A Visit to the Retail Museum Berlin

After trending ourselves around Berlin for Gallery Weekend we decided to stop into the Retail Museum called "Mall of Berlin". Admission is free and it is open on Saturdays, but not on Sundays (NOTHING is open on Sundays). This museum was so big that after about an hour my feet began to hurt. So we hopped on U-Bahn #2 for a direct ride to our neighborhood just in time to prepare dinner.

Getting a bit crazy at The Wall

East Side Gallery in Berlin was one of the sights I was not going to miss. So what if the temperatures were ridiculously cold with an Arctic front in April? So what if it was intermittently drizzling? So what if the wind blew the cold into every available crack in my clothing? We were there and I was enraptured!

Walk with me... climb with me... ESCAPE!

There was something about the grit of random, messy graffiti mixed with wild fluctuations in artistic style and the grim reminder of incarceration that captured all of my attention. And given the weather, there weren't too many distracting busloads of tourists to contend with.

Not to be construed as a statement, but the length of the wall with murals was fenced off. Looking at a Google images search, the murals may have become badly defaced in the past. So many motivations for walls.

Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain)

We stumbled across Neptunbrunnen on our first day in Berlin. It was a dark, drizzly day but the fountain was an ignorant participant of the weather. And it was a dark fountain of the sea. Beneath Neptune, the reigning god of the sea, were men and babies in struggle and agitation. Drama, movement, action - but dark.

Victoriapark

Is it a park? a monument? or a grand viewpoint? Yes!

Within a short walking distance from our flat is beautiful park with a grand monument high on the hill. Viktoriapark is well-planned and executed and complete with its own artificial waterfall and a grand view of Berlin. What's not to love?

Holocaust Mahnmal (Holocaust Memorial)

Holocaust Mahnmal is installed on 4.7 acres - that is BIG! Officially, it is a Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is a sea of concrete slabs of varying sizes on an undulating slope.

There is power and beauty in the concrete forms, but there is a bit of fun too. Children climbed on and jumped from one low form to another. Teens enjoyed running around and jumping out at each other. It was surprising and a bit mystical how people can appear and disappear among the forms.

As I was headed out of the memorial, a man approached me and asked me to take his photo with his phone. I'm not sure what language he was speaking, but I understood and took his photo in two different poses. He was so exuberantly grateful he shook my hand, kissed me on each cheek, and gave me a hug!

Buggy Street Art - Potsdamer Platz

There really is art everywhere we've been so far as we wander Berlin. These crocheted pole covers took us by surprise as we passed by on our way to view a sculpture. All of them full of whimsy with figurines and other embellishments, this one got downright buggy.

Potsdamer Platz

Is it a train station? A shopping center? A tourist destination? Yes! We headed to Potsdamer Platz without expecting much. After reading the tour book we decided we needed to have coffee at Cafe Josty, where intellectuals and artists used to gather. We discovered that the cafe was encased in glass, as were most of the other buildings, inside the Sony Center.

 

In the photo above you see the conspicuous canopy of the Sony Center. In both photos I am standing next to a fountain, leaning over a glass railing, looking into glass that is both reflecting the canopy above and revealing a walkway with tables below.

 

Yes, those are my shoes. First day in Berlin I walked 10 miles in those shoes! I love Dansko.

Antiquing in Berlin

 

Window shopping was about all we could handle on our first full day in Berlin. We purchased our transit passes, refreshed with a cup of coffee whilst being entertained by street performers, and then wandered rather aimlessly. Looking a bit haggard, you might not even discern me from the other antiques in the picture.

Rain Monster

Freshly arrived in Berlin we needed tickets for public transportation and wanted a monthly unlimited pass - it's much more relaxed that way. And the station was only two-ish miles away. So we walked. In the rain. Nothing serious. A splish, splash, and spray. Cold too. I'm afraid it all warranted a rain monster sighting. And a stop at Museuminsel. 

Piano Playing at the Airport

Sometimes taking the stairs feels like playing the piano! This big, purple construction wall was hiding a burgeoning attraction at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. My mind was clearly ripe for distraction. I was ready to board the plane an hour early (what time change?) and had to run back out from boarding the plane to retrieve my jacket left on the chair at the charging station. Whoops!