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In April 2006 I visited the darkly historic city of Berlin in what was once East Germany,
and is now merely Eastern Germany. It's a funny old town...
• Here's a selection of bears I saw all over the city. I have very little idea what they were all about, but it was fun spotting them.
• I liked these neon-covered bikes at Potsdamer Platz. With no info in English, I'm sorry to say I don't know what they're about.
• A bit of the wall remaining in Potsdamer Platz, with me in front of it. Over 100 people died trying to cross. The wall, not me.
• Victoria, goddess of victory on the Siegessaule. The column is 203ft high and has a great view across the Tiergarten park in the middle of Berlin.
• A wider view of the above. It was erected to commemorate (celebrate?) Prussian victory over Denmark in the war of 1864.
• "I can see right up your nose." The column was moved to its current location in 1939, and extended in height too. Victoria weighs 35 tons.
• This giant Audi TT was in front of the Brandenburger Gate. It was one of several unusual objects I saw in the city.
• The Brandenburger Gate was restored in 2002. It's possibly the most famous landmark in Berlin and was modelled on the temple porticoes of ancient Athens.
• The Reichstag features a cupola (dome) by Sir Norman Foster. A fire in 1933 was used by Hitler as a pretext for the sweeping 'Enabling Act'. The rest is history.
• The Holocaust Memorial (Holocaust Denkmal) by Peter Eisenmann is a field of different height concrete forms. It's more popular with 'Free Runners' than Jews.
• The roof of Helmut Jahn's 2000 Sony Centre in Potsdamer Platz. It was very big, but the photo doesn't really show this.
• The Berliner Fernsehturm at 365m (1197ft) tall is the tallest building in Berlin, and the second tallest free-standing structure in Europe.
• At 666ft up there's a viewing platform. I took the lift, which made my ears pop. Above is a rotating restaurant which turns every 30 minutes.
• The tower from Max-Engels-Forum. It was painted to look like a football as the world cup was due to start in Germany six weeks later.
• A famous sign at Checkpoint Charlie warns you're about to enter West Berlin -that was. There's a good museum about the wall close by.
• Me in unflattering stripes next to the garden shed that was Checkpoint Charlie. The wall went up in 1961 and came down in 1989.
• A large remaining section of the Berlin Wall outside the 'Topographie des Terrors' site, where the SS had their offices.
• Curly (International Teddy of Mystery) at the Brandenburger Gate, built by Carl G. Langhans from 1789 to 91. [More on the Competitive teddy bears page]
• In Berlin, Curly met Kate D'arcy, Playboy girl. Not a bad trip at all. [More models I've shot. In the photographic sense. Not in the AK47 sense.]
In October 2006 I returned to explore more of the west of the city, and attend the Venus show.
• Flying back to Berlin via Easyjet was a total joy. Less fun was having to deal with new security checks at Luton, which I thought were a bit OTT.
• The Funkturm radio tower dates back to Berlin's hedonistic heyday, 1926. It's 500ft tall, with a restaurant at 180ft and a viewing platform at 400ft.
• The ride up in the large-window elevator might be a bit scary for some people, but I enjoyed it. On top of the top 'box' is a 'nippy' outdoor platform.
• Venus is a yearly event in Berlin, drawing an adult audience from all across Europe and beyond. It's like a bigger, ruder version of London's Erotica.
• October 2006 say the 10th running of the event, and it was busier than this view of the entrance suggests. It's held at the ICC, Berlin's equivalent to the NEC.
• Omar is a well known British porn star. Always happy to have a chat and meet some fans. Or some random girls who just happened to be passing...
• Angel Long is another actor in erotic films, and was clearly having fun getting her boobs out for visitors to the show. You can see she was excited to meet me.
• Lala was less up-front but no less lovely. She's an actress and model too, and was at Venus to promote StictlyBroadband.com (18+).
• Adding a bit of glamour in the trade area was this lady. She was one of several hundred models and performers 'doing their thing' around the show.
• And where there are models there are photographers. This group is tiny compared to the scrums which formed on the 'non-trade-only' days.
• But who can blame a crowd for forming when young ladies are doing this kind of thing? This is tame compared to some performances I saw on my visit!
• My trip wasn't all just porn porn porn though. One evening I slipped away to look at the Brandenburger Gate. It was being lit as a part of a Festival of Light.
• Olivia Dal Cin works for AOE. We had a nice chat about her corset at a show called Eurowebtainment, while looking forward to AOE Budapest.
• On the mad dash by train to catch my flight home, I saw this funky tower. It made me think of the chimneys of the Casa Mila. And yes, WWI German helmets!
Videos from Berlin are available on the VIDEORAMASCOPE page.