Berlin, Day 2

silhouette of a crowd of people under blue laser lights creating a geometic pattern
35mm Summicron ASPH / Leica M10-P

Day two in Berlin, and it was a good one. Firstly brunch. We checked out a cafe named Refinery on our way to the Alte Nationalgalerie. So far the best coffee on the trip. Still not on par with what I’m used to, but it was better than the typical dark roast espresso you get most places here.

We continued to museum island , taking photos along the way. I took a lot of photos of doors and Vespas.

The Alte Nationalgalerie is beautiful. The museum mostly features German artists (a lot of Adolph Menzel’s work), as expected, however, there’s a gallery upstairs sandwiched between two other rooms, featuring some heavy-hitting French painters. The walls were full of Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne and others. Very happy we went.

Then it was off to see VEKTOR , the highlight of the day for me. VEKTOR is an audiovisual installation by Christopher Bauder. It was held at Kraftwerk , a gutted industrial building. The space was like something out of a movie. The piece itself was massive, jaw-dropping and incredibly immersive. We watched a full loop, which was roughly 40 minutes? I swear it felt more like 15. Bauder even created the music. Major shout out to Ryan for telling us about this one.

We made it back to the apartment to get ready quick-like for dinner at Sorrel. By far the best dinner of the trip. It was almost like tapas, but the plates were a little larger. I think we ordered everything on the menu. It was all super good. The standouts for me were the hokkaido and the fennel salad. So much flavor! With dessert I got a shot of espresso, and this will hold as the best coffee of the trip. Also, I learned of Acme flatware and cups, and will be ordering some for the house.

To close the night we went to Easter Bear Dance. It was a lot of fun, the music was good and the crowd was pretty great. The venue was cool. It looks to be a music venue most of the time. They had some pretty amazing metal flyers for upcoming shows. Would definitely go back.

  • old architecture style building connected to a very modern style building at the edge of a river
  • an industrial concrete interior dimly lit by three large sphere-shaped lights on tall, narrow stands
  • people walking up a twisting concrete staircase, dimly lit by the tucked lights under the railing
  • splotches and narrow beams of light scattered in a darkroom
  • very bright laser lights in a dark room creating silhouette's of the people below
  • laser lights creating geometic shapes appear to float high up in a large dark room
  • a lovely presented salad of fennel sliced into strips like pasta in a rustic bowl on a wooden table
  • a lovely presented bowl of sliced grilled pumpkin on top of a purée with sesame seeds
  • a small cup of espresso sits on a matching plate
  • four men standing in a mirrored elevator