Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
I thought that allowing just one day and one night in Berlin would be a dumb idea so we almost didn't make the trip up at all, then at the last minute we decided we would. I'm so pleased we did — better to have gone for a day than not to have gone at all eh.
Train travel in Germany is easy. Travelling on the ICE train (Inter City Express) from Würzburg at speeds up to 300 kmh seemed effortless - the ride was gentle enough to sketch! We zoomed past hundreds of wind turbines and kilometre after kilometre of rail-side solar panels. Green energy is big here.
We made a full day itinerary which traversed the city several times - easily doable on our beaten up Electra hire bikes. The city is flat and the cycle lanes make negotiating the city really easy and safe.
Our hotel in East Berlin was very slick and comfortable but the exterior exuded eastern block brutalism. I felt like an extra in the 'The lives of others' - perfect.
Our impromptu tour took in Alexanderplatz, went past the Fernsehturm, Museum Island (no where near enough time to qeue for the Pergamon - that will wait next time!), Brandenburg Gate, a Currywurst stop, the Jewish Monument, Checkpoint Charley, the Reichstag, the Stasi Museum (spooky), then meandering through the Tiergarten - twice. Frederick the Great's hunting forest is huge, with lakes, monuments, formal gardens and some pretty wild forest. At times it's hard to believe you're in the middle of the city! We cycled past the brutal looking Soviet War Memorial, the beautiful Schloss Bellevue, and a bullet hole pocked yet luxuriously guilded memorial to the composers Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Eventually past the Zoo, down Ku'damm street, got lost in the KaDaWe department store (a department store on steriods, I got stuck in the mind-boggling toy department). Outside KaDeWe to draw the ‘Berlin’ Sculpture on Tauentzienstraße outside. Eventually making our way to the excellent Schleusenkru biergarten, to meet Berlin Urban Sketcher Rolf Shroeter for Pils and flammkuchen until our day ended with us winding back through the city in the early hours to the hotel.
Train travel in Germany is easy. Travelling on the ICE train (Inter City Express) from Würzburg at speeds up to 300 kmh seemed effortless - the ride was gentle enough to sketch! We zoomed past hundreds of wind turbines and kilometre after kilometre of rail-side solar panels. Green energy is big here.
 |
| As usual train travel is great for people watching and people sketching. This guy had a feast hidden in those bags, he ate constantly! |
We made a full day itinerary which traversed the city several times - easily doable on our beaten up Electra hire bikes. The city is flat and the cycle lanes make negotiating the city really easy and safe.
Our hotel in East Berlin was very slick and comfortable but the exterior exuded eastern block brutalism. I felt like an extra in the 'The lives of others' - perfect.
 |
| Hordes of tourists around Brandenburg Gate |
 |
| Löschwassereinspeisung; basically an exotic sounding fire hydrant. |
Our impromptu tour took in Alexanderplatz, went past the Fernsehturm, Museum Island (no where near enough time to qeue for the Pergamon - that will wait next time!), Brandenburg Gate, a Currywurst stop, the Jewish Monument, Checkpoint Charley, the Reichstag, the Stasi Museum (spooky), then meandering through the Tiergarten - twice. Frederick the Great's hunting forest is huge, with lakes, monuments, formal gardens and some pretty wild forest. At times it's hard to believe you're in the middle of the city! We cycled past the brutal looking Soviet War Memorial, the beautiful Schloss Bellevue, and a bullet hole pocked yet luxuriously guilded memorial to the composers Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Eventually past the Zoo, down Ku'damm street, got lost in the KaDaWe department store (a department store on steriods, I got stuck in the mind-boggling toy department). Outside KaDeWe to draw the ‘Berlin’ Sculpture on Tauentzienstraße outside. Eventually making our way to the excellent Schleusenkru biergarten, to meet Berlin Urban Sketcher Rolf Shroeter for Pils and flammkuchen until our day ended with us winding back through the city in the early hours to the hotel.
 |
| The 'Berlin' Sculpture on Tauentzienstraße. Those red bordered signs indicate the position of underground services. |
Comments