Berlin - Bebelplatz and Ampelmannchen

There is a lot of building construction and I needed to get creative to photograph statues without cranes.  Then I thought...Why not include the cranes? Isn't rebuilding part of what makes Berlin special? You bet!

Frederick the Great
Constuction in the back ground with
huge billboards taking advantage of the
space.

This stop is at Bebelplatz.  This square was to be the center of the "new Athens", per Frederick the Great (1740-1786).  Surrounding the square are Humboldt University, former State Library, German State Opera, and St. Hedwig's Church.  Look closely at the photo of St. Hedwig's Church.

The round, Catholic St. Hedwig's Church-nicknamed the "upside-down teacup"-was build by the pragmatic Frederick the Great to encourage the integration of Catholic Silesians after his empire annexed their region in 1742.  ... When asked what the church should look like, Frederick literally took a Silesian teacup and slammed it upside-down on a table. Like all Catholic churches in Berlin, St. Hedwig's is not on the street, but stuck in a kink of back lot. (Steves Germany 2011)

Frederick the Great

Bebelplatz with St. Hedwig's in the far corner.
The Opera is to the left.

Closeup of the teacup shaped dome.

City Hall, built after the revolutions of 1848

Two hotdog street vendors.
The guy in the yellow shirt offered to give
me a livelier pose for my picture but I had
to decline!
Had sausage and it was good.

Merchandising DDR-style pedestrian lights.
The perky red and green men (ampelmannchen) were
under threat of replacement by the far less
jaunty Western signs.  After a 10 year court
battle, the DDR signels were kept.  This communist
era icon has been popping up everywhere (Steves)

The ampelmannchen
Perky and jaunty, wouldn't you agree?

A shop filled covered passageway