Berlin was a quick weekend filled with sightseeing, visiting with a friend, meeting her parents, and visiting with the Juneau-Gastineau Rotary Club's Exchange student in Berlin!
Saturday I was up early and met Laura at 9:00am; we were at the Pergamon Museum at 9:50 ready to go. I really wanted to go to this museum as it has items from Pergamon in Turkey in it – kind of final, pull-it-all-together visit. There was a special exhibit – a full panorama of the Acropolis of Pergamon that required us to climb to a platform in the interior of a cylindrical building and then we could walk around 360 degrees to see the panorama of the whole city. It showed the place in daylight and at night, and there were the sounds of the birds, dogs, animals and people, which added to the whole experience. It was wonderful to finish my Turkey experience by seeing the alter of Zeus and the gate to the market area. The gate is made of 60% of the original materials and 40% of other materials allowing for the gate to have been rebuilt inside the museum. The alter re-creation is really the friezes from around the base of it, with panels of the original pieces put together the best they could. There are big gaps and pieces missing, but it is still quite impressive.
Friday was a long day with getting up early to get to the Moscow airport and then walking around with Laura in Berlin in the late afternoon and evening. We left the Moscow apartment at 7am and got to the airport a bit after 8 for my 11:15 flight. Gave me time to spend my last 1000 rubles – about $30, on lattes and breakfast. There was a grouchy old woman on the plane who tried to take my seat – not too sure what that was all about as I couldn’t understand her, but I almost had to push her onto the other side of the aisle where her seat was! Not really, but it seemed like it! When I arrived in Berlin, passport control, baggage claim and getting my “Welcome Berlin” card for 48 hours of transit and discounts off of miscellaneous things that I will never get a discount on, all went smoothly and I even walked right out the front door and caught the bus that pulled up at the same time. It took me a couple minutes to orient myself as to where I was when I got off the bus, but finally figured it out and headed right for the hostel. Not bad. In a room with two other girls, and when I got back after my first round of sightseeing with Laura, I was kind of surprised to find them both in the room: one reading and the other typing away!
Laura met me at the hostel and we took off to see the highlights of Berlin. I stayed in East Berlin in an area known as Mitte – which means middle. We headed down past the Radio Tower, a cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and the Victory Column. We were heading back to the center, past the Holocaust Memorial and to a Christmas Market when it started to rain. We were right outside the Komische Opera House where we saw people entering. We ran inside, asked what was playing and if there were tickets. We scored with tickets to the Die Fledermaus Operetta and watched that through two acts, when our hunger got the most of us and we took of in search of dinner! Found a small Italian restaurant and I had Minestrone Soup and a salad.
After a quick break, we were off again – Laura was a great tour guide because we walked past a couple of places were we ended up seeing things we hadn’t originally intended, but they were very interesting. The New Synagogue was spared during what was called “crystal night” in 1938 when all of the Jewish people in the area were rounded up and their homes destroyed, but it was pretty much blown to nothing during the allied bombings. It was restored in 1995 and was quite beautiful from the outside. The Moorish gold dome has become a Berlin landmark and police now guard it around the clock.
Not far from there, we wandered into an old style apartment block complex that was common before the war. There are only a few left in the city. From the street, you enter a courtyard, and the apartments around that courtyard where the nicest. As you proceed through more arches, into subsequent courtyards, the apartments became less expensive. One of these now houses a theatre and is real upscale, and the one next to it is more the rough Berlin with graffiti and outdoor art…
We went past these two places while we were heading to the East Side Gallery, which is a portion of the Berlin wall that did not come down. During the day, there was art on the west side’s wall, but not on the east side’s. In 1990 art was done on the East side of the remaining wall and this art has been redone several times. This section is over a mile long and has work by 118 different artists from 24 countries.
Back onto the train for a trip to a Christmas market, we chowed down on different foods and caught a bit of a performance of the Nutcracker by a children’s dance group. I got to enjoy a Hungarian Langos! Most of the booths were food, but the location was pretty cool, with churches at either end of the square.
We were pretty exhausted at this point, so back to the hostel we went and regrouped. Laura looked at photos from Turkey as she is planning a trip there next summer. We had dinner with her parents in a traditional German restaurant and I had a white beer with some green liquid in it made from a forest herb. We couldn’t figure out the name in English at the time; but Laura figured out when she got home that it is called sweet woodruff in English. Anyway, I had that along with a pad dish of potatoes, veggies and a little bit of sausage. My one German meal here!
Both of Laura’s parents are journalists; her father a newspaper editor and her mother a freelance radio (reporter?) It was very interesting talking to them about before and after the GDR.
Today I was up early again, this time to meet Jonah, my Rotary Club’s exchange student who is living in Berlin! We met at the hostel and then walked around a bit: it was good to hear his stories on how he is adjusting and about some of the things he has been able to do. His host family is actually from Poland; the father is the Polish Ambassador to Germany! (Oh no, or was it that he was the head of the Polish Consulate here?) Whichever, he has had some great opportunities to go places and meet people and has more to come. I think he will look back at this year wih amazement at all the opportunities later.
Here's the link to all the Berlin pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/117120466845854055422/Berlin112527201102?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzJitD-0ZGFUQ
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