Berlin - Everything Else

This should be my last update about Berlin - unless there is more that you guys want me to talk about, in which case let me know.

This is one of many decorated bear statues found throughout the city. The bear is a symbol for Berlin and is featured on the flag, seal, etc.

This is the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz - it's kind of like a giant open-air mall with restaurants, shops, and a movie theater.

Inside the Sony Center

The roof

A giant Lego giraffe - they had a small indoor Legoland at the Sony Center - unfortunately I didn't get a chance to check it out.

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtnis Kirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) - one of the few old buildings remaining in Berlin, this church was heavily damaged in WWII and only partially restored.

The ceiling inside the church - the artwork commemorates the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm I. The text reads "Wilhelm I: King of the Prussians, German Kaiser" "German Kaiser" is a clever title since it sounds a lot like "Kaiser of Germany" but it actually just means that he's a German who is also a Kaiser.

More ceiling

Former German Kings/Kaisers/Princes - I managed to cover up the caption explaining who each person is

A model showing what the church used to look like

The destroyed back half of the church

Schloss Sanssouci - this is one of Fredrick the Great's summer homes, located in Potsdam. It is heavily influenced by the French chateaus of the period, hence the French name, "sans souci," means "without worry" - a fitting name for a summer retreat. Sanssouci is a vinyard and the decoration reflects this with a lot of grape/vine themed paintings, molding, etc. as well as lots of Dionysos (the greek god of wine) imagery. Unfortunately, I wasnt allowed to take pictures inside but I would describe it as lavish and drafty - with all of the marble it was pretty obvious that the place wasn't well suited to being much more than a summer home.

The vinyard out back. I bet it looks a lot nicer in the summer.

a windmill near Sanssouci

This is the theater we went to on Friday night. The show was called "Das Versprechen" (the promise) and it was pretty intense crime story that was really hard for me to follow - there were some parts that were exagerated/metaphorical and I just took them literally because I was only catching every other word or so. It made more sense once Lutz explained it to me afterward. The show was pretty effects heavy (cap guns, fake blood, thrown bottles of soda) and we were sitting in the front row, so a few people managed to get fake blood on them.

Finally, this is a goofy dog that was waiting outside an Apotheke (drug store) in Kreutzberg.

As always, comments and questions are welcome and encouraged.