Seeking Berlin

Today we met with Christoph Niemann, an illustrator and graphic artist living in Berlin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times and more.  He has also authored a book called "Abstract City", which is a collection of visual essays from his New York Times column. In addition, he has an interactive app called Petting Zoo, has drawn 2 Google Doodles (when the Google image is different), and illustrated the New York Marathon while running it.  Talk about talented... 

Showing us the Petting Zoo app

Illustration on the wall

Doodles on his computer

He talked about organization, deadlines, and failures.  He had a realistic view on failures mentioning that they were in reality a waste of time especially as a working individual.  He compared drawing to sports.  Once you start drawing you can't just stop in the middle of it.  You have to finish the piece through and then try again from the beginning to perfect it just as you would not be able to stop short during a play but instead would have to go with the flow and finish through to perfect it the next time. He was asked about illustrators' unique sense of humor.  He mentioned that it's not about being funny but about using humor to steer the audience in one direction and unexpectedly switching to another to tell a story.

Sometimes inspiration doesn't come instantly and even experienced illustrators, such as Christoph, must stare at a blank page every once in a while.

To check out his work, visit: http://www.christophniemann.com

Berlin is home to many street performers, artists, and musicians.  Creativity is everywhere from the graffiti covered buildings to the locally owned shops.  Today I stumbled upon Tukadu, a jewelry and bead store.  Owner Roberta Oehmigen was beautiful with her piercing blue eyes and dark hair, dressed in a floral print with a chunky yellow necklace and black tassel earrings. Her store was filled with color.  Patterned beads, funky earrings, and tiny figurines filled every corner.  Necklaces with tiny guitars and peacock feather earrings hung from the ceiling.  I could spend hours in the store looking at all the possible materials available to make a unique piece of jewelry. They try to incorporate the things they love into the jewelry and want to reflect the diversity of cultures that makes Berlin a special place to live.

Roberta making jewelry in the store

Colorful necklaces hang from the ceiling

Customers looking at beads

Small figurines

On our walking tour of the city our tour guide mentioned that Berlin seems to believe that rebuilding the positive historical attributes gains acceptance.  Legitimacy comes from using already established architectural styles and ridding itself of the reminders of the Hitler era.  Examples of this would be the Berliner Dom utilizing an Italian Renaissance structure and the fact that there is only one remaining Nazi building in the city.  Buildings that were destroyed during the war were rebuilt by salvaging as many of the original materials possible.  The bullet holes and dented columns serve as a reminder of what happened but the constant rebuilding and construction efforts demonstrate the direction the city is moving towards to recover.

Neues Museum rebuilt with the original columns

Bullet holes on the outside of the Neues Museum

Bundesministerium der Finanzen (Federal Ministry of Finance) previously housed the Ministry of Aviation.  It is a classic example of what the world could have looked like if Hitler had succeeded.

Mural depicting socialism on the side of the Federal Ministry of Finance

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe contains 2,711 concrete pillars all of different lengths.

For more information about the memorial, visit: http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/memorial-to-the-murdered-jews-of-europe

Today I visited the Neues Museum located in the heart of historical Berlin.  It houses the famous bust of Nefertiti. The building itself was severely destroyed during the war and was left in ruins amongst the neighboring renovated museums up until 2003 and was reopened in 2009. Unfortunately photographs of the bust were prohibited. I can fully understand why Egypt demands to have it back, the detail put into the sculpture was unbelievable.  

For more information about the collections at the Neues Museum, visit: http://www.smb.museum/en/museums-and-institutions/neues-museum/home.html

Other photos:

Clown in Hackescher Markt (not a typo)

Ice cream by Lake Wannsee

Humboldt University Law School

Yesterday we visited the Berliner Dom, the largest church in Berlin.  It is open to visitors and offers a museum of detailed models, a crypt, and a viewing deck on the top of the cathedral. Construction began in 1894 and was completed in 1905.  It utilizes an Italian high Renaissance structure with 4 towers in the corners and a 114 meter tall central dome.  Building a cathedral of this stature would cost 180 million Euros today. The Dom was destroyed by an air raid in 1940 and in 1944 a liquid incendiary bomb caused an uncontrollable fire. After reconstruction the cathedral resumed services in 1993 and the crypt reopened to the public in 2002.

An angel’s view of the TV Tower sitting atop the viewing deck.

For more information of the Berliner Dom, visit: http://www.berlinerdom.de/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,154/lang,en/

Today we met with John MacDougall, an AFP photographer. He taught us some tips he picked up from working as a photographer for a wire service and shared some interesting stories and pictures from his work trips to Indonesia, Afghanistan, and more. He is fluent in French and English and speaks Indonesian and German.  

Explaining a photograph to the class

One of the many expressions used to describe the differences in the events he covers.  Some events are exciting whereas others are boring.

AFP photographer John MacDougall wins prestigious German prize: http://www.photographers-blog.com/afp-photographer-john-macdougall-wins-prestigious-german-prize/

AFP Portfolio: http://portfolios.afp.com/photographers/region/europe/john-macdougall.html

We visited the Reichstag and the Brandenburger Tor. The Reichstag is the capital building.  It has an old outside but an ultra modern dome on the inside and houses the seat of Parliament in Berlin.

Exterior

Exterior of glass dome

Interior of glass dome

For more information on the Reichstag, visit: http://www.berlin.de/orte/sehenswuerdigkeiten/reichstag/index.en.php

The Brandenburg Gate is a city monument, symbolic of Germany’s unity.  It is where Ronald Reagan in 1987 spoke the famous command, “Mr. Gorbachov- tear down this wall!”.

Selfie

A dog patiently waiting for his next customers to take a horse-drawn carriage ride by the Brandenburger Gate

For more information about the Brandenburger Tor, visit: http://www.berlin.de/orte/sehenswuerdigkeiten/brandenburger-tor/index.en.php

Other photos:

Enjoying beer by the river

Crosses by the river remember those who died trying to cross the river from the East to the West side

Pink rain boots on a fountain in Alexanderplatz

Mercedes “Biome”

After 5 hours biking the city with Fat Tire Bike Tours (http://berlin.fattirebiketours.com), I know that Germans have great legs. Biking is a common form of transportation, the city accommodating with bike lanes and crosswalk lights specifically for bikers. 

My bike was named, “Schawarma”

We stopped for lunch at Rissani.  Chicken meat schawarma with salad and falafel.

On the tour we stopped at a preserved piece of the Berlin Wall called the East Side Gallery.  Artists were invited to paint murals on the wall. 

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker

In front of a colorful piece of the wall.

Oberbaumbrucke, a bridge linking Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.  It was partly destroyed during the war due to it being on both sides of wall.

We also stopped at Berlin-Tempelhof airport, intended to be a symbol of Hitler’s “world capital” Germania.  It is known for being one of the largest buildings in the world and for the Candy Bomber, who dropped candy out of his plane to children below.

The airport is now closed because the runway could not accommodate planes due to its size.  Now it serves as a space for people to lay on the runway, bike, sun bathe, and barbecue and has a space for gardening and a mini golf course made from recycled materials.

People occupying the airport, symbolic of the failure of the Nazi party.

Our group is staying at the Hotel Transit Loft on Immanuelkirchstraße, which is named after the Evangelische Immanuelgemeinde on our street.  

Hotel Transit Loft 

Evangelische Immanuelgemeinde a Protestant church

After exploring the city I discovered that graffiti is the norm and there is a lot of construction.  New buildings pushed up against old ones are commonplace demonstrating the change the city has undergone since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Street art

New and old

A section of the original East Berlin Wall

For dinner we ate at Prater, an authentic biergarten.  A relaxed atmosphere of hanging lights, picnic tables, and lots of drunken conversations. One section served Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage), Krakauer (grilled polish sausage), Nudelsalat (pasta salad) and the other section served beer. 

My choice of meal: Rostbratwurst (grilled sausage), Gewurzgurke (pickle), and Berliner Weisse rot (red).

Laugenbrezel (pretzel)

Guten Tag from Berlin! 7 hours on a plane, passport control, 15 minute taxi ride, a broken elevator, and carrying 65 pounds up three flights of stairs later, I’m here…