Evidence of past conflict.

The past is present if you know where to look. More often than not, Berlin has loads of evidence to its recent battles. Solid evidence, in stone and steel.

  In Kreuzberg there used to be a train station called Anhalter Bahnhof. It was bombed into rubble 70 years ago and now the field of tracks has been turned into an historical park. Under that park are about 8 train bridges that pass over what is now Yorkstrasse. These are rusting hulks, some of which have been replaced for the current Sbahn commuter trains. One of the old bridges is gone, taken out by a bomb perhaps. Another clearly has a story...

Easy to miss, look closer.

  I've biked past this numerous times without noticing. That's a massive steel I-beam with 4 layers of riveted steel, built 70 years ago, now bent.

Not from a collision.

  Traffic passes by here but this isn't from a collision, its on the wrong side and direction to be that.

  The white paint is new but this grey paint is original. It has this odd spatter of chips in it. And some of those chips are gouged out of the steel as well. Some of the rivets have a chunk missing.

  This clearly was a large powerful bomb blast that was capable of tearing steel apart like butter. Perhaps it was a cannon shell from street fighting or an allied bomb. If it did this to metal, what happened to the people that were here back then...

One of the 4 layers of sheet steel has been partially pealed away.

Easy to miss, hard to forget once you know.

  This continent was torn apart by hatred and prejudice 70 years ago. The wounds are being cleaned up but the human capacity that created them is still busy. Right now in many other parts of the world, desperation, greed or hatred of those who are different is creating more of these scars. I'd like to think its possible to learn form others mistakes...

Andy

Update: I just found this Russian blogger who's searching out the location of old photographs from the war. Its mostly Russian locations but also a few from Berlin. Included is this first shot on his page
http://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/10193.html

  That Soviet tank is passing a church that is about 4 blocks from the damaged bridge above. Perhaps it was a Soviet tank shell that did the damage...

Wandering down new streets

Its been a long time since my last post as I've been busy. Lots of photo's have backed up on the drive. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting a bunch from various explorations in Berlin.

Loads of amazing lightning storms in the summer here.

Large Art Deco station in the metro.

This is a quiet Thursday evening near the closed Tempelhof airport, there's not much happening around here. Although much of Berlin feels this empty on more than a few occasions. Its still amazing to be riding down a large street and suddenly realize that there's no traffic around. A quick glance behind reveals cars way back there at a red light but even once they're released, its not a huge flood and you are back to having the road to yourself.

Not a museum but a bookstore.

A bookstore in the centre of Berlin, called Dussman's with many levels of books, DVD's and a central atrium of plants and trees. At the back of the store is this Egyptian sculpture. Behind that is a huge hanging garden with the store cafe downstairs. Water trickles down through the leaves creating very fresh air.

This is about 5 stories tall.

Staircase leading to a spa in the centre of Berlin

Nature strikes back

  There used to be a beautiful and large railway station called Anhalter Bahnhof in Kreuzberg. It was lost during an allied bombing raid and so the tracks were left and nature took back the land. Its been so long that trees are now absorbing the rails. This area is now part of Gleisdreieck Park in Kreuzberg and is therefore preserved as a reminder. I wonder if in another 50 years of this process, these rails may become airborne as the tree carries them with it.

Memories of a bygone time.

That's all for now.
Andy