Arriving in Berlin for me was like taking a step back in time. The atmosphere is seeped in history, both old and new. I felt the fight for the struggle for freedom everywhere I went.
We took a "Tourist Tour" of the city walking to Brandenburg Gate, The Holocaust Memorial, The Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie .... and many other famous landmarks. It is an incredibly interesting place to visit and made me realise how very lucky I am that I live in the UK.
We stayed in East Berlin where the landscape is filled with derelict buildings and apartments, and graffiti everywhere... it still looks very run down. Construction is taking place, there was scaffolding, cranes and diggers in abundance though this was mostly in the West.
We visited several Galleries, my favourite was the Street Photography in a small gallery in a house. We saw prints by Henri Cartier Bresson, Metzner, Claire Stone, Bill Brandt and many others. These were totally inspirational, the skills of the artists took my breath away.
After arriving home, I looked at my photographs and I am very disappointed. I think the freezing cold conditions were not condusive to my getting a good shot of anything!
It was a long and very tiring trip, we walked what seemed like miles each day in the freezing weather. I've come away with the impression of a city still healing itself and the feeling that the people there are still trying to make up for their past.
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