Then We Take Berlin

Here is where Berlin starts. Well, actually we are starting in the 4.5 hour train ride from Prague to Berlin, but consider it something like a grand entrance hall or red carpet for the actual arrival in the Hauptbahnhof, or Berlin's Central Station. It was one of the largest train stations I have ever been in (and actually more reminiscent of an airport), and was also where we encountered the first of Berlin's many guises. On this point I won't elaborate and will let the photos speak for themselves (even if they exaggerate).

But first the train ride itself, which was incredible; rural Czech Republic, first along the Vtava River and then along the Elbe. Finally across the border in the Ore Mountains, and then northward through Dresden (still a city of scars), rural Germany across the North European Plain, and finally arrival at the Hauptbahnhof. All told it once again confirmed the singular nature of train travel, an experience I will never tire of, and a mode I never stop preferring over all others.

This photo album covers our first two days in Berlin. Without realizing it, we had scarcely left East Berlin (except our foray into the Tiergarten). First is our apartment in the neighborhood of Weissensee, with which I don't think we could have done better). It also happened to be right above a tiny park, Arnold Schonberg Platz (I am not a fan of classical music, but Schonberg's atonal works I find deeply moving). I was incredibly excited, it truly was a place that I could see calling home. And that was my first impression of Berlin!

The rest of the photos were taken between August 10th and 12th (and Photoshopped to a degree to match my jagged memories within the last couple of months), on a path that took us through Mitte (Berlin's central area), Potsdamer Platz, the Tiergarten, Brandenburg Gate, Unter Den Linden, and onto the campus of Humboldt University; and finally our first visit to Alexanderplatz, which includes our ascent into the Berlin TV Tower (which will have more photos included in the next album).

oroboros on 5/16/2020 2:20:06 PM

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