Berlin
Leider blieb nicht viel Zeit für touristisches. Sowieso ein merkwürdiger Gedanke, in die Stadt in der man 20 Jahre gelebt hat nach sechs Jahren zurückzukehren, um Tourist zu spielen! Gleichwohl hat sich viel geändert in dieser Zeit! Aber bis auf wenige Spaziergänge, etwa ums jüdische Museum herum, das einfach zu groß ist, dass Stella und ich es hätten an dem kurzen Morgen würdigerweise besuchen können, oder dem dreifachen Besuch der Oranienburger Tor Gegend, wo ich mich früher eher selten aufgehalten habe, war nicht mehr an sightseeing drin. Lassen wirs für Paris!

Unfortunately there wasn't much time for touristy stuff. A rather strange thought, anyway, to come back after five years to the city where one lived for twenty, in order to play tourist. But a lot has changed in that short time. But except or some walks, for example around the outside of the Jewish museum which was simply too big for Stella and myself to go inside and do it justice in that short morning, or three times visiting the area around the Oranienburger Tor, where I did not used to spend much time, there wasn't much on sightseeing that got accomplished. Leave that for Paris.
Manchmal ist ein Haus nur ein Haus. Manchmal hat man aber darin seine ersten Jahre verbracht. Dritter Stock. Blissestraße, Wilmersdorf. Für die, die auch deutsche Schmuckläden total witzig finden. Wiener Straße, SO36. Kunsthaus Tacheles Synagoge und Fußball-Fernsehturm. Neue Synagoge - Centrum Judaicum
Sometimes a house is just a house. Sometimes it's where you spent your first years. Fourth floor. Blissestraße, Berlin-Wilmersdorf. This belongs in the catagory of pictures for English speakers who also find German jewelry stores incredibly funny. Wiener Straße, Kreuzberg. Tacheles Cultural Center
Initially a department store - part of the Friedrichstraßenpassage shopping center - established in 1909, the building went through several metamorphoses, including suffering a bombing in the war, and was eventually occupied by squatters in the 1990s, namely the alternative art and cultural group Tacheles. Tacheles rescued the building from the wrecking ball by suing to have the building protected as a landmark. Meanwhile, Tacheles - the group and the building became synonymous - became a 'scene' center. Eventually the ruin was sold to a private firm who had the renovation carried out, the result of which is the fusion of the steel-concrete ruin and glass-and-steel construction visible in the photo. The building still houses the Tacheles Cultural Center. 		The syanagogue alongside the tv-tower, masquerading as a football. New Synagogue - Centrum Judaicum: click on English, then on History.
The New Synagogue was consecrated in 1866. Built by the architect Eduard Knoblauch who took his inspiration from The Al-Hambra in Granada, the synagogue was all but totally destroyed by bombing in WWII. It was rebuilt, and reconsecrated as the Centrum Judaicum in 1995. From a distance, the Moorish golden dome shines brightly, making it stand out in very sharp contrast to its environment.