Travel observations and new developments of other cities and countries

[chc3]

A few pics from last night’s “orientation” walk.

Descending: St Michael Church 433’;  Elbphilharmonie  361’;Heinrich-Heinz-Turm 916’; unknown residential tower; S-Bahn station with arriving train.

Edited April 23 by chc3

[Bos2Nash]

Hamburg is a beautiful city. We did a day trip on the ICE train from Berlin when I was studying abroad back in 2011. The Elbphilharmonie was under construction then (and didn't open until 2017 according to Wiki). HafenCity is a very cool area of the city and the Dockland Building is very impressive. Could have easily spent more time there, but had to reboard the high speed train back to Berlin that night.

[chc3]

Some views from the last two days. I really love Hamburg. Beautiful urban environment and spotlessly clean. Great food and world-class amenities. I head to Berlin for 5 nights tomorrow, so stay tuned. The first group of pics are from yesterday, including the Rathaus, views of the developing Hafen City, and the Museum of Art and Crafts.

[chc3]

The Rathaus

[KJHburg]

Enjoyed my stay here in Music City and the Land Between the Lakes heading back to Charlotte.  Thanks again and special thanks to @smeagolsfree for telling me what this or that was that I was looking at! 

Come see us over in Charlotte sometime and my offer still stands free lunch on me and a tour that will knock your socks off by train, car, and express lanes.  

June 15 some of the Charlotte Urbanists and Charlotte Urbanplanet people are going on a walking tour of our capital city Raleigh come join us starts at Raleigh's Union Station.

A couple of photos of bison at LBL and a few from Charlotte and Raleigh I have taken in the last few weeks.  ( I will be the tour guide in Raleigh too)    3 of the Bison as you can see and that one bison was charging the fence at those 3 ladies.  

Charlotte starts with the Firebird statue locally referred to as the Disco Chicken.  5 photos 

first Raleigh photo starts skyline in the distance shot after the Charlotte skyline freeway shot.   10 photos 

[markhollin]

New York's render for 520 5th Ave., 79 stories, 1,000', 100 condos (courtesy of YIMBY New York):

[smeagolsfree]

10 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Enjoyed my stay here in Music City and the Land Between the Lakes heading back to Charlotte.  Thanks again and special thanks to @smeagolsfree for telling me what this or that was that I was looking at! 

Come see us over in Charlotte sometime and my offer still stands free lunch on me and a tour that will knock your socks off by train, car, and express lanes.  

June 15 some of the Charlotte Urbanists and Charlotte Urbanplanet people are going on a walking tour of our capital city Raleigh come join us starts at Raleigh's Union Station.

A couple of photos of bison at LBL and a few from Charlotte and Raleigh I have taken in the last few weeks.  ( I will be the tour guide in Raleigh too)    3 of the Bison as you can see and that one bison was charging the fence at those 3 ladies.  

Charlotte starts with the Firebird statue locally referred to as the Disco Chicken.  5 photos 

first Raleigh photo starts skyline in the distance shot after the Charlotte skyline freeway shot.   10 photos 

I mentioned this briefly at the last UP meeting and then forgot to bring it up to the entire group. If anyone is interested in taking a road trip to another city nearby or even a 3 day to somewhere like Charlotte, let me know. I would be up for it. Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis for single day road trips is easy.  Places like Charlotte or Raleigh takes a little more planning.

[markhollin]

Chicago (courtesy of wanderonwings):

[chc3]

I’m on my 4th day in Berlin, which is truly a monumental and beautiful city. I’m currently staying in Schöneberg, where JFK delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” address on June 26, 1963. Most of the famous buildings, including the Brandenburg Gate, were in the former East Berlin. On Saturday I walked 15 miles, in addition to taking a three-hour bike tour. The S-Bahn and U-Bahn networks are immense.

[markhollin]

Vancouver 1950 and 2024:

[Bos2Nash]

6 hours ago, chc3 said:

I’m on my 4th day in Berlin, which is truly a monumental and beautiful city. I’m currently staying in Schöneberg, where JFK delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” address on June 26, 1963. Most of the famous buildings, including the Brandenburg Gate, were in the former East Berlin. On Saturday I walked 15 miles, in addition to taking a three-hour bike tour. The S-Bahn and U-Bahn networks are immense.

I mentioned to my wife that you are travelling to Berlin and how much I want to go back. Your pictures only reinforce it for me! Thanks for sharing. If you haven't already, I highly suggest the Daniel Libeskind designed Jewish Museum as well (if you haven't already)

[chc3]

Yesterday I took the S-Bahn to Potsdam, then walked to the vast Sanssouci royal park built by Frederick the Great in the middle 18th c. Frederick was quite a personality: military genius, philosopher, musician, composer, humanist and patron of the arts. He’s worth reading about. He built two palaces in Potsdam: the Neue Palais and his favorite, Sans Souci. The park encompasses 400 hectares. Frederick also built the Orangerie and filled it with neo-classical statues. He’s buried at Sans Souci. The first pics are of the Neue Palais, followed by the Orangerie and, finally, Sans Souci. The area is now spelled as one word, Sanssouci.

[markhollin]

I know we've lost a great deal of older structures in Nashville in the past 75 years, but this is true everywhere.  I can guarantee that a large portion of  the structures visible in these Manhattan shots from the late 1940s are no longer there.
 

[Luvemtall]

Life in general is only temporary, so goes the saying : out with the old , in with the new. There will come a time that all we see now will vanish. 

[Auntie Yock]

8 hours ago, markhollin said:

I know we've lost a great deal of older structures in Nashville in the past 75 years, but this is true everywhere.  I can guarantee that a large portion of  the structures visible in these Manhattan shots from the late 1940s are no longer there.
 

 

The Singer Tower (see my icon).

[chc3]

Yesterday, I took the U-Bahn deep into the heart of the old East Berlin, which is full of neo-classical Stalinist buildings, prefabricated “Modernist” housing blocks, and old Communist-era cinemas. The broad Frankfurter Allee turns into the even wider Karl-Marx-Allee, where the DDR held its massive military parades and May Day demonstrations. The route starts at the Magdalenstraße U-Bahn station and continues 3.5 km to the Alexanderplatz. Few tourists ever venture into this part of town,  which is shabbier but completely safe. The first stop was the former Stasi secret police headquarters, which had an excellent Stasi Museum. At its peak, 180,000 East Germans either worked or informed for the Stasi, 1% of the population.

[nashville born]

Lot of activity in Toronto, which already has a really cool skyline.  Here's a massive project planned for their midtown area.   Images courtesy Urbanize Toronto.  

90-110 Eglinton Ave. East will feature two 58-story towers, connected by 6-storey bridge at levels 5-10, and contain a total of 1,035 residential units, and 25,565 sf of publicly accessible open space.

150-164 Eglinton Ave. East will feature two 61-story towers and contain a total of 1,329 residential units and 28,850 sf of publicly accessible open space.

[markhollin]

Three new structures announced for Tampa's 56 acre Water Street Tampa have been announced. A 36 story condo tower, a 26 story office tower, and an entertainment complex of unknown size (courtesy of YIMBY Florida):

[chc3]

I arrived in Leipzig yesterday afternoon on the ICE from Berlin. My initial impression is that Leipzig is a real hidden gem. I’m looking forward to spending three nights here. The weather is now sunny and in the high 70’s. The first two pics are of the station, the largest in Europe, then an impressive Stalinist neo-classical building that fronts the 1862 structure that houses my beautiful Airbnb, a high rise hotel built in the DDR era and some street shots in the inner city, inside the Martin Luther Ring. Lots to explore on May Day, the national holiday.

Edited Thursday at 02:47 AM by chc3

[markhollin]

West Palm Beach's renders for Family Church Residential Towers, 28 & 32 stories, 190 condos,  new sanctuary, and church school, all on 10 acre site now mostly parking (courtesy of YIMBY Florida):

[chc3]

Took a walking tour of the historic core on Wednesday morning, which was a national holiday. Views include the Gewandhaus Orchestra hall and the opposite-facing Leipzig Opera, on Augustus Platz. Both were rebuilt during the DDR era and are reasonably attractive. Leipzig was probably the most important musical center of its time. From Bach to Wagner, many classical composers either lived there or were born nearby. Other pictures are of the new and old town halls, two historical churches and an Art Nouveau building. In the late afternoon I took a 5-mile round trip walk to the giant monument commemorating Napoleon’s defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. Along the way, I snapped some photos of new urban development. Leipzig has become a boom town.

[markhollin]

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo:

[markhollin]

Detroit:
 

[chc3]

Yesterday I took a long walk to look at Die Spinnerei, a former spinning mill that was built in the 1890’s and was Europe’s largest. It was shut down in 1990, but has been repurposed as a center for artists, galleries, art shops, theater and a high-tech incubator. I often take long walks through the middle and working class sections of foreign cities to gain a greater understanding of the urban environment. I usually walk, but occasionally grab buses and trams. The last group of pictures was from last night. The tall building is the 468’ City-Hochhaus, built in 1972 during DDR times to resemble an open book, since Leipzig had traditionally been Germany’s publishing center.

[KJHburg]

This new 23 story office building called 110 East in Charlotte's Southend was designed by Nashville's own Hasting Architecture and the views are fantastic.