Hello Mommy!
Today my host had to work the whole day. So I did a tour on my own through the "City west".
I started at the famous station "Bahnhof Zoo". From here you can discover the city by train, S-Bahn, metro or bus, but I decided to walk...
From here it was just a short walk to the "Theater des Westens". This private theatre designed by Bernhard Sehring and constructed in 1896 is a well-preserved example of magnificent bourgeois architecture. The form language floats in eclectic quotations, a mixture of styles from the antiquity, and the medieval and renaissance ages.
There will be a new musical starting in a few days: Dance of the vampires! I think I won't join, because it sounds really scary!
On my way to the next stop I met this lovely guy. He's a Buddy Bear. There are so many all over Berlin and there exist also more than 140 country bears with most of the countries of the world. And these bears are travelling around the world. They are tall toyvoyagers!!!
I also visited the "Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church" at Breitscheidplatz. It was consecrated in 1895. In 1961 the architect Egon Eiermann integrated the tower ruin, left behind by World War II, into a new building. The new tower and octagonally shaped church nave frame the relic as a memorial to the destruction caused by war. The two new buildings consist of blue glazed, honeycomb elements. A slightly raised platform connects the individual segments and moulds them into an ensemble. In the mid-1990s, the church nave and subsequently the bell tower were refurbished. For about one year they have necessary refurbishment of the church. This is why you can only see the white cover and not the real church. Maybe I'm going to come back to that place in a few years then I can take a better picture!
On the other side of Breitscheidplatz I saw the Europa Center. It owns many shops, an Irish pub which shall be really good, some restaurants & cafes and a theatre "Die Stachelschweine". There's also a water clock inside. I'll take a picture of it during the next days!
I also went to the zoo. It is often said that they have the most extensive range of species worldwide! Ok, I didn't go inside, but I stopped in front of the magnificent oriental gate with its elephant sculptures which was constructed in 1899.
My last stop in this area was KaDeWe. It is the most famous department store of Berlin and the largest department store on the European continent, famous above all for its gourmet food department on the sixth floor.
From here I took a bus to the government area. First I saw the German Bundestag which is located in the Reichstag Building. The centrepiece of the building is the generously glazed chamber that is crowned by the dome. A funnel with panes of mirror glass reflects the daylight from above into the chamber.
If you want to visit it, you have to ask for an entry few days before and give them your name and passport number. Poor me, I don't have a passport.
The freestanding tower behind me is called "Carillon". It is built face to face with the Reichstag building. Most of the tourists don't see it, but I did. It is a large, manually played concert instrument, comprising 68 bells weighing a total of 48 metric tonnes (almost 106,000 lbs.) connected to a keyboard spanning 5˝ fully chromatic octaves; the largest bell weighs 7.8 tonnes (almost 17,200 lbs.). It is one of the largest instruments of its kind in Europe and approximately the fourth largest (by number of bells) in the world.
Next to the Reichstag building you can find the "Paul Löbe House". It houses 550 offices for MPs, 19 conference rooms, around 450 offices for parliamentary committees, the Bundestag information service for visitors, and a restaurant that is open to the public.
Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).
It was just a short way to the "Central Station". It is the main railway station in Berlin. 1,800 trains call at the station per day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000! But I don't know how many rats you can find there per day.
From here you can do non-stop travels to Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Novosibirsk (Russia) or Astana (Kazakhstan). Ok, it takes a while until you arrive in these cities.
My last stop for today was the "Funkturm" which was built at the fair area. On its top there is a restaurant and a platform to have a view over the forest Grunewald.
Now I'm back at my "home-for-now" and my feet hurt a lot! My host gave me something delicious to eat, because I was so hungry!!! I think I'm addicted now and I hope to get more of these when I'm travelling to the US one day.
Oh mommy, I also have to show you this wonderful tree! Can you see me between these red leaves???
I'm off for today!
Cheers, Chrissy