Last night in Berlin
Tonight marks our fourth night in Berlin. If I had the chance I would probably stay here another two weeks at least. We did, in that short time manage to cover quite a lot of ground- roughly 7-10 km of walking per day and probably double or triple that with public transport.
Our first hotel, the Ibis Berlin Mitte at the edge of the Prenzlauer Berg might not have been the best choice for easy access to the downtown tourist sights but the area itself was quite charming with a variety of restaurants and some eclectic architectural styles.
Our arrival into the main station and transfer via tram to our hotel progressed fairly smoothly and we confined our exploration to an area of approx. 1.5 km radius from our hotel. Being a Friday night the local bars and restaurants seemed to be doing a booming business with patrons spilling out onto the sidewalks with beer and wine in hand.
We did explore a number of the suggestions offered by Trip Advisor but found most of them to be either lacking in appeal or food selection or just too expensive for what they were offering. A small family run Italian restaurant seemed to fit the bill, even though it wasn’t “written up and reviewed”
Saturday morning we made our first attempt to venture down town. Figuring out the transportation system here was somewhat of a challenge, not made much easier with Google Maps slightly off , bus and tram stop locator.
Our first stop was the Pergamon Museum, located on an island in the middle of the Spree River. Having been to the Bergama/Izmir area of Turkey many years back, one of our disappointments was seeing that many of the artifacts from there had been taken to Berlin and replaced with replicas or simply removed. Sadly the Alter was off limits due to a Reno that will not be completed until at lreast late 2019.
However, we were able to see the Ishtar Gate, a massive entrance gate covered in a background of blue tiles featuring a variety of lions and mythical creatures combining the features of lion, cobra, eagle and scorpion.
Beyond that lay another massive structure, the Market Gate of Miletus, reconstructed, of course, as the original was destroyed by earthquake. Below it was a large mosaic, originally located in a Roman bill in the same town.
The upper floors of the museum detailed some fine works of Islamic Art, carpets, graphics based on Islamic Script and some hand carved metal bowls.
Departing the museum we toured the exteriors of other museums and galleries before catching a bus to the Brandenburg Gate and the surrounding area. Various monuments and memorials to groups persecuted and killed by the Nazi Regime proved rather emotionally touching, to say the least.
While we were photographing the exterior of the Reichstag we could hear protesters in the distance, clearly focused on the immigrant issue but we decided to keep our distance and thus we were not able to tell if it was pro or con. Having previously found ourselves caught up in street protests in Turkey and Peru in the past, I thought it wise to keep our distance.
A slow walk east led us past what appeared to be a fairly fortified US embassy followed by a very large Memorial to The Murdered Jews. Covering several hundred metres it was roughly a square area covered in rows of cement blocks of sizes rangeing from 2 to perhaps 10 feet high. Walking through them gave on the feeling of entrapment, perhaps its purpose. At the South East Cormer lays a 2 story Visitor centre giving s rsther graphic and painfully sad description of hitlers ‘“ANSWER”to the EWISH QUESTION/
Crossing the road south we came to the site of the Bunker where Hitler took shelter and ultimately killed himself in the dying days of WWII
The following day, we followed the route of the Berlin Wall Memorial in N.W Berlin. Sections of the wall were displayed along with photos and descriptions of life behind the wall and the impact it had on the citizens. A small information centre showed the various times from the initiative construction to its final destruction in 1989. Climbing to a 4th floor observation post one could observe a fully intact section of the entire all, complete with guard. Tower, inner and outer walls etc.
Returning to our hotel we took our luggage and transferred by bus to the Ibis Ostrander where we met up with our future G Adventures travel companions.
Monday we returned to museum island to visit the Neues Museum, dedicated to three specific themed areas...
Exiting the museum we grabbed a quick lunch before heading for the Terrorium. An exibit showing the history of the rise of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1940. That was followed by a stop at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the key crossing points from East to West Berlin. Totally tacky and fake it featured 2 “US Army soldiers posing for photos in front of the restored command post. Flanked by large photos of a US and a Russian oldies it was the ultimate scoring to tacky so we didn’t hang around too long.
We made do for supper with a basic chinese buffet at the nearby railway station before heading home to pack for the trip to Krakow. I did manage to squeeze in a walk to visit the Estr Side Gallery- a 1.2km section of the Berlin Wall dedicated to various examples of street art
Our first hotel, the Ibis Berlin Mitte at the edge of the Prenzlauer Berg might not have been the best choice for easy access to the downtown tourist sights but the area itself was quite charming with a variety of restaurants and some eclectic architectural styles.
Our arrival into the main station and transfer via tram to our hotel progressed fairly smoothly and we confined our exploration to an area of approx. 1.5 km radius from our hotel. Being a Friday night the local bars and restaurants seemed to be doing a booming business with patrons spilling out onto the sidewalks with beer and wine in hand.
We did explore a number of the suggestions offered by Trip Advisor but found most of them to be either lacking in appeal or food selection or just too expensive for what they were offering. A small family run Italian restaurant seemed to fit the bill, even though it wasn’t “written up and reviewed”
Saturday morning we made our first attempt to venture down town. Figuring out the transportation system here was somewhat of a challenge, not made much easier with Google Maps slightly off , bus and tram stop locator.
Our first stop was the Pergamon Museum, located on an island in the middle of the Spree River. Having been to the Bergama/Izmir area of Turkey many years back, one of our disappointments was seeing that many of the artifacts from there had been taken to Berlin and replaced with replicas or simply removed. Sadly the Alter was off limits due to a Reno that will not be completed until at lreast late 2019.
However, we were able to see the Ishtar Gate, a massive entrance gate covered in a background of blue tiles featuring a variety of lions and mythical creatures combining the features of lion, cobra, eagle and scorpion.
Beyond that lay another massive structure, the Market Gate of Miletus, reconstructed, of course, as the original was destroyed by earthquake. Below it was a large mosaic, originally located in a Roman bill in the same town.
The upper floors of the museum detailed some fine works of Islamic Art, carpets, graphics based on Islamic Script and some hand carved metal bowls.
Departing the museum we toured the exteriors of other museums and galleries before catching a bus to the Brandenburg Gate and the surrounding area. Various monuments and memorials to groups persecuted and killed by the Nazi Regime proved rather emotionally touching, to say the least.
While we were photographing the exterior of the Reichstag we could hear protesters in the distance, clearly focused on the immigrant issue but we decided to keep our distance and thus we were not able to tell if it was pro or con. Having previously found ourselves caught up in street protests in Turkey and Peru in the past, I thought it wise to keep our distance.
A slow walk east led us past what appeared to be a fairly fortified US embassy followed by a very large Memorial to The Murdered Jews. Covering several hundred metres it was roughly a square area covered in rows of cement blocks of sizes rangeing from 2 to perhaps 10 feet high. Walking through them gave on the feeling of entrapment, perhaps its purpose. At the South East Cormer lays a 2 story Visitor centre giving s rsther graphic and painfully sad description of hitlers ‘“ANSWER”to the EWISH QUESTION/
Crossing the road south we came to the site of the Bunker where Hitler took shelter and ultimately killed himself in the dying days of WWII
The following day, we followed the route of the Berlin Wall Memorial in N.W Berlin. Sections of the wall were displayed along with photos and descriptions of life behind the wall and the impact it had on the citizens. A small information centre showed the various times from the initiative construction to its final destruction in 1989. Climbing to a 4th floor observation post one could observe a fully intact section of the entire all, complete with guard. Tower, inner and outer walls etc.
Returning to our hotel we took our luggage and transferred by bus to the Ibis Ostrander where we met up with our future G Adventures travel companions.
Monday we returned to museum island to visit the Neues Museum, dedicated to three specific themed areas...
Exiting the museum we grabbed a quick lunch before heading for the Terrorium. An exibit showing the history of the rise of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1940. That was followed by a stop at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the key crossing points from East to West Berlin. Totally tacky and fake it featured 2 “US Army soldiers posing for photos in front of the restored command post. Flanked by large photos of a US and a Russian oldies it was the ultimate scoring to tacky so we didn’t hang around too long.
We made do for supper with a basic chinese buffet at the nearby railway station before heading home to pack for the trip to Krakow. I did manage to squeeze in a walk to visit the Estr Side Gallery- a 1.2km section of the Berlin Wall dedicated to various examples of street art
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