17.06.2007

Berlin City Sightseeing

Editors' home & office is located at the southwestern border of Berlin. On Sunday morning, we took Samanijis to the centre of Berlin for sightseeing. After a 20-minutes ride, we started with a building, completely constructed of Rajasthani sandstone, Indian embassy in Germany. Samanijis wondered a lot when they saw a building in the centre of Berlin, build with the same material, houses in Ladnun mainly are constructed with. The constructing material had been brought all the way from Rajasthan to Berlin, and so had the workers!

Samanijis & Karuna in front of Indian Embassy in Germany

We then went to Potsdamer Platz, the new-old vibrating centre of the town. Sony Center, named after the Japanese company which spent a big amount for shaping its branch in Berlin according to the highest contemporary architectural standards, and other prominent buildings are seen in the background. Perhaps one can imagine the desert-like location Potsdamer Platz was at the time of Berlin Wall, when looking at Samanijis & Karuna on the photo left, without spending attention to Sony Centre and the other buildings in the background.

Samanijis & Karuna with Sony Center (l), & Daimler Building (r) in the background

In the middle of Sony Centre, canopied with a beautifully shaped glass roof, evenings illuminated in changing colours

In front of remains of Berlin Wall & new Metro & train station

Karuna answers to Samanijis questions

Inside Sony Center with its famous glass roof

The new-old centre of Berlin can be understood when some facts of Germany’s history of the last 110 years are known. This is the only way to get proper answers to all questions rising at this location. Therefore, we gave a short overview to Samanijis, and proposed to give more details after the tour, when we would be back home. Samanijis agreed, and we went back to the car to continue our tour. On the way, we crossed Sony Center, and got much attention of the many visitors, ladies turned around when we had passed, children came with open arms near Samanijis, see the video Aparigraha had taken there:

samanijis - berlin city sightseeing.mpg

We then visited famous locations of 'Old Berlin' (Dom, Museumsinsel, Schloßplatz) and got an impression of a four storeys mega aquarium, situated in the court yard of a big hotel. Time had flown away, and it was time to go to Amit Ranka's house where a delicious lunch waited for us. Samanijs then spent the whole afternoon in his house and came back in the evening. Amit Ranka enjoyed their presence a lot, and when he accompanied them back, we had some nice talks on our terrace.