don't go, say you'll stay, spend a lazy Sunday ...

This is Schloss Charlottenburg, built by first Queen of the Prussian Empire, Sophie Charlotte (ok, she prolly didn't build it, but had her minions do it for her ;-P), in the late 17th Century. She was of the Hohenzollern Dynasty. In any case. Much smaller, but as beautiful as Versailles, with wayyyyyy less tourists :-) It has magnificent French-style gardens in the back, of Baroque influence. I like visiting these palaces, they feel so cozy and I just feel at home :-) This is the only remaining aristocratic Palace in Berlin, the Schloss Berlin or Stadtschloss having been demolished during the DDR days. This palace here was severely damaged during WWII (like almost everywhere else in Berlin) but has been magnificently restored.

An interesting aspect of this Palace, which lies to the west of old Berlin, is that the Queen didn't like to take carriages through the dusty roads leading to Berlin, so at the end of her gardens, the river Spree has been modified, in order to offer her a docking area, so she could take a boat into town. Now, that's my kind of Queen!!!

Oh,  and in case you were wondering who the hell she was, she was the sister of Georges I of England.

And this is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Built in late 19th Century, seriously damaged in 1943, they built a new church with a tower adjacent to it in the late 50's/early 60's. I didn't go in as it was closed, but apparently they are finally going to start to restore the spire of the old church. This is one of those things, you have to see for yourself. It's located at the end of Kurfürstendamm, close to Banhoff Zoo and Europa Centre. This used to be the heart of West Berlin. Now, after re-unification, this area has lost some of it's prestige and importance to other locales such as Friedrichstraße, Unter den Linden and Alexanderplatz.

It's funny, Charlottenburg Palace, Ku' Damm, Bhf Zoo and this, are all within walking distance from each other, and another 5 minutes from Nollendrofplatz, the old Gay district from the 20-30's (life is a Cabaret, ol' chum). This is the first time that I walked around and that I finally understood how all of these things connect together, in terms of geography. It's hard to get a sense when taking the maze of U-bahn's that criss-cross this city.

I'm just now starting to get a sense of where I am and how everything relates to each other, which is freaking cool. I still live in the best neighbourhood though, hands down. Like, tonight, there might be a riot in the next street over. Just across from them is where I got pizza for dinner.