Themed walk Berlin

We spent a few days in Berlin over our childrens autumn holliday. I captured some of the cool graffiti I found in Berlin.

This is a huge artwork that covers the entire gable of a house nearby the Technology Museum.

It wasn't really a focused themed walk like this one I did a few weeks at home, because I wasn't focusing only on the graffiti as we were walking. I just captured the ones that really caught my eyes.

I found this boxer under a railway bridge.

If you want to focus on graffiti as a theme in a city like Berlin you have a wealth to dig from. It is everywhere. But there is so much else to see for a person who visits for the first time.

Chess lover.

Bold colors.

And of course I couldn't resist photographing this one!

More love!

iHanna features a photo theme each month


and November months theme is Street Art, how suitable. Head over there for more graffiti inspiration!

If you would like to see some of the sketches I made during our trip go here.

Expectation vs. reality - the truth about sketching and traveling in Berlin

Last week my kids had their autumnholiday so we went on a trip to...

Of course I had planned to sketch on the trip. I packed a journal and some pens, a fountain pen and a set of watercolors.

In my mind I had anticipated to fill up my almost new journal completely. I saw myself sketching at museums while my kids explored. Drawing street life and people at cafés and restaurants.

In reality I only did about a handfull of drawings. Beer glasses and soft drinks at restaurants.

A few boats at the huge Museum of Technology.

The hotell lobby.

And people in the tax free shop at the Tegel airport.

What went wrong?

One reason is that sketching actually is quite time consuming, at least for me. If I whip out my journal and a pen at a museum to start drawing something my family don't want to hang around and wait for me. Instead they they move on and I'm left behind. That is no fun. I too want to explore and see the exhibitions.

I found that situations when we were forced to wait was the most suitable to work in my journal. Like at restaurants, at the airport etc. The drawback is that you don't get to choose what to draw, but more or less have to settle for what is in front of you.

So much for the romantic idea of drawing beatiful sceneries and lively street life when travelling with small (-ish) kids.

Well, Berlin is great, for sure. It is huge. We walked and walked and still we only saw a small part of it. I need to go back to explore more.

I didn't realize this when booking the trip but now in November it is 25 years since the fall of the Berlin wall. We visited Bornholmer Strasse where there are still some remains of the wall. It was very interesting to see it in real life and to read about it's history.

Eventhough the wall was a reality when I grew up and after actually seen some of it now, it is still hard to grasp that one of the biggest cities in Europe was divided.