City Walk Through Berlin

After a long time, I had the opportunity to visit Berlin for a weekend again. I was curious to see how the city had changed – it feels like Berlin has been a permanent construction site since the fall of the Wall. I started my tour on a sunny spring day at the Tempodrom, with its striking, tent-shaped roof structure.

Afterwards, I followed the Landwehr Canal west on foot and watched a film crew shooting in front of the Kulturforum. Passing impressive embassy buildings and through the Tiergarten, my path led me to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Given the glorious weather, I decided to explore the city on foot instead of taking the underground. I took my first break on the upper floor of the Bikini Berlin shopping centre and enjoyed the view into the zoo.

From the former centre of West Berlin, I traversed the entire Tiergarten, Berlin’s green lung and raw oasis. However, I searched in vain for a beer garden there, as walking makes you thirsty and the park offers many quiet spots for a rest. It wasn’t until the Reichstag that I had the opportunity to buy drinks, so I lay down on the lawn in front of the Reichstag building and watched the lively hustle and bustle. The large number of rental bikes from many different providers is striking; they not only seem to block the pavements but are also used by many tourists.

Refreshed, I could turn my attention to further sights. At the Brandenburg Gate, I tried to capture the constant stream of visitors through and around the structure using long exposure. At the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, I observed how people sought different ways to approach the memorial and walked through the space created by the concrete stelae.

I reached the eastern turning point of the day’s tour via Unter den Linden to the Alex TV Tower, before returning to the starting point in Berlin Mitte via the picturesque Nikolaiviertel and Gendarmenmarkt.