The original palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg (who crowned himself as King Friedrich I in Prussia in 1701) in what was then the village of Lietzow. Originally named "Lietzenburg" (later changed to Charlottenburg after the early death of Sophie Charlotte at age 37), the palace consisted of one wing and was built in 2½ storeys with a central cupola - it was subsequently enlarged considerably. At the rear in the centre of the palace are two oval halls, the upper one being a ceremonial hall and the lower giving access to the gardens. The inauguration of the palace was celebrated on 11 July 1699, Frederick's 42nd birthday.
The audio guide is included in the entry price (for the inside of the palace - you are free to wander the gardens: and the building is more impressive from the rear than it is from the front), and I highly recommend getting this guide, as it really did help to make sense of the rooms that you pass through; also the cloak-room is free (and required for bags). However, you have to pay an additional fee if you want to take photos - I decided to pay the 3 euros just in case, and managed to get a few shots that I think do show the splendour that this palace once had. The crown jewels, which are pretty impressive, are on display, but with the reflections from the glass, it was impossible to get a shot - I would also worry that Kim may start to get some ideas ...
It turns out that the majority of the 2 million tourists here for the weekend, and a goodly number of locals obviously had the same idea - by now the temperature had warmed up to around 20 degrees, and the sun was shining.
I stopped off at Alexanderplatz, and seeing that the earliest I would be able to get up the tower there (a lift takes you around 200m up for views across the city and surrounds) was about 2-3 hours later, I decided that I again had better things to do.
With that, I headed back along Unter den Linden towards the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), a pleasant 2km walk. Along the way, I passed the Berliner Dom (cathedral), with a good view with the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz behind. Just along from the Dom, I found a nice detail on one of the bridges - it turns out that, with the river and a number of canals running through the city, Berlin has about twice the number of bridges as Venice does - but then it's also a much bigger area, so it's only fair - and also to be fair (and honest) the bridges in Venice are a lot prettier.
Just near the Brandenburg Gate (I had to head back that way for the U-bahn) is The Academy of Arts; heading through the passage in the building the other day (again, on the tour) I noticed a large, strong marble sculpture that, seeing as I had the time, wanted to go back to - I don't know anything about it (perhaps that's sometimes for the best anyway); it's a man who seems to be struggling to free himself of some chains, and the detail is remarkably good (for example the veins in the arms), so here are a few shots:
You see, being so close (around 15 minutes walk away) to the Schloss Charlottenburg, I couldn't resist heading back there with the camera and tripod, to see it lit up - I was assuming that it would be lit at night, and I assumed correctly; so here are the results:
On all of the trains, there are signs that eating, drinking, and alcoholic drinks in particular, are not allowed, and that all dogs (yes, dogs can be taken on public transport) must be muzzled. On the trains that I have been on (and I have been on a few in the last few days) I am yet to see a dog that is muzzled, eating and drinking is common-place, and beer is consumed at almost any time of the day - the earliest I have seen it was just before 8am; I understand that this is accepted (actually legal, and almost compulsory) in Munich, but this is Berlin - not Munich.
It appears that what we have here is a total lack of respect for the law - let's see who gets that cultural reference, and therefore dates themselves!
But on the streets, it is quite a different matter.
I have witnessed pedestrians patiently waiting at a red signal at a crossing, where in most other cities, they would have walked, due to the total and utter lack of any vehicular movement anywhere in the vicinity. To make my point, I have seen more than one instance where the pedestrians waiting at the lights for them to change look up and down the street and cannot but see the roadblocks at either end of the street (some festival or another reason), yet they stay firmly and obediently rooted to the spot, patiently waiting for the little man to go green.
By the way, I have found out that this symbol is called an Ampelmann, designed in East Germany (specifically to be different to the West) and the design is so popular that it has reached "cult status" and there are stores dedicated solely to it.
Berlin has proven to be a dynamic, interesting, and thought-provoking city, which I have enjoyed visiting for the last 3 days; I'm sure that it has much more to offer in very many layers.
Tomorrow it's off to Scandinavia - a late addition to the itinerary, it's Copenhagen in Denmark for a couple of days, plus a day of travel on either side.