Berlin: A concert, a wall & an old friend

My trip to Berlin was mainly to catch up with Klaus – a very good friend ever since we first met at the Roskilde Festival about 13y ago. While the Guns n Roses concert we attended was only average, it was still good fun to hang out together. I also enjoyed travelling back into the 80’s with the wall panorama of Kreuzberg. Short, but sweet time in Berlin. Need to come back one day for a little longer.

Beer somewhere in Pankow

Panorama & Berlin wall

Prior to the concert there was some time to explore a little bit of Berlin. For me it’s always a bit special to be here with quite a few memories ranging from partying at the love parade to high-end business trips. What i had actually never done properly was to visit the Berlin wall (or the leftovers). The memorial site is located close to the northern train station on Bernauer Strasse. While it is not the only place in Berlin where you can see the wall itself, the whole area (including death strip) has been preserved and gives a pretty realistic impression of how it used to look like.

Another great way of going back in time is the 360 degree “DIE MAUER” panorama by artist Yadegar Asisi – an artist who spent a lot of time in my hometown Dresden where he studied architecture in the 70’s and thus knows the East first hand himself. His work depicts fictious day in the 1980’s looking from the suburb of Kreuzberg to Berlin Mitte. The way the work is done makes you feel that you are standing right in the scenery and hence feels a bit like travelling back in time. Really recommended. In addition, there is a photo exhibition of wall stories and a making-of movie for his panoramas (lots of work!).

Guns n Roses

I have to admit that the acoustics (and also Axel’s vocals) didn’t match the big name by any stretch and was certainly not on my top end of concert experiences. Still, it’s always great to see the guys and rock away to some of their classics. You’d just expect a bit more at a venue such as the olympic stadium in Berlin. It turned into a long evening anyway, as transport issues prevented us from leaving after the concert – some more time with Klaus, Laura, Stefanie & her friend. Arguably, that didn’t make the journey to Barcelona next morning any easier … close call at the check-in ;o)