Toot's Berlin Chronicles

Discussion
1

Just got back from Berlin the other day after spending 6 days in there, and wow… what a beautiful and cool as hell city Berlin is. It’s also massive too.

After much searching I finally found the killer record store Hard Wax to satisfy my Reggae and Dubstep needs to start things off…

First I found the Hard Wax sign…

I then walk through the tunnel and see a strange abandoned looking building…

I walk up to the door and see a Hard Wax sign above the doorway so it’s definately the right place…

I then head up 3 floors…

I then come to an open door…

I then walk through the door and see a poster for an amazing Dubstep night on Fri 10th… the day I leave featuring a few of my fav produers such as Scuba and Mala not to mention Loefah and Appleblim!

I then take a few more steps and…BOOM!!! Records galore!!!

Here’s a few other Berlin shots…

A giant lego Giraffe…

An awesome bell tower with it’s top blown off…

The Jewish Holocaust Memorial…

The Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag

The Berlin Wall…behind it was the infamous SS headquarters which has been demolished…not sure what they’re in the process of putting there???

Here’s one of Berlin’s iconic pictures which was one of my favourites…

Checkpoint Charlie…

There were also crazy bears and b-boys all over Berlin…

The Berliner Dom…this building was mind blowing inside and out. It’s amazing the cool shit man can build…this was bombed during WWII but was restored…

The coolest and most bad-ass cinema on the face of the planet.

And now for some street art Berlin stylee…

This one’s simple…but effective none the less.

And lastly one of the things I loved about Berlin…a bubblegum machine in the middle of nowhere.

To sum things up…Berlin is quite possibly the coolest city on the face of the planet. The thing that struck me the most about it was how pretty and clean the place is. It’s also huge and has superb shopping if that’s your thing. It also has some of the coolest nightclubs and bars around not to mention amazing restaurants. Their Zoo is regarded as one of the best in the world and I’d agree…totally amazing and beautiful. The animals had better houses than my hotel.

If you ever get the chance to visit this wonderful city… do it.

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Awesome pictures, Toot! Looks like you had a blast, but I’m sorry you missed that show on your last day there. Berlin’s definitely one of the cities I want to visit someday.

I that you in the Checkpoint Charlie pic?

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Is that you in the Checkpoint Charlie pic?

I was wondering the same thing…

I like that pic of the soldier helping the child through the barbed wire! I’ve never seen that Pic before until now and it’s pretty powerful especially with that worried look on the soldiers face “anybody watchin me?”

Not much into traveling, mostly a home body, but gotta give you credit, you made made travel photos look interesting and wouldn’t mind checking out Berlin one day.
Late,
grmpysmrf

BTW Toot I love that word “Numpty” Is that your own creation? I laugh every time I read it on your sig.

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east and west are no longer.
how about that helmut newton museum?

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fantastic storytelling with the first few going into the record store… really felt like i could put myself there mentally from the pics…

seemed a little odd for a store to be around so many twists and turns and through tunnels like that. but hey this ain’t america

and pardon my foolishness but what’s the significance of the bear statues?

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Not sure what the deal is with the colourful bears? Here in Edinburgh we have the same thing except they’re colourful cows.

Here’s a few more Berlin shots.

This is the square where the infamous Nazi book burning took place.

I thought it was quite funny as opposite the square they were selling 2nd hand books. Obviously these were the books that survived!

Berlin Synagogue

We visited quite a few museums. Here are a few of them…

The embassies in Berlin were amazing. They were all unique. My fav one was the Italian embassy…it was a gift from Hitler to Mussolini and it’s nickname is “Pretty In Pink”…I’m sure you can guess why!

Here’s the Saudi embassy.

The Berlin TV Tower…I was too much of a pussy to go up it though.

The Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owens pissed Hitler off!

A very heavy as hell Mini.

This is the inside of the Reichstag.

Remember how I said the animals at the zoo had better houses than my cool hotel…

The Giraffe house.

The Bison house.

Here’s one a the gardens in the zoo for all you garden lovers.

A ancient symbol inside a mall.

Here’s a few shots of the food hall in the massive department store KaDeWe…yum yum!

The cool thing about parks in Berlin is…they virtually all have ping pong tables!

Now of course when you visit Berlin you HAVE to visit the Erotic Museum. It has sex shops in there that are flasher than most upmarket department stores…behold one of the dvd porn sections…

Toys for the girls…and guys???[:/]

Here’s a great picture within a picture within a picture of the Brandenburg Gate how it is today and how it was at the end of WWII.

Here’s a few more iconic Berlin shots for the Smurf…

And lastly a few more shots of the amazing Berliner Dom…

By the way that was me at Checkpoint Charlie.

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Excellent pics Toot! glad you shared. Man, I really like those military pics, which is odd cause I don’t generally care for war/soldiers/ military type imagery…BTW You look nothing like how I pictured you…which is weird because now that I’ve seen you I can’t remember how I pictured you, Heh [:)]. No matter cause Your still that cool guy that sent me Jesu! Even More BTW it seems to me that Most of Jesu’s catalogue is much better on summer nights. heartache really jumps out at me now. given it a few more spins over the last couple of days, Just seems like Jesu is night time music and even more specific, night time summer music any other times and it just doesn’t feel quite right.
Late,
grmpysmrf

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bring a tear to my eye.
and i recall checkpoint charlie when it wasn’t just a monument in the middle of a street.
i was very young.
terrific photos. thanks. did you get one of the international clock?

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Ive been to Berlin many times and love the city. Great vibe all around and lots of freaks on the street (kinda like Camden Town city-wide).

Have you been to the Tacheles club? Actually its an art-house (kuntzhaus) that also has a club on the bottom floor. Its in a huge bombed out building by Oranienburger Strasse and close to Friedrichsstrasse.

Really awesome place, I used to drink there often, they also sell weed there pretty casually, the cops generally just leave the place alone.

EDIT: Just noticed the picture of the Tacheles cinema, so I take it you’ve been there. Either way, awesome place that everyone who visits Berlin should check out.

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No matter cause Your still that cool guy that sent me Jesu!

Oh yeah I forgot about that!

Keep your eyes peeled for new Jesu EP & LP soon.

Jesu rules.

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did you get one of the international clock?

Are they near the TV Tower? I remember seeing lots of clocks with the times of different cities from around the world. Didn’t get any shots of it. There was however a Michael Jackson shrine under it if that’s the one. Got photos of the shrine but can’t find them?

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Have you been to the Tacheles club? Actually its an art-house (kuntzhaus) that also has a club on the bottom floor. Its in a huge bombed out building by Oranienburger Strasse and close to Friedrichsstrasse.

No I didn’t actually go clubbing while I was there as we packed in 12-13hr days then were knackered when we got back to our hotel which was on the edge of the Tiergarten. Also I can’t stand hangovers so would have been miserable sightseeing with one!

Next time I come back to Berlin I will coincide it with a big club night.

Nuerosis played on the Monday night we were there but we missed that sadly…my girlfriend also is not a fan of my music hahahaha…

Here’s a few more pics…

Another strange ancient symbol in Berlin!

A cool bike.

The inside of one of the many shopping malls.

The legendary Ampelmann. He is the green man at traffic lights and is a celebrity in Berlin. He is busy cooking in this photo though…

The famous Currywurst. I had this for lunch virtually every day. It’s a sausage with an amazing sort of warm ketchup and curry powder sprinkled on top. Fries with it too of course. Food of the gods.

A kick ass horse at one of the newish train stations.

A Dungeons & Dragons/World Of Warcraft type store…

A beautiful spot for a picnic which was about a 5min bike ride from the Reichstag.

And lastly two great shots from the zoo…

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Berlin is the mother of all cities; there twice last year, would go back in a second. They’re good photos.

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MaggitTooth,

you’re a gun, thanks a lot fer all the pick-a-tures [:)]

seriously, takes effort, so it’s much appreciated/acknowledged

btw:

I couldn’t imagine what you’d look like (let alone anyone else on the forum) and keep envisaging you in my minds eye as ‘being’ yer avatar… hence, why I keep expecting that animal (dog? wolf? weasel? heh-huh?) to pop up with the exact same expression in every photo.

Lord help me.

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the international clock also appears in the movie bourne supremacy. i am bad at north west south and east. clock’s either near the holocaust memorial (which you documented perfectly. it is claustrophobic, being in those rows, but that’s the point) or in some open air place on the way.
never lived in berlin. travelled in and out many times.
the helmut newton museum (gallery) was interesting. the guy who photographed so many porno shots in the name of art and got paid. a lot.
great photographer. look him up.

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Man looks like an awesome trip, thanks for sharing the photos! Super fun thread, please share more photos if you have them. For some reason the huge candies shop was my favorite.

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Toot, you are the coolest. Mad respect.

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Toot, you are the coolest. Mad respect.

Back atcha ma honky.

I will post some more Berlin photos in the near future.