Berlin « A bit of this, a bit of that

Ampelmännchen October 2, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

There’s history behind the pedestrian crossing lights in Berlin. Click here for the story.

Pergamon pictures September 30, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, museums, Vacation.
add a comment

As promised, here are pictures from the Pergamon Museum, which cannot express the scale or the grandeur of the collections. The Pergamon, Gate of Ishtar, and the Mshatta Facade are massive monuments.

The recorded tour eagerly explained that removing the Mshatta Facade prevented it from being destroyed to make way for a railroad, but it remained silent on the acquisition of the other treasures in the museum. It turns out that Greece and Turkey would like their stuff back, thanks.

Russell, check out the mosaic work – many of the tiles on the parrot are less than 1mm across. Does that bring back memories?

More Berlin September 29, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

“Victory” atop the Triumphal Column

Statues and swans at Museum Island

The Pergamon Musuem – I’ll upload more pictures when I get home.

Checkpoint Charlie

Hamburger Bahnhof September 27, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, museums, Vacation.
1 comment so far

Yesterday, I had enough time for a quick visit to Hamburger Bahnhof. Here are a few of the images that I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I do not remember all of the artists’ names. Please leave a comment if you recognize the work!

Richard Long

Curators were hanging Rober Signer photographs as I walked through.

A walk to the Tiergarten September 26, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Architecture, Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

But first, breakfast. Germans don’t skimp on the bread. Fortunately for me, they also believe in meat – lots of it – at every meal. Cold cuts, smoked fish, and cheese make a surprisingly good morning meal.

That’s about $7.20/gal.

Little cars and lots of bikes and peds.

Siegessaule (Triumphal Column)

Frog fountains in Tiergarten.

There were lots of rabbits in the park, but they don’t pose for portraits.

Monument to Otto von Bismark

The Martin Luther Bridge
Colors!

I stopped at nearby bakery for my first all German transaction: “Ein pretzel, bitte!”

Most people here speak excellent English. Off to work now!

Blogger in German September 25, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

A little taste of what I’m navigating…

The conference September 25, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

As you may know, I fanangled this trip to Berlin by spearheading the effort to bring in a data management system into our group. We’re a new group with as many unofficial protocols as group members, and while I have a “make it so” mandate from management, many details remain to be worked out. Oh, and the extent of my influence depends on my ability to sweet talk and/or bribe team members, so the talks and networking have been great today. I now have a better idea of which issues to push hard on, which to let slide, and my generalized cloud of worry has materialized into several discreet categories of worry. Despite the sound of that, it’s actually a good thing!

This evening, we boarded a boat for dinner and tour of the River Spree. Many bridges were so low that the passengers on the roof had to sit – and duck their heads – to pass through without, as the guide explained, “losing their haircuts.”

I left my camera at the hotel, but one of my favorite sections was the “Bandes des bundes” or “ribbon of government,” a series of concrete and glass buildings (the glass symbolizing openness) joining East and West Berlin.

The dome of the Reichstag. It’s quite beautiful at night.

A walk along the Spree River…the other way September 25, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

This conference is really cramping my touristing, but I snuck in another early morning walk today. Now to the conference!

The sphere in the fountain rolls.

Bears guard the corners of this bridge.

Bikes near a U-bahn station. He doesn’t seem quite as eager to get to school as she does.

Einfug! September 24, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Berlin, Vacation.
2 comments

“Type ctrl-alt-del to begin.” Ummmm…howzat again? The back row quickly piped up with helpful calls of, “Einfug! Einfug!” Logging on to a virtual machine with an English keyboard using the German laptop was fun – especially since you can’t see what you type in the password field and our password contained a Z. (Click on the image for a larger view – you’ll see what I’m talking about.)

A walk along the Spree River September 24, 2007

Posted by Sarah in Architecture, Berlin, Vacation.
add a comment

The theory is that early morning sun helps reset your clock, so I took a walk along the Spree River this morning before class started. I see caffeine in my future.