Berlin (Part 1)

As in my previous post, here's the Flickr link for all the other pictures I took.

Berlin is a great city. I absolutely love how it has the mix of old and new, the history behind everything, and a very safe feel to it all. In my last post, I mentioned the interviews I had coming up. The first one was Monday with BlackBridge, second was Tuesday with Pixformance. I really liked what I saw at Blackbridge and was really happy when they offered me a job! So it looks like I'll be working there starting in September (so excited!).



I'll probably get more in detail about the work at a later time, I'll keep this post focused on Berlin as a tourist. I didn't do too much touristy stuff the days of the interviews, partly due to weather and partly because of the time they took from the day.

Suit and tie, looking dapper

My hotel was near Kurfürstendamm, also known as Ku'damm, and is well known as a popular shopping street in Berlin. There's all the big famous designer brands there, but more importantly, an Apple Store and coming soon a Tesla store right next to it.

Tesla!

Yep, the Apple store is in that building

BlackBridge's offices are just around the corner from where I took those pictures, so I simply had to walk from the hotel to the office building. It's quite a nice location with lots of shops and restaurants in the area.

I had booked my first hotel just long enough for the interviews, so after the two interview days I moved to another hotel not too far. A friend recommended the Motel One chain, and it had good reviews and modern facilities at an affordable rate so I booked it. The room was pretty nice, small but efficient.

Room at Motel One Tiergarten

Bathroom, notice the lack of shower door

Shower and sink

View from the room

TV that when it turns on, goes to a video of a fish tank and calm music

Before I was able to get to my room, I had some time (checked out of the other hotel before noon and the check in for Motel One was at 3pm) to spare, so I walked over to Wittenbergplatz to do some window shopping. KaDeWe (officially Kaufhaus des Westens) is a popular and large (very large) department store and I wandered around for a bit before being bored and realizing that I needed to reserve a spot on the train to Copenhagen.

Between Wittenbergplatz and Ku'damm there was some sort of fair

The famous KaDeWe

Wittenbergplatz station. I had first seen it all snowy in January, was fun to see it warm during the summer

I didn't take pictures of this, but at the central station, the ticket office has a little station where you reserve a number and each ticket window calls up a number when they're ready. The whole system is automated through some computer system, with monitors showing the last numbers called and where to go. It took about 30 minutes of waiting, but there were over 50 numbers before me. Luckily there was no problem in getting a reservation on the train, which I later found out would be the best 4.50€ I spent.

Afterwards I made my way over to the Brandenburg Gate. To get there from the central station is a short U-Bahn ride over. And it really is short, because there's only 3 stations on the U55 line (Hbf, Bundestag, Brandenburger Tor), so the train just shuttles back and forth on the same tracks.

U55 Station at Berlin Hauptbahnhof

The little train that services this line

I didn't have either of my cameras with me at the time (except my cell phone), but I did go back and take pictures afterwards (more later). Afterwards I headed back via bus and was amused when a bus that said "Fahrschule" showed up ("Fahrschule" is basically driver's ed, so in this case a bus driver was learning the route). There was also a horse-drawn carriage that I've seen before around the Brandenburg Gate going down, and I took what I like to think of as a very German picture.

Fahrschule bus. Also, a lady walking in front of me right when I was taking a picture. Thanks.

Horse-drawn carriage

I feel this exemplifies a lot of things about Germany. High-end taxi cars, old and new transportation, and construction with a backdrop of a historical landmark

I'm going to cut this post here. Sorry I'm so far behind on posting, but I will get through the backlog, I promise!