Day 1: Thursday, November 9.
Original plans had both Jeff and I arriving in Berlin well before lunchtime, but with my flight issues, I didn't arrive until 3pm. Jeff was there on time, however, so once he figured out I wasn't arriving until later, he wandered around and say a few sites before meeting me at the airport. While I would have liked to have arrived earlier, it was kind of nice to have him meet me at the airport and to have him already know how the public transportation worked, where the hotel was located, etc.
Since I only traveled with carry-ons, we were off to the hotel as soon as I landed. It wasn't the best weather, and it actually started hailing while we were on the bus, but it cleared up as we arrived at the hotel. By then it was already almost dark, and we rested a bit after getting checked-in. Next came dinner, and luckily our hotel was in a cool neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg, that was full of restaurants. We wandered around, checking out menus, before finally deciding (after one false start) on Gugelhof. This ended up being an excellent choice as I was able to get some flammkuchen, which is generally hard to find outside of southwestern Germany.
After dinner, we decided to take advantage of the state museum's staying open late on Thursday, and we headed to the Pergamon Museum, which houses huge ancient works. We didn't take any pictures there, but we did take a picture on the way there.
Both pooped by 10pm when the museum closed, we headed back to the hotel and a good night's sleep.
Day 2: Friday, November 10
This was our big site-seeing, walking all over town day, and luckily we had decent weather. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't raining or too windy, and the sun would peek out every once in a while, so it was definitely bearable.
We started out at the Reichstag, where we stood in line to go up to the dome. Luckily they had brochures and Jeff was able to read up all about the German Bundestag.
It took a while to get inside because they manage the crowd size quite closely, but we were happy we waited because the views from the top were pretty good.
We also had fun playing with our reflections in the mirrored center of the glass dome.
Can you see us smooching in the reflection?
After leaving the Reichstag, we headed down the street to the Brandenburg Gate. The last time I was in Berlin, they were doing restoration work on it, so I didn't actually see it, but just a painting of it that was covering it. Pretty much looked the same.
Just another few blocks away was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was just completed in 2005, so it was new for both of us. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the design of the memorial, but I must say the the information center underneath it is exceptionally well done. It's small but intimate and provides a good combination of historical fact and personal story. My only real objection to the Memorial is that it only honors the Jews. What about the other persecuted groups such as the Gypsies?
We had a lot more on our schedule for the day, so we headed down to Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz used to lie in the no-mans-land created by the Berlin Wall. In 2002 when I visited it, it was a mess of construction with cranes everywhere. Now it's a bustling plaza full of very modern architecture that relies heavily on glass. One of the interesting things about Berlin is the way the city's history is revealed through its architecture. There are three very distinct styles: 1. Pre-World War II architecture. Most of this is pretty grandiose and typical of the 1800s. 2. Communist Era architecture. Very stark buildings or flowery wedding-cake style constructions. 3. Post-Reunification architecture. Very modern, as if it's making a statement that this is the new Berlin. It's pretty fascinating to see a city with so many faces.
From Potsdamer Platz, we began our search for lunch and ended up with our first doners of the trip. Mmm. Mmm.
Our next stop was Checkpoint Charlie. The building now standing is a reconstruction of the original, but it's still pretty interesting to think about what that building meant and what the wall meant and what it must have been to live in a divided city.
The sun was getting low by then, so we scurried off to the Topography of Terror, which is an outdoor display located on top of former Nazi Gestapo Headquarters...a pretty terrifying place. We took in as much as we could before it got too dark to read and we were kicked out.
Not yet done, we headed to the Jewish Museum, which offers a very interesting history of Jewish life in Germany. It's also a very well done museum, with a good mix of images and texts and plenty of hands-on activities to keep you interested. We made it through in two hours, but they were closing the doors as we headed out. Upon the recommendation of the coatcheck girl at the Museum (my German skills came in handy throughout the trip, and we were both glad to be in a country where we could communicate), we headed down to Kreuzberg for dinner. We ended up at an Italian restaurant named Primavera. It was a serious deal. We had bruschetta, two pasta dishes, a coke, a beer, and tiramisu for 20 euros.
And although we could have called it a night, we decided to take advantage of our all-day public transportation pass and take a double decker bus on a loop through town for a free bus tour. Eventually we ended up back at the hotel and asleep in bed.
(If I can get Blogger to upload the rest of my pictures, the rest of the trip will follow tomorrow.)
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