Out and about on the streets of Berlin...

My thoughts exactly!

Money makes you sexy (at least that's the gist of it). Or so they say...

The top of the Television Tower obscured by low cloud on a windy October day.

This hotel in Alexanderplatz is a very bland modern building, but I thought that the reflection of the Television Tower in its windows was striking!

A poster for one of the local radio stations. There was a phone-in competition for listeners to "Katrin und der Kaiser" to see who could spot certain posters (there were many different designs). This one was in Am Friedrichshain.

I was in Unter den Linden on 1 May 2004, when there was a street party to celebrate the expansion of the European Union. It stretched most of the way from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz. (Or that's how it seemed!) We drank beers from kiosks and ate Polish sausages. This photo was intended to show one of the signposts pointing to European capital cities that had been set up. It was the only UK one I noticed -- to Cardiff.

2005 was "Einsteinjahr". This hoarding is for an exhibition inside this building, the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince's Palace)
in Unter den Linden.

Einsteinjahr again -- this time "The State is for the people, not the people for the State". This quotation takes up the entire side of the central part of the Federal Chancellor's Office (Bundeskanzleramt).

The view (on a dull day!) from the Michaelbrücke, over the River Spree. Left to right: the twin spires of the Nikolaikirche;
the dome of Berlin Cathedral; the tower of the Stadthaus, and the tower of the Rotes Rathaus (Berlin City Hall).
The Fernsehturm is visible on the far right.

Much the same view as above, but taken on a pleasant September day in 2007 from the Oberbaumbrücke, the next bridge but one east from the Michaelbrücke.

Flats in the Pappelallee, Prenzlauer Berg. I tried to catch the bright colours of the walls, roofs, and trees against the clear blue sky of a warm and sunny October afternoon.

One of the post-war blocks of flats in the Hansaviertel -- a devastated part of the former West Berlin between the Tiergarten and the River Spree. The Hansaviertel was the showpiece housing complex counterpart of East Berlin's Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee).

Berlin's darker side. During the elections of September 2006, several extreme right-wing parties fielded candidates.

Not far from where I saw the election poster is Schloss Niederschönhausen. This attractive little palace dates from the early 18th century, and is now undergoing extensive restoration. Among its many uses has been as the residence of Wilhelm Pieck, the first (and only) President of the German Democratic Republic.

An interesting villa in the well-to-do borough of Zehlendorf.

Mexikoplatz, Zehlendorf.

The S-Bahn station Mexikoplatz, Zehlendorf.

The Brotfabrik (a former "bread factory") in Caligariplatz, Weißensee, is now an arts centre. I translate "Kunst ist Lebensmittel" as "Art is the stuff of life." Quite right! And yes, Caligariplatz is named after the famous silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) which was made in the area.