Deutschland - land of the sausages and beers

Almost 2 weeks since I've returned from Germany. It was a trip not too bad. Visited the ever so popular and famous Oktoberfest in Munich, a couple of great stadiums there as well, and apparently a church which had a devil's footprint at its entrance(which I never even realised or noticed). We spent one day in Munich and the rest of the 3 were in Berlin, the capital city of Germany. Met up with the guys in Delft and we really visited quite alot of Master architect's design and had a reality check on some historical events that took place in this once war-torn land of the Nazis when we visited the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near the outskirts of Berlin. Here are some photos to share.

MUNICH

there's a total of around 14 temporary mega tents specially set up by 14 famous beer breweries from Germany. In fact, the entire place was set up just for this crazy festival.

a couple of shots on the facades of the tents

a few interiors shots of how some of the tents are like.

these horses..or rather..stallions I would say, drew attention from the massive crowd in the fest and obviously helped drew attention for the beer they are advertising for.

we could only gaze at some of the food that was at the fest..budget budget...:S

Oktoberfest at night is like a fun fair carnival, the only difference is...you smell pukes from the drunkards...broken beer mugs all over the street... crazy/drunked people coming up to you and say wierd things...bleah and below..is this crazy drunkard...came up to me while i was trying to take a shot of the 3 of us...grab and turned my camera and made me take a photo of him....welcome to munich...

New Town Square @ Munich

the church which apparently has the devil's footprint..not shown here...dun even know where is it...hoho

The Olympia stadium, built back in the 70s for the Olympics held in Munich. Yup, just like the movie, Munich..haha.. designed by Gunter Behnisch, this guy actually was the one our dear Widodo mentioned where he transferred this tensile structure thingy from this church in indonesia to this stadium design...if you guys still remember..heh

Another stadium we've visited, the Allianz Arena, by Herzog and de Meuron, the facade specialists always testing the limits of modern day building technology.

the stadium interior

and of course, the arena in the glory of its luminous facade at night.

check out who's on ESPN! (Johnny: "like that you also shiok...", well..when you are in such freaking boring environment...this is considered FREAKING EXCITING.. :P)

BERLIN

We headed for berlin through an overnight train filled with smoke...:S and arrived in Berlin Ostbahnhof, which was one S-Bahn station away from our hostel. Most of the pictures are buildings and sceneries...people shot, please check out Keguang, Jucheng and Elita's blog. Apparently, someone was supposed to send me those photos...tsk tsk...

Berlin Hauptbahnhof, completed just a few months back, its the largest train station in Europe. According to one German friend, the price of tickets going to berlin shot up by 20 euros just because of this new station....

The main reason for being in Berlin, Norman Foster's Reichstag. Entry was free but we queued for about 30 minutes and passed through a tight security check before we boarded this mega-size elevator to the dome. Worth the wait definitely.

Brandenburg Gate, a long stretch of road begins from this point to the Viktoria Column. Somewhat reminds me of how Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre was like.

The Viktoria Column

Peter Eisenman's Holocaust Memorial.

in case you are wondering who's that at the end of the isle..here's a hint: oldest man in our aki cohort. not really behaving like one ay.. :P

after all the hype...i had..Sony centre wasn't really that impressive..haha

SACHSENHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP

On the 2nd day, we visited one of the ever infamous concentration camps which tainted the German history. We were lucky enough to have a well-informed German guide giving us tonnes of information about WWII and the tyranny of the NAZIs. One of his most memorable lines: ' As a German, I don't feel guilty for the War, but I feel responsible for it.'

'ARBEIT MACHT FREI', meaning work sets you free, was on the gate into the concentration camp. oh well...

a memorial within the gas chamber in the camp. I did not take any pictures of the gas chamber, didn't feel it was appropriate.

the crucifixes on the wall each represents one prisoner who lost their life in this camp. There's a total of 10000 crucifixes.....

This concrete/stone roller thingy is ..erm..I think damn heavy. It was a torture/killing tool used by the NAZI in the camp where 3 prisoners will drag this crap for the entire day. Along the way, anyone who simply can't take it anymore will just collapse and get rolled over...yes...squashed dead...if only they put their minds and effort into more humane things.. wtf really...

by crossing this zone, the prisoners will get shot without warning.

The later part of the day, we walked around the 'museum island' in central Berlin. We managed to catch a glimpse of I.M. Peh's work.

The Altes Museum(left) and the Berliner Dom(right)

inside the Altes Museum, an uncanny resemblance to the Pantheon in Italy, which I'm GOING THERE REALLY SOON..hoho

A group photo..finally..haha

a bit bored..so some bo liao shots...i look totally distorted...:S

I.M. Peh's Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Checkpoint Charlie, one of the checkpoints which divided Berlin into the east and west, Communists Russianz and ever so 'selfless' freedom fighter of the United States.

The Berlin Wall

DAY THREE

This Church was being bombed during the world war. Just by being there, you can almost feel the atmosphere of the war... It was raining in the morning so not many pictures taken. From there, we moved to the Viktoria Column.

This is a Photoshop Manipulated Picture...hoho..only those who were there know why :P

Later part of the morning, we visited the New National Gallery by Mies Van de Rohe. Nothing exciting...I thought it was too simplistic rather than minimalistic. :P

New National Gallery

things you do when it gets boring....heh

We also managed to visit Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum just before returning to Lund.

The Garden if Exile, was a space which distorts your visuals and minds totally....when you are in there...you just keep wanting to lean towards the columns because of how the terrain was tilted in one diagonal direction while the columns at another direction.

inside the museum

And that was Germany. Probably my longest blog with the most number of photos. It was great fun to travel with familiar faces who speak your language. I enjoyed myself, hope the rest did too. Next stop, Italy and UK. And yes, I'VE GOT A TICKET TO THE EPL MATCH BETWEEN CHELSEA AND PORTSMOUTH NEXT SATURDAY!...hoho...keep a lookout for me..hahahah :P Leaving for Venice on the ever so unlucky friday the 13th evening...hoho...won't be back till like 10 days later on the 23rd October, Monday. Till then..cya!