16 Wednesday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Another photo from September: Just one of the many busy bees flitting from flower to flower in the vast garden outside Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin.
Charlottenburg is the largest former royal palace in the city.
15 Tuesday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, Germany, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
14 Monday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Tags
airport, Berlin, Germany, park, photography, photowalk, random, Tempelhof, Tempelhofer, transportation, Travel, urban
The former Berlin Tempelhof Airport is a surreal green space.
It was an active commercial airfield until 2008 but since then, it’s been turned over to the people as a neat place to work and hang out.
The runways, once busy with jetliners, are now the domain of cyclists, in-line skaters and skateboarders.
The green spaces welcome kite enthusiasts (as seen above in September 2016), dog walkers and community gardeners.
There’s even a mini-golf course on site.
Some of the old airport terminal and cargo spaces are being re-used as offices, too.
This isn’t the first time the Tempelhof site has been easily accessible to the public. According to a historical article from the Berlin airport authority, the space was once used as a parade ground before it was earmarked for airport construction.
Once the airport closed, Berlin residents saved the space thanks to a referendum, the authors of the website tempelhoferfeld.info told me via Twitter.
As a result of the vote, the vast open areas won’t change very much while the area occupied by the defunct airport terminal and ancillary buildings can be developed with input from Berliners.
Definitely an instance of preservation, recreation and urban re-development working hand-in-hand.
13 Sunday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
Tags
Berlin, Germany, history, palace, photography, photowalk, Potsdam, preservation, random, Travel
Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany, is home to some neat historical palaces tied to the German monarchy. Above is the New Palace; below is Sanssouci Palace. Most of the buildings have been preserved and are open to the public for visits; some are used by the University of Potsdam.
12 Saturday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, trains, Trains & Transit, transit, transportation, Travel, urban
Tags
Berlin, Germany, photography, photowalk, rail, random, subway, train, trains, transit, transportation, Travel, U-Bahn, urban
Oberbaumbrücke, which crosses the Spree River in Berlin, is a bridge for private vehicular traffic and trains to/from the Warschauer Straße station at the eastern end of the U-Bahn’s Line 1. This photo was snapped on a gorgeous afternoon this past September.
10 Thursday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, Germany, history, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is a singularly unique site in western Berlin.
The older church spire is what remains of the original church, heavily damaged during the Second World War. It has since been restored and its ground floor is a memorial hall spotlighting its namesake monarch, the church’s past, and what it and nearby areas endured during wartime bombing raids.
The spire is surrounded by modern buildings that make up the functional church.
Pictured above are the two belfries, as they appeared on an early autumn evening this September.
09 Wednesday Nov 2016
Posted in Berlin, Germany, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
07 Monday Nov 2016
Posted in art, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
06 Sunday Nov 2016
Posted in London, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel, urban
Tags
England, HDR, iPhoneography, London, night, photography, photowalk, random, Travel, urban
The National Gallery in London was about to wind down its day on this Friday night back in September but Trafalgar Square would continue to bustle for hours to come.
05 Saturday Nov 2016
Posted in London, photography, photowalk, photowalking, random, Travel
The previous time I visited London’s Tate Modern museum of international modern and contemporary art, the view you see pictured above wasn’t possible. That’s because the museum only recently opened a building to provide more room for exhibitions, more spaces for other uses, a restaurant and an observation deck allowing for sweeping, 360-degree views of London. (If you plan to go, bring a sweater, as it can get gusty up there.)
Back inside, warm and cosy, I wandered into an exhibition called Living Cities, which explores how urban dwellers live. It uses photographs, paintings, interactive art and such displays as the construction you see above — a scale model city made of couscous. (I wondered what it was made of when I smelled it. I was surprised to learn my guess was correct.)
Ricky Leong 