Oberbaumbrücke

Oberbaum Bridge (Oberbaumbrücke) is located in East Berlin, very near to the East Side Gallery.

The bridge passes over the Spree river and unites Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg, once separated by the Berlin Wall. The bridge symbolizes the reunion of these two neighbourhoods.

This panoramic photo taken from East Side Gallery with the Oberbaum Bridge in the background is one of my favourites from Berlin. I was lucky enough to visit Berlin when it had been snowing, so the snowy photos are a great souvenir for me since I've never been to a city where it's snowed. The river which passes under the bridge was half-frozen and broken up into lots of slabs of ice. I loved the bridge because it's different to any other I've ever seen and because it reminded me of Russian buildings, so we referred to it as the Russian bridge. It's not one of Berlin's most visited sights, but sometimes it's the places that you least expect or that you've never seen on TV or in photos which surprise you and you end up liking the most.

The bridge is quite long and its most striking feature is the two towers in its centre topped with pointed spires. It's reddish in colour, which also distinguishes it from other better-known bridges around the world, and this contrasts with the yellow trains which drive over it. Perhaps this is my least favourite feature of the Oberbaum Bridge. It features several rather horizontal arches - that is to say, they're not very high, and are low down close to the river. The bridge has three levels, the lowest one consisting of the arches, the second one used as a main road for cars to pass through, and the third and top one is open-topped for the trains to pass through.

In my opinion, the bridge doesn't fit in well with the rest of Berlin's architecture, above all with the city centre's - though it suits the area it's located in very well, although Berlin is often characterised by its contrasts.

The Oberbaum Bridge and the East Side Gallery nearby can be reached by U-Bahn (metro), S-Bahn (city train) or bus - the stop is called 'Warschauer Strasse'. The U-Bahn stops on either side of the bridge, though it's better to get off at the one closer to East Side Gallery, since there's not much to see on the other side of the bridge. Use the U1 line. The S-Bahn lines which pass through Warschauer Strasse station are the S5, the S7 and the S75, and the bus services which stop here are the 347 and the N1.