The Renaissance Garden

Today has been the first day for a week with sunshine. Well, the sky got cloudy again after lunch, and when I got home from work it looked dreary again. But at least it stayed dry.
On days like these I like to browse through my flickr account. That photo was taken in the middle of [...]

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October 3, the Day of German Unity

Tomorrow Germany will be celebrating its grand national holiday, the Day of German Unity. A lot of years have passed since 1990, the year of German reunification. Those have been years of enthusiasm, of joy, but also of disappointment and bitterness.
When I arrived in Berlin in 1981 the Berlin Wall was a fact. Nobody could [...]

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The Chinese Garden

The Chinese Garden is a part of the “Gardens of the World” in Berlin-Marzahn. Berlin-Marzahn is a neighbourhood in Berlin with many multi-story buildings. These buildings were erected in the 60s of the 20th century, and many families moved there, leaving their flats in the old houses which were at that time in very poor [...]

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The Beauty of Ornaments

Art in Oriental countries does not know the presentation of people, animals or even flowers. Instead of this there is a highly developed culture of decorating rooms with ornaments.
As you can see in this photo, the floor is wonderfully tiled, and there is a band of ornaments going round the walls. And have a look [...]

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Water

One of the most wonderful parks in Berlin is a park called “gardens of the world”. You can visit an oriental garden, a Chinese Garden, a Japanese Garden, a Korean Garden, a Balinese Garden and a Renaissance Garden.
Yesterday, I went there for the first time since being in Berlin – which is quite a shame. [...]

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Graffitti – City Art II

Art in general is something you can have discussions about, especially Modern Art. But regarding the paintings on the sculpture above most of you will say “No, that’s definitely not art, that’s simply smearing paint on something”. But here is the definition of Art written in Wikipedia:
“Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging [...]

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City Art

Paint on walls can be ugly. There are quite a few buildings smeared with paint here in my district, Kreuzberg. Kids smear on walls to leave their signs there (They use the English word “tagging” to describe what they do), to demonstrate that they are somebody.
On the other side paint on walls can be very [...]

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Berlin in the Summer

No, this is not a lake somewhere in Mark Brandenburg. We are in Berlin, at the shores of Lake Tegel, which can easily be reached by public transport. And this is only one of the many places in Berlin where you can watch the swans, ducks and boats coming in and going out. Berlin is [...]

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A Place to Breathe

This is a place I like to go to on the weekend: just a few meters away from where I live there is a lovely steakhouse, managed by two young men in their 20ies, with a wonderful patio. Since Easter 2009 they have been offering delicious food, tasty wine and beer and – a place [...]

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An Old Church, a Fountain and a Busy City

Have you ever heard of Berlin, Alexanderplatz?  It is a large public square and transport hub in the Mitte (city centre) district of Berlin. Lots of people are crossing it, heading to the big malls, changing from one kind of public transport to the other one, in the morning off to work, in the afternoon [...]

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