Berlin Memories

It wasn’t until Claudio Galamini (one of our inspiring Customer Service Agents) noticed Konstanzer Strasse that he truly committed to his idea to photograph the diverse, sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly and often haunting U-bahn stations of Berlin.

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Claudio tells us more:

“I lived in New York for the past 10 years. I daily used the subway in NY and while it’s an amazing metro system, it is very grey. There are few colorful stations and even fewer art pieces. To be honest, it never inspired any picture-taking.

The Berlin U-bahn, like the city itself, was a complete contrast to New York. After finally moving to Berlin in March 2015 I was almost immediately fascinated by the subway system here. I very quickly noticed the colours, art, tiles, shapes, lights. Finally I saw Konstanzer Strasse and I just knew I had to do this project. My googling showed that no one else had done such a collection, so I just got started! It formed very quickly and clearly in my mind.”

Since starting in August 2015, Claudio has now finished the project of photographing a station a day. Using only his trusty iPhone, Claudio photographed every single U-bahn platform in Berlin! You can find them all on his dedicated Instagram account.

Claudio also loves the history of Berlin, which he says always makes him extra enthusiastic to help GetYourGuide’s customers discover the city.

“As part of my project, I also researched a bit about each station’s history and wrote about it in my Instagram. I found it really fascinating. For instance, did you know that Gesundbrunnen was used as an air-raid shelter during Berlin’s bombing and that Rosa-Luxemburg Platz (dedicated to the socialist revolutionary) was originally named after a nazi party member and song writer?”

Asked what he thinks people like about his pictures, Claudio reflected on the encouragement from his team.

“Some colleagues have said I am an artist! Haha I don’t really consider myself that. I think what they, and other people, like about the pictures is the memories they evoke. We all have memories related to subway stations, either here in Berlin or elsewhere around the world. If you’re a tourist, you can see these photos and remember your amazing trip to Berlin. Or if you’re a local, you can appreciate the station you see everyday on the way to work. People leave comments like ‘I love this, I used to live here’ or ‘this makes me miss Berlin!’. I’m just glad to bring these memories back to people.”

When not at GetYourGuide helping our many Italian speaking customers, Claudio is busy producing beer coasters, postcards and magnets of his photographs (available via his Etsy store). He’s also had requests for mugs, posters, phone covers, calendars and books!

We asked Claudio what’s next. ‘I never researched the history of the NYC subway. I’d love to go back now and look at it with a different perspective…’.

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Claudio Galamini has been at GetYourGuide since January this year. He says he has been loving his time with a great group of people and finds helping customers travel the world rewarding. Claudio was also made famous in publications like Berlino Magazine and iHeartBerlin. WeHeartBerlin too!

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