Tag Archives: Berlin

Diary of a Slow Traveller – Street Art

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It seems that if you give someone a blank space some one will fill it.

Perhaps since our trip to Berlin and a stroll down the Eastside Gallery I have come to appreciate  a city’s street art.

With Slow Travel there is plenty of time to take it in. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking

Perhaps Berlin's most famous piece of street art

Perhaps Berlin’s most famous piece of street art

The biggest paste up I have ever seen - Berlin

The biggest paste up I have ever seen – Berlin

What else  do you  put on the wall.

It was almost worth staying on the fifth floor of this hotel with the lifts not working for the funky art.

Jules & Jim Hotel - Paris

Jules & Jim Hotel – Paris

A selection of the street art from our three months in Italy.

This picture seemed so apt. I’d taken a wrong turn in Florence and was confronted with a very angry Pokemon!

Backstreets of Florence

Backstreets of Florence

 

I have posted this elsewhere but perhaps this disused planter box was the epitome of my time in Sicily

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Street art is one of the many delights of Palermo. Continue reading →

Reflections of My Life

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I was listening to the 1969 Marmalades’ hit Reflections of my Life on Spotify.

It’s a forgotten classic by a band from Glasgow, however as I listened to it this time around, it was with quite different ears to those of the 12 year old who bought it in 1970 as a 45. I don’t think it was just being forty plus years older that gave the song a different feel.

It is a very melancholy song. For me, as with so many others, a couple of lines stood out,

The world is a bad place, a bad place
A terrible place to live, oh but I don’t wanna die.

Given the song was written at the height of the Vietnam War its anti-war sentiment is easy to understand as is the reference to the world as a bad and terrible place. This time around though, it was not the Vietnam War that I was thinking about when I listened to the song, but a photo I had seen on our recent trip. I could neither get the photograph or the lines out of my head.

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The photo is on display at the Topography of Terror in Berlin,

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More Berlin

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Having covered so many sights on our first day we decided on a leisurely next couple of days.

This was certainly helped by morning visits to the gym and watching the previous days highlights of the Tour de France as well as quite surprisingly finding that Foxtel Go worked on my iPad and iPhone.

Late breakfasts in the Wintergarten Coffee Shop, a new leader in the best coffee stakes, were also part of our leisurely starts to the day.

Whilst walking through Berlin we had become fascinated with the painted fibre glass bears that were spread throughout the city.

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Berlin – Second World War and The Wall

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After a long train trip we arrived in Berlin.

Berlin feels much more normal than the tourist filled Prague. A short taxi ride for a sensible fare and we are at our hotel, which overlooks the Berlin Zoo and is away from the centre of the city. It had been a debate about whether to stay in the West which is a little more conservative or in the East which is apparently more edgy and cool. An upgrade from a room to a small suite made the answer to that question easy! Our hotel is the former Danish Embassy building and is also next door to the Spanish Embassy.

After a week and a half I couldn’t get to the hotel gym fast enough. Won’t make up for all the holiday excesses but its a start!

Our first full day was all about the Wall and the Second World War.

We started at Check Point Charlie and The Wall. All interesting Continue reading →

Planning our trip to Europe

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I love planning holidays as it adds to the excitement and anticipation.

Sorting out the airfares, planning the places to visit, reading hotel reviews, buying travel books, finding places where we might eat, sights to see, buying new luggage and so on!

We decided a couple of weeks ago that we would take three to four weeks in late June through July and go somewhere. It’s peak season in Europe and not really our preferred time for travel, but it’s also University semester break and the quietest time at work in my year.

Where should we go?

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