Berlin Happenings

Even though I have tickets to other museums on museum island I decide to take the tram to visit MarktHalle Neun instead eat my way around the market. I wander around admiring the market and trying some food and drink.

After walking across the historic Oberbaum Bridge I end up at East Side Gallery, known for its large outdoor art exhibit on the east side pieces of the Berlin Wall that are designated for art. The exhibit stretches far and is quite busy. I don’t snap pictures of the most famous pieces because the crowds are too thick around them. You can google East Side Galllery to see the famous wall pieces.

The next morning my allergies are pretty bad and I want to just stay in for the day but I realize this is my last chance to see one of the museums I’ve wanted to visit – Hamburger Bahnhof, a modern art museum in an old train station. I can’t actually show a picture of the piece of the museum that looks like a train station because there is a modern art installation there with many “no photo” signs.

One exhibit is from an Algerian woman who describes her highly curated activist life during the 60’s and 70’s in Algeria, France and Italy. There are film canisters, a film set, a bar room where you can watch live tango, and an actual short film you can watch. It is highly immersive and quite interesting.

It’s Sunday so I head over to the flea market at Mauerpark. The market is huge with many kiosks selling pretty much everything. I almost get some food but the food concessions are so crowded I decide to wait for dinner instead. As I leave the market the nearby park area is bustling with street performers. I soak up the energy and watch a few acts as well as a drum group.

I also walk through the nearby neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg. It’s a nice area I’d like to come back to.

Too tired to walk to the original restaurant I had picked for dinner I visit the famous Prater Garden instead. I am once again disappointed; I do not think beer garden food is my cup of tea.

One the way back I stop at a David Hasselhoff museum (more like a wall than a museum) and an eclectic cafe where I enjoy a wine outdoors on this Sunday evening.

The next morning my goal is to have döner kebab. I’ve been told there is nothing like the döner you can get in Berlin. Of Turkish origin, German puts its own spin on the sandwich. I will not forget this and the bread its served on.

Earlier in my Berlin visit I visited the Pergamon Panorama. Today I visit another one by the same artist that shows the Berlin Wall. Yadegar Asisi’s art is projected on a 360° screen (Die Mauer). The wall shows life on both sides of the wall during the time that it existed. The exhibit uses sounds and light to take you through day and night.

I wandered the shopping street of Friedrichstraße where there are protesters, some have demonstrations and some are glued to the ground. I believe they are protesting about climate change. They are definitely disrupting business but the police seem to act calm in their presence.

I discover a cute part of town I wish I visited earlier because most things are closed. Nikolaiviertel has colorful buildings and some shops and restaurants. I enjoy some asparagus soup and an apple strudel near the water. I soon head back toward my hotel. Tomorrow I travel to Dresden.

Miscellaneous images from around town.

Berlin slow days

I have many days scheduled in Berlin and it is timed perfectly because I am pretty burned out on traveling. Originally I thought I would do day trips from Berlin but instead I want to take this time leisurely. This will be the last time during my travels I’ll have time to relax. I fly home in a month and the final weeks are very rushed.

So I plan just a few things a day in Berlin for now. Today I take my time leaving the hotel especially because there is rain. I start with a nice Vietnamese lunch.

I head down to the art deco shopping complex called Hackesche Hofe and wander in and out of some stores. I buy a couple small bottles of local alcohol and some weird marshmallow candies that remind me of circus peanuts from my childhood.

Nearby at the alternative art alley Haus Schwarzenberg I wait for the very weird MonsterKabinett to open so I can buy tickets for their show. While I wait I head to a nearby bar where I get in trouble for taking pictures. Apparently there is a sign up front and they are very adamant about it. It’s a cool bar, just don’t take any pictures unless you want to get scolded like a little child. The drink is pretty strong so that’s a bonus.

Finally they start selling tickets for MonsterKabinett and a mime-looking guy (minus the makeup) gathers us up for our tour. He is animated and takes us down to a basement art gallery slash performance location and interacts with weird looking robots. This is all choreographed to loud and strange music. The finale is a monster robot rock concert in a mirrored room. It isn’t that expensive so if you like weird stuff I say go. There are no pictures inside, many break the rules of course – I didn’t because I didn’t want to be scolded again. You’ll probably not forget the experience for a while since it’s so bizarre. I have a photo below from their website.

I take some more pictures of the area and find a nice Italian restaurant where I devour some really good truffle pasta.

I waited to the last minute to try to get tickets to the Pergamon museum, one of the nightly recommended museums in Berlin. Unfortunately they are all sold out for the day I want to go. What is available is tickets to Das Pergamon Panarama, also highly recommended. The Pergamon museum is a museum of the city in Turkey that was excavated and moved to a a museum in Berlin (one of the few times they actually had permission to do so). It is a fascinating exhibit in that it is fairly well preserved. Most of the museum is undergoing a major renovation and some major exhibits are unable at this time. Seeing the Panorama version seems like a good alternative. There are some parts of the Pergamon in this museum like statues and some of the walls but the appeal is the immersive Panorama art created by Yadegar Asisi. The beautiful colors and sounds show live during a day in the city. You watch as the art goes from day to night to day again.

Original Pergamon museum and models on how it looks

Light is added to show movement and to show how color was present before it faded in time.

More images around town

Next I’m heading to a food market across town….

Berlin beginnings

Scheduling a concert the night before a long travel day isn’t the best planning but at least the concert was very good.

Sleep deprived, I head to the train station in the morning to travel to Berlin – about a 7 hour journey. I am departing from Copenhagen and things are already off to a shaky start because my train is delayed and I have a 30 minute connection in Hamburg. As I wait the train gets delayed even more and then we are made to change tracks. Eventually other guests and I start to notice that the screen above starts crossing off the Hamburg Hbf (Hamburg main station) portion of the itinerary, a place most of us need to go to get our connections. Confusing as it is I start looking into alternative travel plans. I think I can go on to the final station in the itinerary (in Denmark) and try to find other trains to eventually get me to where I need to go. A few minute before the train arrives the itinerary switches back to going to Hamburg Hbf. Us passengers aren’t all convinced this is happening but we remain hopeful. At best most of us are missing our connections though. Some of my train companions have further to go like Switzerland; luckily there are trains available every hour to Berlin. We do make it to Hamburg and I wait until I can take the next available train to Berlin. I have napped a bit so I am not as cranky anymore.

I arrive in Berlin and easily figure out how to take the tram to my hotel. I am staying in a chain. Sometimes it is nice to know what to expect with the chain hotels having mostly consistent service and often breakfast. It costs more money and lacks charm but sometimes it is nice to just have modern comforts like air conditioning again. It’s been a long travel day so I call it an early night.

The next morning I have reservations at the Reichstag dome. The Reichstag is the government building where parliament meets. It has lots of history but for tourists there is the dome at top which was opened in 1999, almost ten years after the reunification of Germany. Reservations for the dome are compulsory and should be done at least a month in advance. Luckily I had the heads up from a friend who tried to visit before me. The audio guide is free and very necessary since it tells you about the skyline of Berlin as you climb the dome. There is a good lesson of history here but it is condensed. Another museum might be better to get a more thorough history of Germany. The appeal here is marveling at the artwork of the dome and appreciating the view of the skyline.

I am really liking the design of the different metro stations especially the one nearby.

I get a good introduction to the city here so I start formulating a plan of things I want to see. My next stop is the Brandenburg Gate, a 18th century gate to the city. You can’t see it here but I see in another museum later that part of the Berlin Wall went right through this area and it looked vastly different for many years.

Next stop is at a Jewish memorial, some unassuming rows of rectangles of various sizes.

I walk over to where I see my first sight of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to separate the sides of Germany from the conflicting governments at the time: East and West. East Berlin is GDR (German democratic republic) aka Soviet occupied zone and West Berlin is Federal Republic of Germany – the allied occupation side of Germany (USA, UK, and France). All of this is a result of WWII. The time of the wall was a very divided time in history, separating friends and families almost overnight. The wall destruction finally begins in 1989 after calls for reunification are successful. So Berlin as we know it is a fairly young city.

Next to this piece of the wall is a very thorough museum on the history of Germany and its affect on other parts of the world (Topography of Terror). It filled the holes I had on my education and made me worry based what is happening in my own country looking at Germany’s history in the early 20th century. Funny how history still wants to keep repeating itself.

The museum is very emotionally draining but I walk by the famous checkpoint Charlie location afterwards on the way to a scheduled visit to the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).

At the Berlin Cathedral I make the exhausting climb to the top to get another great view from the dome at top.

I climb back down and I am very exhausted at this point so I sit at a cafe and just stare at the water from the bottom side of the cathedral. I see two people with a fun looking cake and decide I need a piece. I watch boats and eat my cake.

Being tired it is a good time to do a river cruise. I order a beer and listen to the commentary as we float. I am regretting my decision of wearing a dark colored shirt because the sun is baking me at this point. I cheer on all the clouds.

Where my boat exits is the next museum I visit, DDR, a interactive museum about life in East Germany during soviet occupied times. It is educational and kitschy. I have fun here for a little while.

My energy is almost down to zero so I walk back toward my hotel. I stop in a tourist beer garden for dinner. I try to eat healthy by ordering the asparagus special but they are out of it. Being sick of eating salads lately I decide on a very unhealthy chicken schnitzel and lots of wine….I know I *should* be drinking beer in a beer garden but can’t handle multiple beers much anymore.