Brandenburg Gate – suemtravels

Berlin’s Bundestag, Reichstag Building and Dome

By: suemtravels December 7, 2018January 16, 2020

Berlin, Germany299 German Constituencies, Activist Marie Elisabeth Lüders, Berlin's Government District, Brandenburg Gate, British Architect Norman Foster, Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor, Double Helix, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Fall of Berlin to the Soviets in 1945, Federal Republic of Germany, German Bundestag, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Federal Assembly, German National Parliament, German Unification Treaty 1990, Habsburgs, Hitler Regime, Hitler's Nazi Regime, Marie-Elisabeth Lüders House, Medieval Habsburgs, Nazism, Personalized Proportional Representation, Plenary Chamber, Plenary Hall, Reichstag, Reichstag Building, Reichstag Fire, Reichstag Glass Dome, The Battle of Berlin, Weimar Republic, Wolfgang Schäuble President of the Federal Assembly and the German BundestagLeave a Comment

Last night I visited the German Bundestag and toured the Reichstag Dome. I took the U-Bahn and then enjoyed city lights during a misty walk along the canal. Reichstag security is extremely tight with guards patrolling the building inside and out. You must register in advance and present your passport for identification. It’s tedious and the…

Berlin Reflections

I’m approaching two months in Berlin and there’s still more to see and learn. Each city has personality, and Berlin is uniquely difficult to describe. I’m not a fast-moving tourist, so moving at a slower pace helps shine a different light on things. It’s a complex city with a young population and immense history and nuances…

Exploring Berlin

By: suemtravels October 7, 2018November 1, 2019

Berlin, European Cities, GermanyAlbania, Bebelplatz, Berlin, Berlin Cathedral, Berlin Festival of Lights, Berlin Like A Local, Berlin National Library, Berlin Opera House, Berlin Techno Nightlife, Berlin TV Tower, Berlin Walking Tours, Berlin Wall, Berlin War Memorial Tränenpalast Museum, Boulevard Unter den Linden, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, DDR Museum, French Cathedral, Gendarmenmarkt, George Elser Hitler's Would Be Assassin, German History Museum, Gestapo and SS Headquarters, Gneisenaustraße, Google Maps, Holocaust Memorial, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Kreuzberg, MapsMe, Memorial to Hitler Assassin Georg Elser, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Museum Island, Nazi Book Burning Memorial, Nazi Book Burning Plaza, Nazi regime Gestapo and SS Headquarters, Neue Wache (New Guard), Neukölln, Pariser Platz, Pergamon Museum, Peter Eisenman, Prenzlauer Berg, Reichstag Building, Remains of Hitler’s Bunker, River Spree, Royal Palace, S-Bahn, Schloss Charlottenburg, St. Hedwig's Cathedral, The Missing House, Topography of Terror, U-Bahn, Wilhelminian Style Architecture1 Comment

Learning to navigate a large city requires patience and perseverance – ha… Berlin’s heated pace is both daunting and exhilarating. I’ve gone from being befuddled and hopelessly lost to feeling ecstatic while making successful transport connections and blending with locals. Navigating Berlin As a point of comparison, Istanbul’s 14+ million population makes Berlin’s 4 million…

Hot Oregon Summer – Berlin Next

By: suemtravels August 21, 2018October 18, 2019

Africa, Berlin, Cape Town, European Cities, Germany, Oregon USA, South AfricaAfrican National Congress (ANC), Alte Nationalgalerie, Altes Museum, Berlin Cathedral, Berlin Museum Island, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin-Mitte, Berliner Dom, Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Weihnachtszeit at Roten Rathaus, Bode Museum Mitte, Brandenburg Gate, Cape Town, Carr Fire Redding California, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Democratic Alliance (DA), Durban, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Gendarmenmarkt, Johannesburg, Julius Sello Malema, Komische Oper, Land Expropriation South Africa, Mitte, Mmusi Maimane, Monbijou Park, Museum Island Berlin, Museumsinsel, Neues Museum, Neukölln, Pergamon Museum, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Potsdamer Platz, River Spree, Rustenburg, South Africa, South Africa's Drought, South Africa's National Development Plan (NDP), Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Staatsoper Wien Opera House, The Berliner Philharmoniker, Tiergarten Park, Unter den Linden, Weihnachtsmarkt am Gedächtniskirche, Weihnachtszauber at the Gendarmenmarkt, Wildfires - Oregon, Wintertraum am Alexa, Winterwelt am Potsdamer Platz, Xenophobia-Related Violence1 Comment

Gardening and Wildfires It’s been a restful, contemplative summer in Oregon working in my garden with deer, wild turkeys, annoying yellow jackets, and a stray Goth-looking black cat. Sadly, dry and windy conditions combined with a record-breaking heat wave resulted in raging wildfires all around us. The massive Carr Fire near the California / Oregon border created terrifying “fire tornadoes“.…