Did I tell you we went to Berlin?
It was a last minute trip weekend trip, don't you just love those?
It was chilly and rainy most of the time we were there, which added to the sadness of the city. It is hard to explain but walking around the city and seeing pieces of the Berlin Wall and reading all the history about WWII and the Cold War, left you with a bit of a sad feeling. All of this happened not that long ago and it was such a hard time for Germany and the world
I chose to post these pictures in black and white because it feels cleaner and adds to the peacefulness of the images, which I felt while I was there photographing them.
The Holocaust Memorial (officially called the Monument to the Murdered Jews in Europe) was a strangely moving and peaceful place. With lots of small and large slabs in rows it was easy to walk among them and feel alone. It was easy to feel like you were suddenly in a different world which is probably what the artist intended. It was very eerie.
My favorite photo from the memorial. You can feel the aloneness.
As always I loved just walked and taking in the city and all it's pretty sights.
Checkpoint Charlie as shown in the next couple of pictures was a place along the Berlin Wall where people could cross.
Throughout the city there are plaques on the sidewalk remembering the wall.
Also crazy huge decorated bears. We never did find out what that was about.
Pieces of the wall still remain today.
It's easy now to look back on the Cold War and the Berlin Wall and feel the madness.
This is the famous East Side Gallery. I have more photos of this but I have to share these in color because some of the paintings are just too good to have in black and white.
I find it interesting that you still found the city so sad. I mean, yes the Holocaust monument especially, and some features of the wall, but Steve and I actually found Berlin to be incredibly vibrant, alive and one of the most colourful places in Europe.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures though. And isn't it crazy how long the wall was? We walked along the path on the ground for over an hour.
If you go again, check out the Hamburger Banhoff museum, it's really cool.
And the symbol(mascot) of Berlin is a bear, he's on the city flag :)
I loved all of your pictures! I wish I was close enough to take a "last minute" trip to Berlin :) I love Europe, but have only been once.
ReplyDeleteThese photos are really moving. Thanks for sharing them. I liked getting to read that little plaque about the history.
ReplyDelete