Berlin photo dump, Days 2-4

DAY 2

On our second day in Berlin, Stefan headed off to the Technical University to give a talk, and Elias and I walked through the Tiergarten to the Siegessäule.

The bottom part of the column is covered with detailed mosaics.

It's 285 steps to the top (295 if you count the steps on the outside). Can you see Alexanderplatz in the distance?

We continued through the Tiergarten, pausing at a robust German playground (built for lots of climbing, jumping, and what Americans might call "death trap" opportunities). Then on to the Spree, past government buildings, all the way to the Hauptbahnhof. The Hauptbahnhof is an arabesque of glass and steel. Note the Ritter Sport chocolate add running up the staircase.

We took a train to the Dahlem-Dorf stop, with Hanna and two dogs expertly joining us en route on the train. We left Elias with friends and went for a walk in the Grunewald, a huge wooded park on the southwest side of Berlin. There, polite dogs walk off-leash alongside their look-alike humans. The dogs nod their heads to one another as they pass, with very little barking or disorderly conduct. Along the lake, they neatly line up to chase sticks. As this often involves running into the lake, most of the polite off-leash dogs are wet.

Candace belongs to Hanna's roommate.

Ninja belongs to Hanna.

These two dogs dressed very much like their human, except their human was not wet.

Hanna and I met up with Stefan for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant (Seerose) near the Südstern U-Bahn station. Afterward, we took a walk through the neighborhood, which provided fodder for blog posts on puns and Berlinerisch.

DAY 3

Stefan headed back to Steinebach in the morning. I took the subway to Friederichsstrasse. Heading to the Museumsinsel, I passed a store that had lined all of its windows with antique sewing machines. Unfortunately, the store was still closed, so I could only take a photo from the outside. Liebe Schwester, this photo is for you.

A view of the Pergamon Museum...

And the Dom...

I met up with Elias and friends at the Pergamon. Among other items, the Pergamon houses the ca. 575 BCE Ischtar Tor, the 8th gate to the inner city of Bablyon. It remains one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I couldn't get very good photos of it, but the Wikipedia link has some good images.

Some of the pieces in the Pergamon are ~2600-2700 years old.

2600-year-old glaze. Looks like some test tiles I've seen...

If you ever feel sad, like you've got a hole in your heart, know that people and deities have been feeling the same way for millennia.

Pile o' tired boys.

Our group of seven (two moms, 5 kids) had lunch together near the New Synagogue.

After lunch, we all took a hot hot train to Potsdam. Have I mentioned yet that Europe was dealing with a crop-destroying heat wave while we were there? No AC, no ceiling fans, no window screens, and millions of gleeful mosquitoes. (The mosquitoes weren't bad in Berlin, but they were awful in Steinebach and environs). There's a killing to be made in Germany with ceiling fans and screens. 

The real attraction in Potsdam is Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's summer palace, but we didn't make it that far, opting instead for a boat tour that left from near the old market square. The square is in the process of being renovated. It was remarkably dead the day we were there. Note the mix of stately classical architecture and depressing Soviet-era utilitarian buildings.

DAY 4

Elias and I had most of Saturday to spend in Berlin before catching our train back to Steinebach. We started off by checking out a flea market near our Tiergarten hotel, then walking a few km to Schloss Charlottenburg (17th & 18th c.) to see the gardens. Charlottenburg and the abundant country residences we had seen from the boat the day before in Potsdam made us wonder whether governing was mainly a recreational activity to keep monarchs occupied between building projects.

By the 18th century, the monarchs had figured out that expansive grounds required an expansive tea house, so they added Belvedere beyond the carp pond.

After leaving the gardens, we walked to the Jungfernheide U-Bahn station. Each station has its own distinctive art.

Elias had nobly put up with a lot of boring grown-up touristy stuff, so he got to choose our last stop in Berlin. Thus we went to the Legoland Discovery Center in the Sony Zentrum at Potsdamer Platz. There, he discovered that he has outgrown Lego Discovery Centers.

Here is the fall of the Berlin wall, dramatically depicted in Legos. Watch all the way to the end for the full effect.

The Sony Center has a dramatic glass ceiling. It is the place to go if you want to be surrounded by American tourists.

With a little time left post-Legos, we took the U-Bahn to Friederischsstrasse and walked back toward the Hauptbahnhof.

Snazzy windows at the Pharmakologisches Institut.

Saving the whales.

The Reichstag. Government happens here.

Not a typical Saturday

Today has been one long day of visual stimulation: Die kleine Hexe, buskers, an anti-Nazi demonstration, and the 54th World Roller Figure Skating Championships (Junior division).

Elias's class is going on a field trip in February to see a stage production of Die kleine Hexe. The play is based on the classic 1957 German children's novel by Otfried Preußler. We'll be back in the states in February, so Elias told his teacher, Frau F., that he regretfully couldn't see the show with the class.

At about 9:45 this morning, Frau F.'s husband rang the doorbell to deliver a note from her: would Elias like to be her guest at the private showing for educators today at 10:30? The answer, of course, was a resounding YES.

While Elias was at the play, I strolled several times through the Saturday farmers' market, admiring the assortment of stalls and carefully mulling all the broccoli, lettuce, and egg vendors before finally making my purchases. And then, suddenly, ringing out from afar: the best busking my ears have ever heard. The Kiew-Brass-Quintett was performing just off the Muenster plaza, drawing an enthusiastic audience and raking in donations for needy children in Kiev. They were goosebumpingly good.

Elias and I returned to the Altstadt later this afternoon on our way to the skating championships across town. As we approached the Schwabentor, we encountered a gathering crowd of several hundred people, along with at least 100 police officers looking mighty intimidating with their big black batons and white helmets. The demonstrators, members and supporters of an anti-fascism group (Antifa), were protesting increased Neonazi activities by the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD), including recent bomb making in Lörrach, a city south of Freiburg. The large police presence was in part because the protest was organized without city permits; but two different people on two different ends of the street also told us that "the police and the Left have a tradition of not getting along in Freiburg." Elias and I left before things got ugly.

By the time the clashes started, we were safely away in the Schauenberghalle watching the last day of the junior division roller figure skating world championships. The hall was small enough that athletes and trainers sat mixed with the general public. When we arrived, members of the Japanese team were sitting in front of us, and the Brazilian team behind us. By the end of the evening, we were surrounded by members of the U.S. team.

It was a thorough pleasure watching all those young, athletic, coordinated, bespangled bodies accomplishing impressive jumps and turns. It was interesting to see the difference between the lyrical skaters, the aggressively athletic skaters, and the skaters who could successfully combine artistry with technical prowess. There was no comparison between those who were good and those who were great. Italy's skaters stole the show, from the women's and the men's long programs to the couples free dance; they were followed close behind by skaters from Brazil and France.

The take-away lesson of the evening: if the world championships of anything ever come to your home town, go.