Favorite Corners - Berlin

Beautiful Berlin.  It's a city that wears its scars for all to see and manages to find beauty and life in even the most abandoned places.  Some buildings and statues have kept their bullet holes as a memorial to the past, but other structures have changed.  The last remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall are now more paint canvas than cold barrier and old forgotten locations have been re-discovered are being repurposed as gathering places for a new generation of Berliners.

Brandenburg Gate, one of the most recognizable landmarks in Berlin, and where our walking tour began.

The Holocaust Memorial was built to remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  Walk between 2,711 concrete blocks, each one unique, and see what thoughts come to mind.    

The domed copper roof may make this building feel a bit more parliamentary than religious, but this is the Berliner Dom or Berlin Cathedral. 

The Babylonian gates of Ishtar.  We saw a few pieces of it in Istanbul, but the whole amazing thing is housed in the Pergamum Museum.

These Berlin bears are all over the city and all decorated differently, but our favorite was the Currywurst bear. 

Berlin has a little more sprawl that some of the other the cities we've been to, but the extensive U-Bahn made it easy to get around. 

There's many little surprises here if you know where to look.  In this case, look up!

An evening walk along the Spree River, taking in views of something old...

...and something quite new.

Got an abandoned warehouse or building? Some cities let them sit and rot, but Berliners turn them into the most awesome hangout spots ever. 

Meet Raw Tempel, an abandoned rail yard turned local hot spot.  There were wall climbers, beer gardens, a skateboard park, restaurants, clubs and some pretty awesome graffiti.

A bit of beauty among the rust. 

Okay, not all Berlin street lights look like this.  Most are very normal, orderly-looking street lights.  This one's got a little bit of character...and a whole lot of packing tape.

Thanks so much to Renee and Grant for showing us the local side of Berlin!  What happens at Frankfurter Tor stays at Frankfurter Tor!