Fotoeins Fotografie

Berlin: S-Bahn S15 on the way, soon.

Above: Berlin S-Bahn S15 icon, from Wikimedia, by users F84 (original) and Minoa (rework).

For me, living memories of countless times in Berlin since 2002 include public transport with her U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains and routes. Like many, I never want that S-Bahn three-tone door-closing signal to go away, but that only comes with the older Baureihe 481-482 vehicles used for the trains, which will go away with the requirement to comply with European Union regulations.

On my first visit in 2002, I immediately asked: why isn’t there a U-Bahn connection or an S-Bahn connection with the shiny Berlin central train station? The U5 finally answered the first question in 2020, whereas the S-Bahn connection is coming up in 2026. The S-Bahn line provisionally labelled S15 is part of the larger long-term S21 project to connect the north and south parts of the S-Bahn Ring with the central station, and helping to alleviate traffic along the existing north-south S1-S2 route. In late-2025, news came out with a scheduled opening: on 28 March 2026, the S15 will open for public service between Gesundbrunnen and Hauptbahnhof via Wedding, although I’m unsure why the latest map update doesn’t mark S15 service between Westhafen and Hauptbahnhof; see below.

Announcement items in German: RBB24 — Entwicklungsstadt.

In this coming summer of 2026, I’m looking forward to seeing how this works out.

( Click here for images )

Fotoeins Friday: Bayreuth Opera House, 🇩🇪 UNESCO WHS

Bayreuth, Germany: inside the main hall of the Margravial Opera House (Markgräfliches Opernhaus) during guided tour. The building was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

I made the image above on 9 Jun 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/30-sec, f/2.8, ISO6400, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wBK.

Fotoeins Friday: Stralsund, 🇩🇪 UNESCO WHS

The Alter Markt square in Stralsund is brilliantly illuminated in late-day sun with St. Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) and the Rathaus (City Hall) framing the scene at right. The greenish building at centre-left is the heritage-protected mid-18th century building Commandantenhus. Stralsund’s Old Town has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.

I made the image above on 31 May 2024 with an iPhone15; the image is corrected for geometric distortion. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wIH.

Berlin U5-Museumsinsel: Mozart, Schinkel, & Dudler

Above: Museumsinsel U-Bahn station entry-exit ‘A’. Photo, 17 May 2025 (P15).

The Berlin U-Bahn metro station Museumsinsel adjacent to the world renowned Museum Island is located on the U5 line which connects the city’s central station (Hauptbahnhof) with Alexanderplatz and the city’s eastern neighbourhoods. Construction for the station began in 2012 and lasted over 8 years. For the station interior at track level, architect Max Dudler was inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s 1815–1816 design of the stage for the Mozart opera “Die Sauberflöte” (The Magic Flute). For the appearance of the Queen of the Night, Schinkel imagined a large dome-like space like the overhead starry night sky. Over each of the two tracks in the U-Bahn station, Dudler designed a dark blue barrel-shaped vault embedded with thousands of white point-sources of light.

The fully-completed U5 extension from Hauptbahnhof to Alexanderplatz opened to the public on 4 December 2020, which at long last connected the Hauptbahnhof with Berlin’s U-Bahn city transport system. The Museumsinsel station on the U5 line opened on 9 July 2021. In addition to the city’s bus network, the station now allowed visitors to use the U-Bahn metro to reach the Museum Island complex, inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site in 1999.

Artist and architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841) has his “fingerprints” on many of the city’s early- to middle 19th-century architecture, including in the immediate vicinity of the station the Neue Wache (New Guard House), Schlossbrücke (Castle Bridge), Friedrichswerder Church, Bauakademie (Building Academy), and the Altes Museum (Old Museum).

( Click here for images )

Fotoeins Friday: Haithabu-Hedeby, 🇩🇪 UNESCO WHS

Just outside the city of Schleswig, Germany is the site of a former Viking settlement near the western end of the inlet Schlei. The sheltered harbour and a relatively short overland (portage) distance between the North and Baltic Seas made this an ideal location for settlement. The Viking sites Haithabu and Danevirke nearby have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.

I made the image above on 30 May 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: , and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wI3.