Berlin, Europa Center

The Europa Center, at twenty-two stories, for years the tallest building in West Berlin, is recognizable by the huge Mercedes Benz hood ornament rotating on the roof. This complex was filled with stores, restaurants, bars, an ice skating rink, a hotel, gambling casino, a planetarium, two movie theaters, a cabaret, a spa with sauna and swimming pool, and an unusual “water clock.” After colored water has spilled into the 30 small “2-minute” glass bulbs, it is then directed into the larger “hour” bulbs, and on and on. Here, time doesn’t fly, it flows.

To the left is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Memorial-Church) and its replacement, the ultra modern octagonal church and a 172 foot campanile containing six bells, were built with 20,000 small dark-blue windows.

In between, next to the statue that looks like large broken chain links, that really is a street lamp, accidentally situated to look, in this photo, as if it were a TV tower, or some other tall structure.