Berlin
Berlin Wall
February 14, 2005
We got into Berlin two nights ago, and it wasn’t anything like the Indiana Jones
picture I had in my head. We arrived late and walked to our hostel, only grabbing
a bite to eat before going to bed.
February 15, 2005
We awoke early yesterday and immediately went to the Reichstag, or German Parliament,
in order to avoid the crowds. The building has a great history, currently however,
the façade greatly contradicted the interior, both the actual parliament floor and
the new dome. The views from the top were nice, but I knew not what I was looking
at, and even after knowing what I was looking at I only saw a modern city.
We moved south along the park and saw the Jewish monument that was being constructed
and then Brandenburg Gate, whose name is much more impressive than the gate itself.
We turned around and walked down the city’s main street, Unter den Linden. This
street was the heart of the city and nearly everything is extremely close to it.
The Gendarmenmarkt is only a couple blocks from the street and is home to a couple
churches and a concert hall.
We then headed north to see the Humboldt University and the place of the Nazis’
first book burning in 1933. The spot of the burning was closed for construction.
The nearby Neue Wache is home to the remains of an unknown soldier and of an unknown
Holocaust victim.
We continued down Under den Linden to Museumsinsel, more commonly known to English
speakers as Museum Island. Museum Island houses both the old national art gallery
and the Pergamum Museum. The prior was, to me simply paintings and not my interest,
whereas the latter was great.
The first section of the Pergamum contains ancient Greek and Roman ruins. While
this doesn't compare to seeing ruins in their "natural habitat," they
were excellently preserved. The pillars in the eighth room and the re-creation of
the Pergamum Temple from Asia Minor were impressive, but I favored some of the other
exhibits. The last room in the classical part was the Gate of Miletus, an entrance
to a market built in the early 2nd century by the Romans. As you pass under the
entrance you enter the second exhibit: the Ishtar Gate from Babylon built in the
6th century BC and my personal highlight of the museum. The Caliph’s palace in the
Islamic part of the museum from Mshatta was great, but nothing compared to the Ishtar
Gate.
The time between the two museums we went to Alexanderplatz and re-confirmed the
city’s modern state. It’s dominated by a TV tower and only the Red Town Hall felt
authentic.
After the second museum we headed out of town to Treptower Park and the Soviet Victory
Memorial, which was more impressive than I had expected. I loved the fact that after
the Soviets took over the city they built a war monument there to remind the people,
sort of a slap in the face. It was in this area that I found brats for only 1 Euro
and that’s something I simply can’t pass on.
Back in the city’s center we saw Potsdamer Platz and Hitler’s old bunker before
loosing Jim to his friend’s house. Potsdamer Platz is like a German Times Square.
The platz had the Sony Center and an IMAX, along with many of the theaters for the
Berlin Film Festival, and a mall. We had gelato there and soon Elizabeth and I headed
back.
Reichstag
February 16, 2005
Today we woke early and went to Potsdamer Platz in order to buy tickets to a Chinese
film at the Berlin Film Festival, Tao Se. The movie started at 1:30 so we headed
over to Checkpoint Charlie, saw a remaining part of the Berlin Wall, numerous crosses
to victims, and the museum along with the checkpoint itself. The museum was interesting,
although quite unorganized; this area is extremely interesting.
Our time, however was quickly up, so we headed over to Potsdamer Platz, I ate two
more brats and we went in for the movie. The movie was borderline pornography, but
the director and lead actress presented the movie and received questions after the
showing which I thought was great. The atmosphere as a whole at the festival was
great though and I could have stayed for hours people watching, in fact we did stay
for hours people watching.
We got a train to Szczecin and will be heading out soon. Good bye Germany.
Soviet Victory Monument in Berlin