Berlin – Garden of Sand

This is my sixth visit to Berlin and today it was primarily to show my mom the Erholungspark Marzahn (Marzahn recreational park) which I visited when I was staying in the capital for two days.

Earlier I read that Berlin has an exhibition of sand sculptures, too. The Sandsation is conveniently placed right next to the central station and didn’t seem to have a general theme like the Sandworld in Travemuende. There were many sculptures and most seemed to aim for a place in an art museum. But no sculpture will survive the exhibition 😉 Although the artists are quite skillful, I like the Sandworld more.

Berlin. Again. Sigh.

Some people say it’s crazy to visit Berlin via regional express trains (it takes about four times longer compared to the ICE), others just smile (like my Japanese teacher). Well, this was my sixth visit to Germany’s capital and this time together with my mom. We arrived at Berlin-Hauptbahnhof (tief) and then continued to Westkreuz in order to see the Funkturm, which today is just a sightseeing spot without any broadcast functions. There were many bikers there today because of the motorbike days in Berlin.

One ring to rule them all

The Filmpark was closed except one exhibition: The Lord of the Rings. They showed various pieces of the movie like photos, swords, costumes, miniatures, The One Ring and armory. The exhibition was heavily guarded to prevent people from taking photos. The films shown on the displays were interesting, but noting new if you own the special extended edition of the movie trilogy. Some people came in middle-age style costumes. Before the exhibition room was a smaller one which was mainly a shopping area with a bar, a computer desk (featuring the LotR strategy game of course), a place where you could order a customized ring and another place for jewelry.

After that we took the bus (which drives only once per hour, by the way) back to central station and did a little sight seeing of Potsdam. We came across the town hall and the Filmmuseum.

It was a short trip to the town because we wanted to catch the train to Berlin. One interesting thing in Potsdam central station was an exhibition about self-built things – wood computers galore!
Arriving at Berlin central station, we went to the Hamburger Bahnhof modern art museum nearby. Just take the exit opposite to the one leading to the Regierungsviertel and then it’s merely a few hundred meters to the museum. The museum was great as always and one good thing is that they don’t seem to mind people taking photos or filming. They have a few works from Warhol (pop-art “Mao”) and Liechtenstein in their permanent exhibition. In the other wing of the museum you could watch video experiments such as a 24 hour version of “Psycho”. I like especially video installations with two or three channels.

The eerie blue light of Berlin’s museum of modern art.

The Hamburger Bahnhof is really big and after seeing all halls my mom was just too tired to go to the Eastside Gallery, too. Therefore we stayed at the central station and watched several chinese martial-arts demonstrations which were performed because of the chinese new year. On the other exit, there was also a “dragon dance”.

Berlin, Gardens of the World – Autumn Colors

Gardens of the World is in the Marzahn Recreational Park and used to be the Berlin Horticultural Show back in 1987. Horticultural shows have a long tradition in Germany, such as the bi-annual Bundesgartenschau. Extensive gardens are created or extended to attract tourists during such a show and unlike a trade show, the garden (or parts of it) usually remains.

True to its name, the Gardens of the World contains various gardens in different styles. There is a Chinese, Korean and Japanese garden, an oriental garden as well as others.

In Autumn, the Japanese and Korean garden offer a spectacular sight as the leaves turn red or golden.

The opening times for the theme gardens may differ from the opening times of the Gardens of the World. The latter is open from 9am until 4pm (November to February), 6pm (March, October) and 8pm (April to September). The bus line 195 stops at “Erholungspark Marzahn”.