserturm

This lovely old water tower in Prenzlauerberg is a well-known landmark that most locals would recognize. The tower had good beginnings as a place for water to be stored and distributed to residents of the area, but later darker things happened here. It was used as a prison under the nazis and it is said prisoners were often tortured within the tower's walls.

Today the structure has been renovated and the floors are divided into apartments. The building is owned by the state, so there's a long wait-list to live inside the building. However, there have been reports of strange happenings and hauntings in some of the units. I'd love to take a look inside, haunted or not!

PS: Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Please eat a slice of pumpkin pie for me.

Chapel entrance

A perfect scene in black and white.

PS: Don't forget to stop by Halcyon Travels for a look at my recent trip to Israel.

Change of season

I love the wander through cemeteries at any time of year, but it feels especially poignant in the autumn. I love the way this grave was graced by one fallen leaf.

I was in Munich recently and did a few walking tours. On one of the tours, I met a Canadian lady from Ontario. She is a history teacher and usually comes to Germany with her school groups, but this time she was on her own. We got to talking and it turns out she lives not far from where my husband used to work in Toronto. When the tour was over, she gave me a lucky loonie. I feel bad, because I don't even know her name, but I am sure this loonie has already brought me some luck as I have a phone interview for a promising job tomorrow. Keep fingers and toes crossed for me. And don't forget to take a look at Halcyon Travels for pictures from my recent trip to Israel.

Bonanza!

There are two things I'm crazy for, golf and coffee. Ok, there are probably more than just two things...

Hope you enjoy this bit of reflection. For more, take a look at Weekend Reflections.

Take a seat

Remember the fire brigade station from last week? These benches are just to the right of all the garage doors. There was also a third bench, but it was occupied by some firefighters and I didn't dare to photograph them.

One Berlin

I was out and about around Bernauer Strasse recently. The street was a major dividing point in the old East and West days. Homes and churches were torn down here because they stood in the way of The Wall. Today there is a Wall Memorial that runs along a long stretch of the street. The Memorial shows what life was like in the divided city through photos and personal accounts.

Bernauer Strasse was one of the few places where Easterns and Westerners could "meet up" again. Here we see a mother and father lifting their twin babies high in the air so that family in the East would get to know them.

A Western couple was smart enough to bring a ladder, so they would have a better view of their loved ones in the East. I find it so hard to imagine what life must have been like for people then, and it's not even that long ago - only twenty-five years!

It's Monday again and you'll find more murals at Monday Mural.

Fire brigade

I love the bright red garage doors on this firehouse, but the cyclist crossing my path really makes the shot. Hope you are having a great weekend so far!

Storming the wall

A photo of East Berliners storming the Berlin Wall stands next to an a couple of old fragments of the Wall in the courtyard of the Pankow Museum. I just finished reading Anna Funder's book Stasiland. If you are interested in that period of history, it is an excellent read. Funder describes her personal interviews with both victims and collaborators of the DDR regime. The result is book of stories that will draw you in; I could hardly put it down.

Here's a better look at the photo. I can hardly imagine how these people felt. I wonder where they are today?

It's Monday again and you can get your weekly mural fix at Monday Mural.

Berlin heute