Brandenburg Gate | Fotoeins Fotografie

Posts tagged ‘Brandenburg Gate’

Potsdamer Weihnachtsmarkt, Blauer Lichterglanz, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Potsdamer Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)

Located about 30 kilometres southwest from Berlin, Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg. The proximity with Berlin means it’s an easy afternoon- or day-trip to visit Sans Souci Park and a relaxed wander through the city’s Old Town. But there’s also an easy half-mile (800 metres) walk through the heart of the Old Town to see and sample the city’s Christmas market during the holiday season by day or at night. Accompanied by sparkling (blue) lights, the sights and smells of mulled wine, hot chocolate, grilled sausages, roasted nuts, and sweets from various market stands are sure to tempt even the most stubborn of passers-by.

Christmas pyramid

This Brandenburg Gate (1770) is smaller but older than Berlin’s version.

Click on the arrow-window icon at the upper-left corner of the map below to view the legend.

I made the photos above on 8 December 2015. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-9d6.

Stadtpanorama, city panorama, Siegessäule, Victory Column, Berlin, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: Berlin panorama from Hauptbahnhof to Fernsehturm

The observation deck at the top of the Victory Column (Siegessäule) in Berlin’s Tiergarten park provides a sweeping view of the German capital city. The photo above shows an east-facing view, from the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) in the north (left), to the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) and Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) in the south (right). With leaves remaining present on the trees, the warm colours of fall are further emphasized by the late-afternoon light of the golden hour.

Built between 1865 and 1873, the Victory Column is 70 metres (230 feet) tall with a total of 285 steps to the top.

I made the image above on 30 November 2006. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-5R1.

Festival of Lights, Brandenburger Tor, Pariser Platz, Berlin, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: German Reunification, Landmark & Symbol

Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) is an important landmark to both Berlin and Germany. The gate symbolizes yesterday’s divisions and present-day reunification. On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and a year later on 3 October 1990, West and East Germany reunited to become a single Germany. The Day of German Unity is celebrated every year in Germany on 3 October.

2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, and 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Germany.

More, in English and German

• Brandenburg Gate | Brandenburger Tor
• Day of German Unity | Tag der deutschen Einheit

I made the image above during the annual Festival of Lights on 20 October 2012. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-5CR.

Former path of the Wall, Ebertstrasse, near Platz des 18. März, Brandenburger Tor, Berlin, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: shadows from the Berlin Wall

In the early hours of 13 August 1961, construction began quietly on the Berlin Wall, as residents of the city slept. Two months earlier in response to a journalist’s question about rumours of a wall, East German leader Ulbricht publicly stated: “Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!” (No one has any intention of building a wall.)

East Germany (DDR/GDR) asserted the wall’s purpose as an “anti-fascist protection barrier” to protect its citizens from the West. With thousands streaming to the west, the GDR could not afford to continue losing people and their subsequent productivity to the economy; the nation’s wall would keep her own people locked inside. Berlin was visibly divided in two, as too, would the ideological and physical separation between West and East Germany.

With the fall of the Wall in 1989, large portions of the Wall were demolished in a rush to destroy visible reminders, save for a number of notable exceptions throughout the city. Few wall remnants or fragments remain; the East Side Gallery, the long segment on Niederkirchner Strasse, and the Memorial and Documentation Centre at Bernauer Strasse are some of the most visible. As shown above, cobblestones on the pavement provide visible traces and essential reminders about the former route of the Wall.

I made the photo above on 19 October 2012 in Berlin on Ebertstrasse, just west of Platz des 18. März and Brandenburg Gate (near position 12 in this walking tour). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-5gu.

My Berlin: Mitte on Christmas Eve

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Hauptstadt,
no residents were stirring, not even a tourist …

Well, except me, that is …

It’s little surprise many find themselves where they’re supposed to be on Christmas Eve.

Ever since visiting Berlin the first time in 2002, I’ve always entertained the idea of photographing the German capital city during winter holidays. The city slows down, becomes quiet, and sits back as if to take a deep long breath.

Crammed train stations seem cold, emptied of all who normally stream through the halls. The usual sounds of the city are muted by diminished traffic on the day before Christmas and by the sound-diffusing and -absorbing property of falling snow. City fixtures and Christmas decorations cast bright spotlights down on the ground layer of snow while diffuse glow of colour is scattered up to the cloud deck overhead.

Under blizzard-like conditions and little street traffic, I cannot deny myself this beautiful photographic opportunity.

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