The Story of the Fall of the Wall, the Berlinale and the Friedrichstadtpalast, told by little animals.
That’s what you can see if you visit the Galeria Kaufhof near Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Four shop windows were decorated with a really plushy Christmas decoration. Ten month were necessary to create, place and animate every single puppet, the senior decorator himself had the idea.
So, after I’ve showed you Sony’s sparkling tree-formed decoration, it’s time for a real Christmas tree. I can’t say how many trees I’ve seen on my way through the City, but this one is definitely the prettiest, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Christmas is near and what is Christmas without decorations. The City of Berlin has some really spectacular decorations this year and I want to start with Sony’s vision of a modern Christmas tree. The Sony Center, located at Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, thought that, it needs something special to pull the attention of nearby visitors.
It’s winter! Well, only meteorological but, the next thing I will show you is typical for this season, no snow but ice. For the first time ever, Chinese artists displaying their ancient ice art in Germany. Six-metre-high sculptures on 1200 square metres, with a constant exhibition temperature of minus.. well let’s say it was damn cold.
The Sculptures, created by a large number of international prize winners, are to be continually expanded upon and finalized during the exhibition. The exhibition itself is held between the November 27th 2009 and February 22nd 2010 near the O2 World Berlin.
Huan Ying Guang Lin! or You are all very welcome!
There are many things you can do with pumpkins, you can carve them, decorate your home or your garden and of course you can eat them. A farmer in Klaistow, about 40km outside of Berlin, thought to do something special with his 100.000 pumpkins, but see for yourself:
Postdamer Platz and Leipziger Patz, both near the U- and S-Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz, are the most blatant expression of how the Wall put a stop to Berlin’s urban development. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, new densely-populated quarters rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the old border wasteland. Continue reading
As I mentioned yesterday, today was Berlin’s 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Many World leaders and dignitaries were invited.
Chancellor Merkel said some Words in front of the Brandenburg Gate, she herself grew up in East Germany and was one of thousands to cross into the West on Nov, 9, 1989 – “Today marks a truly happy moment of the German and the European history,” She said. “Twenty years ago the door to freedom opened up and a seemingly invincible wall that divided a people and an entire continent suddenly became permeable. For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life.”
The Main Event was a symbolic Fall of the Wall in form of 1,000 dominoes to symbolize fall of the communist regimes and iron curtain in Eastern Europe. The first stone was pushed by the former Polish politician Lech Wałęsa.
The 1,000 Stones, 2,5m high, all hand-painted, were lined a 1,6km long portion of the route once occupied by the wall. I took a couple of pictures from some very interesting Stones.
Tomorrow is a big day, the City of Berlin will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
For that reason, the big East Side Gallery was repaired and repainted. The Berlin Wall East Side Gallery is a 1.3km-long section of the wall near the center of Berlin. Approximately 106 paintings by artists from all over the world cover this memorial for freedom and make it the largest open air gallery in the world.
The Gallery tells with its pictures the story of Berlin and Germany’s history. Many artists were invited to repaint their pictures which were created about twenty years ago. The paintings and the wall were in an extremely deteriorated condition through weather, air pollution, vandalistic collectors, and simply time.
The East Side Gallery is located near the Ostbahnhof.
The Modellbahnverband in Deutschland e.V. ( German Model Railway Society ) staged an exhibition, to celebrate his 15th anniversary.
It was fascinating to see those little trains driving through a really beautiful created world of snow, woods and mountains. A journey through the Alps, the United States, Germany and even a time travel to Berlin after the Second World War.
The fifth Festival of Lights has ended, during the last two weeks, you were able to see Berlin in a different light.
Since 2005, every year in October, Berlin turns into a sparkling metropolis,
about 5000 LED-lamps, 750 LED-spotlights and 900 Fluorescent lamps, were used this time to illuminate 59 world-famous historical landmarks and spots in Berlin,
for the biggest festival in the history of the Festival of Lights.