Berlin By Boat

Over the summer one Sunday I got to go on a dinner boat cruise around Berlin with my job. It was a five hour trip and we went all the way from Moabit out past Treptow towards Köpenick in the former East Berlin. I had never been out on the Spree River and it was a really nice new perspective of the city and a beautiful day. Here are some of my photos, so you can see Berlin from this angle as well!

 Pulling away from where I work in Moabit.

 We say this old school ship on the way

 Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the main train station. I don't usually see it from this side!

 People chilling by the river. Once spring hits Berlin, every green surface looks like this.

My favorite bridge, the Oberbaumbrücke separating Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, the former West from the former East. I especially love that at night the sides are continuously playing Rock, Paper, Scissors against each other via light up signs.

This is also a regular occurrence. I am totally getting my own blow up raft for next summer. Love it.

 Insel, a venue on a small island where various parties are held.

 The view sailing towards Treptow.

 It's getting dark and we've turned around. The view of the Oberbaumbrücke from the other side.

 Here is the outside of one of the big clubs, KaterHolzig. This was funny to sail by as it was around 8 or so Sunday evening and the outside was PACKED with drunk dancing people. Oh Berlin.

Taking a break while they bring us back to the correct water level. Different parts of the Spree are at different levels, so sometimes they hold you in a small section while they add or take away water to level you with the next part of the river.

Berliner Dom

And that's that! One of the nicest boat cruises I've been on! I recommend everyone take a chance to see Berlin by boat if the opportunity ever arises!

Berlin Festival of Lights

Now that I'm back in America for a month with limited responsibilities (albeit limited electricity, thanks Sandy!), I can catch up on blog posts! A couple weeks ago a bunch of friends and I went to check out the Berlin Festival of Lights. We took a walk around the center to see a bunch of lit up things and it was pretty! Anyway, the pictures speak for themselves...

We decided anything that was lit up was for the festival of lights. Including this.

We also found this exhibit of lollipop things, which wasn't so much about lollipops as it was Berlin history. The lollipops were markers on a big map of Berlin, which was painted on the ground.

Okay, this was really for the festival of lights.

Found this during our wander.

More lights!

Then Vojtech and I got convinced to buy a touristy light up thing, so we threw that up in the air a lot until it fell apart. I guess we got our 2 euros worth of entertainment with it! Here is Nicole throwing it into the sky!

My favorite thing to do in any city is just to walk around and look at things, and I like lights, so all in all a good combination!

Manhattan Without Lights: Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Lower Manhattan

Yesterday Brian and I walked over the Manhattan Bridge to get to Lower Manahattan to visit some friends without power. All the subways were down (limited service just opened again today) and all public transportation, mostly buses at this point, is currently free. It was kind of crazy, as everything was closed and dark. Here's some pictures of our journey.

The line for the Fung Wah bus in China Town o get out of the city. This whole area is without any power. No elevators, sometimes no water, nothing.

 Bank is closed today.

Even though all the shops were closed, a few decided to start little take-out stands out front to offer food to passers-by. A bit of the entrepreneurial spirit to go around...

 Ouch.

Make sure you follow on Facebook! Hah.

 No gas.

 Only SOME snacks...!

Watch out Dane, we need to talk about yesterday...

 Midtown has power, notice how everything close is dark, with the lit up buildings in the background.

The 3 lights are someone with a generator.

Normally all those windows would be lit up. If it wasn't cloudy, it'd be a good time to look at the stars in Manhattan.

 The Divide: To the right is lit up, to the left, Lower Manhattan is dark.

Once you get to the Brooklyn side of the bridge, the lights miraculously start working again. Notice the rapid change in lighting. Crazy.