Leandra and I visited Berlin over a long weekend here in 2009 so I had seen some of the tourist checklist items, leaving me a bit more freedom to explore a few new places.  This time I was in Berlin for a computational biology conference, so my opportunities were a bit more limited than our typical travels, but when I wasn’t in the ICC I was out exploring the city.

Later Thursday afternoon I walked through the Tiergarten, the large green space dominating the heart of Berlin. At the very center is the large Victory Column.

On Friday I headed over to Schloss Charlottenburg, the largest remaining royal residence in the city. As with most palaces, this was not understated…

It takes a good 5 minutes to walk around either of the wings (unpictured), so this is a large building. But I was here primarily for the gardens that are in back.

Later that afternoon I made my way to the south side of Berlin to visit a waterfall in Viktoriapark.

On the way back to my hotel I stumbled across an interesting courtyard next to the Sankt Bonifatius church.

During my time in Berlin I also visited two of the smaller museums. The Dali museum was interesting but primarily showcased sketches and memorabilia – so this is not the museum to see the large works for which he became famous. The Museum of Photography is primarily dedicated to Helmut Newton’s photos and memorabilia, with a special exhibit space on the third floor. They had most of the most famous Newton photos, some blown up larger than life size, and I quite enjoyed my time there.

On my last night in Berlin I headed toward the famous Brandenburg gate and Reichstag at sunset for a few photos.

across from KaDeWe