Berlin, Germany
On Tuesday, April 23 we boarded a train from Amsterdam to Berlin. The car we were in did not have air conditioning - something we found was unfortunately common on our trip. In Berlin we took in several museums, met up with Tim who had lived with Kyle ‘s family for a year when they were both in high school, took a river cruise, and enjoyed a good Mexican and Italian meal.
Frederick the Great statue
St. Mary’s Church - which was built in at least 1243 - with the Berlin Television Tower standing behind.
Inside of St. Mary’s
The Fernsehturm
The Neptune Fountain
The Berlin Cathedral next to the Spree river
The Cathedral
Inside the Cathedral
Beginning the climb up the Cathedral
The TV tower and the Rotes Rathaus
Heading back down
A creepy storage room
After climbing the Cathedral we set out on a mission to see as many museums as we could. Notice the excitement and energy level at the start…
The first museum of the day was the Pergamon. It houses several large antiquity displays as well as several Islam artifacts.
The Ishtar Gate is the first thing you see as you walk in. It is huge. It was the 8th inner gate to the city of Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar II - around 600 BC.
The Mshatta Facade is from the 8th century in Jordan.
The Market Gate of Miletus was built in the 2nd century BC.
The Aleppo room - an exhibit featuring the reception room of a broker from Aleppo during the Ottoman Period.
The next museum was the Neues Musem which houses several Egyptian and Prehistory artifacts. This is the Berlin Green Head from around 100 BC, which is next to the Nefertiti bust.
The Golden Hat which was very important to the study of astronomy. One of only four known hats in the world.
After the Neues Museum we headed to the Bode museum which specializes in sculptures.
After a full day of Cathedrals and museums the energy level has dropped a bit.
Day 2 in Berlin was meeting with Tim and his wife to explore the city with them. We met at the Brandenburg Gate.
There are several memorials and reminders of WWII all over Berlin, perhaps none more visually powerful than the Holocaust Memorial.
After Tim and his wife had to leave we went to the Topography of Terror museum. There is still a large portion of the Berlin Wall. The exhibit explains the rise and fall of the Nazi party in Germany as well as what happened in Berlin after the war.
Checkpoint Charlie
