May 24: Berlin – Siegessäule

Eventually the Bremer Weg was interrupted by a vast radial road intersection, the Großer Stern (Great Star), at the center of which stands the Siegessäule (Victory Column), a storied monument dating back to the late 19th century.

4409

There are underground tunnels leading from head houses around the Großer Stern to the Siegessäule, in order to separate pedestrian access to the monument from the multiple-lane rotary traffic. This is a wall detail from one of the head houses, with these curious patches in the stone.

4412

There it is. This is the view from the east; the golden statue of Victoria faces west, out toward the continuation of the Straße des 17. Juni.

4416

The color contrast is intense! Are those pockmarks from bullets? Is that what the patches are repairing?

4418

On the way to the tunnel, Loboloco.eu awaits.

4420

There were some serious dub techno echoes to be had in these long tunnels.

4421

I guess this is the back entrance.

4423

A zoom of the arcade at the top of the column (i.e. the columns at the top of the, uh, column) and the intense mosaic behind it.

4424

Approaching liftoff!

4425

Well done on the alignment with the boulevard, yo.

4429

The dark side of the Säule.

4430

A double one-point perspective! (Straße des 17. Juni, left, and Altonaer Straße, right.)

4431

That is a ton of sleek streetlights.

4433

Seed fuzzies aloft.

4435

Back to the depths.

4436

Vividly. RT @Horse_ebooks Remember when you loved a tree...

4442

Apparently some disagree about ein starkes Europa being im deutschen Interesse. Probably, as I write in 2012, more do.