The Berlin Domino Wall – Thousand Pieces of Art

November 10, 2009

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.

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East Side Gallery, walking alongside the Berlin Wall

November 9, 2009

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.

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A Giant’s Tale, Riesen in Berlin – Day 1

October 2, 2009

A giant’s tale, narrated by Royal de Luxe,

during the next 3 days, the City of Berlin will be the stage for a “giant” open-air theatre spectacle.

“She’s here at last! Sleepy and confused, the Little Giantess opened her eyes this morning alongside her ocean-going boat in front of the Rotes Rathaus to see many sets of eyes staring at her.”

The fairy tale for Berlin begins, the story about losing and finding relatives was only written for Berlin by Jean Luc Courcoult, related to the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Today the Little Giantess will investigate the surrounding area of the Rotes Rathaus, from the Bebelplatz as far as the Gendarmenmarkt and the Lustgarten with wide-eyed curiosity.

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The U55 Kanzlerbahn

September 16, 2009


A few weeks ago, Berlin got a new subway line, the U55. If you think about it, it’s nothing special, but you should know some facts about it. The U55 has 3 stations, Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Bundestag and Brandenburger Tor and does not connect to any other subway line.
The name Kanzlerbahn or Kanzlerlinie (Chancellor Line) is a nickname given due to its way through the government quarter. The whole project has cost over 350 million euros, therefore, it is the shortest and the most expensive subway line ever build.

But that’s not all, the famous Brandenburger Tor station is surrounded by a huge block of ice, so the temperature inside the hall is always about 0 °C. That was necessary to stop the groundwater to soak into the construction area.

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