A tale of two cities – Toulouse and Berlin

I just returned home from back-to-back stays in Toulouse and Berlin, two places where I had the pleasure to visit very good friends made in Montreal but who are now living in Europe. Small vs big, Southern vs Northern Europe, France vs Germany, wine vs beer, old vs new, these are some of the contrasts between Toulouse and Berlin that spring to mind.

Both cities are very enjoyable in their own way. As much as I like the human size of central Toulouse where everything is within walking distance, sprawling Berlin is easily accessible through its ultra-efficient mass transit system. Walking through the small narrow and randomly laid out streets in Toulouse to locate authentic Southern France restaurants is always a pleasure, as is navigating Berlin’s broad avenues lined with trees for a decent beer garden.

Toulouse definitely feels like an older city as it is best known for its churches and bridges, without much modernism in sight. Conversely, Berlin feels like a modern city; it really is since it was mostly rebuilt after WWII and again after the reunification. Berlin offers much to see and do so a week barely suffices to scratch the surface

Although weather in Toulouse and Berlin is quite different, both cities have something in common: sidewalk patios (or terrasses as we say in Montreal) are everywhere so essentially, for the whole month of September, I have taken the vast of majority of my aperitifs and meals outside.

As usual I traveled with my photo gear and had the chance to take a few pictures along the way. Comments are mostly inserted with the individual pictures in the gallery. I threw in a few pictures of Barcelona as a bonus city since we spent a weekend there. Barcelona is only a 4-hour ride away from Toulouse so it is a can’t miss opportunity. Although Barcelona is a beautiful city world-renowned for its Gaudi architecture, I found it difficult to capture satisfying pictures of buildings without the use of a wide tilt/shift lens. Wish I had one! Anyhow, what sticks to my mind about a weekend in Barcelona is the city’s life, not its architecture. The city revs on a schedule quite different that we Canadians are used to: breakfast around 11.00, lunch at 15.00, tapas at 20.00 and dinner after 23.00. I found it surprisingly easy to adapt to such a schedule: wake up late and stay out all night with a short power nap late afternoon (the infamous Spanish siesta), what is there not to like!

Equipment: Canon 5D Mk II DSLR, Canon EF 8-15 mm f/4 fisheye, Canon EF 16-35 mm f/2.8L, Canon 28-70 mm f/2.8L, Sigma 85 mm f/1.4 EX, RAW conversion using Adobe Lightroom 3.6, HDR with Photomatix Pro 4.1.2, defishing using PTLens 8.7.8, tripod for night shots

The most well-known bridge in Toulouse lights up at night with cycling colors. Teenagers are chilling on the ”berges de la Garonne”.

Small winding streets in Old Toulouse

Les Abattoirs is a contemporary art museum located in the old slaughterhouse district

Place du Capitole is considered the center of Toulouse. We stayed in a hotel on the place so I had plenty of opportunities to capture Le Capitole at dusk

The Pergamon museum in Berlin greets you with this impressive display

The Pergamon museum has an exhibition about the evolution of human knowledge including how we went from counting sheep to binary code

The Pergamon museum has a room displaying maps which is lit by a huge representation of the Earth rotating

A ”typical” room in the Charlottenburg palace

A nice hallway in Charlottenburg palace

Another ”typical” room in Charlottenburg palace

Garden view from the second story of Charlottenburg palace

Study at Charlottenburg palace

Rear view of the Charlottenburg palace as seen from the garden

Berlin’s most well-known landmark: the Brandenburg Gate at night, complete with Berlin’s version of the rickshaw

Gendarmenmarkt at night and in the rain

Another view of Gendarmenmarkt at night and in the rain

Warshauer strasse station located in East Berlin. Superficially, East Berlin does still seem grungier than its western counterpart

The East Side Gallery is a 1.3 km long portion of the Berlin Wall decorated by 100+ artists.

The most well-known image in the East Side Gallery. Unfortunately, a large proportion of the works have been defaced by graffiti and need restoration

Striking portrait of the nuclear physicist and activist Andrej Sacharow

Another striking piece of work that was restored to its former glory

A classic: a Trabant car breaking through the wall with the mention to try out the other sections of the wall

Berlin’s musical instrument museum is located right next to the legendary Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra complex

The museum is very spacious and the way the instruments are displayed is very aesthetically pleasing

View from the second floor of the musical instrument museum

Berlin’s New National Gallery is a museum documenting the various contemporary art movements in Germany and elsewhere from 1945 to 1968. This display is about artists using their body as their canvas. This series of photographs was very interesting although a bit disturbing

This room in the New National Gallery displayed works made of monolithic colors (or absence of color in the case of black)

Another room in Berlin’s New National Gallery

The interior of the Sony Center located at Potsdamer Platz

Fisheye view of the interior of the Sony Center

On my last evening in Berlin, we went to see a concert at the A-Trane, a well-known jazz club

The concert was titled Gary Wiggins meets Dorrey Lyles

Saxophonist and band leader: Gary Wiggins

Singer Dorrey Lyles. She has a remarkable range, from what seems a naturally deep and luscious voice, she could certainly hit the high register!

Bassman played the electric bass…

as well as the stand-up acoustic bass

It was a thoroughly enjoyable show. The A-Trane is very small and gets really packed so make sure you reserve a table in advance if you are thinking of heading there

Life in Barcelona is all about enjoying time outside

An interesting door in Barcelona defaced by graffiti. Not an uncommon sight

View of Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona

The row of pork legs hanging over the counter is a tell tale sign that you are in Spain!

Tags: Barcelona, Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, Charlottenburg, concert, concert photography, Gendarmenmarkt, Place du Capitole, Pont-Neuf, Potsdamer Platz, Toulouse, travel, Travel photography

• September 30, 2012
• Concert, Travel
• 2 Comments