My parents and I visited the city last weekend. Our train from Prague arrived at 9:45pm( 15 minutes late, for which I’m sure someone was shot). at Berlin’s Main Station(Hauptbahnhof in German). The Hauptbahnhof is an ultra modern structure made of glass and steel, and sits a markedly different tone then the older, and more worn looking, construction of Prague.
From the Hauptbahnhof, my parents and I headed to our hotel, which was located on the sight of the former Berlin Wall, near Check Point Charlie. After staying up for a few minutes, using the Hotel’s wireless internet, and then hit the, much more comfortable then my dorm bed’s, sheets.
We got up at 8 in the morning on Friday, just to be sure that we would have enough time to see everything we wanted to see. We started out be wandering to Unter De Linden, the main street of Berlin, and seeing the Brandenburg Gate. The Gate was a little bit smaller than I expected, and actually dwarfed by the US Embassy which is right nearby. Standing in front of the gate, we were surprised to see an imperial Stormtrooper. Apparently, Darth Vader’s embassy was nearby as well.
Brandenburg Gate...notice the Stormtrooper.
Across the street from the gate we noticed a giant picture of President Obama. Beneath it was the Museum of the Kennedys, which was built to honor JFK’s visit to Berlin in 1962, and his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner”(literal translation, I am a jelly donut, but they understood) speech. There were a surprising number of Kennedy related, including the phonetic spelling of that famous phrase. Also in museum were exhibits on Ted and Bobby, and the up and coming young Kennedys, their kids, as well as photos of many of Barack Obama’s closest advisers, and a photo exhibit from 1976 about the most powerful people in that time, including Carter, Ford, and their advisers (like the little known director of the CIA, some guy named George HW Shr…I mean Bush.)
See if you can guess what caught my eye.
After that, we walked over to the Reichstag building, hoping to see if we could get in to the dome, which is supposed to have a great view of the city. Unfortunately, the line was almost three hours long. Not willing to stand around for three hours, we walked down Unter de Linden again, and came to the German History Museum. The Museum chronicles all of German history, from the migrations of the 3rd century AD, through the middle ages, and the various wars fought in Europe between 1600-1800, to the period of the French Revolution(I was surprised to see George Washington and Ben Franklin hanging out here), to the Unification of Germany, and the beginnings of the First World War.
German History Museum
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After a pause for lunch, we saw the other half of the museum, which was exhibits on the Weimer Republic, the Rise of Nazism, and the Second World War, the period of division in Germany during the Cold War, and finally reunification. Overall, the museum, which went into an amazing level of detail, was a good way to kill three hours.
From the German History Museum we headed to Check Point Charlie, and the Museum of the Wall. The Museum of the Wall is by far on the strangest museums I have ever been in. It recounts the history of attempts to escape from East Germany by going under, over, or through the Berlin Wall. But it was includes several rooms discussing human rights issues, one on Axel Spegel , a German publisher who disliked the wall, and one which(much to my mother’s disgusted) glorified Ronald Reagan for his role in bringing down the Wall.
My Parents at Check Point Charlie.
After that, we decided to try our luck at the Reichstag once again. This time we were luckier. The line to get in was much, much shorter. It only took us about an hour to get up to the dome. But, it was rather cold, so I bought myself a nice Berlin track jacket. The view from the dome was just as incredible as promised. The dome is made entirely of glass, so that you can see the entire city, and also down into the Bundestag’s chamber(they sit in purple seats). There is also restaurant on top of the building, which would be really awesome place to get something to eat. After about an hour on top of the Reichstag, we headed down again and back to our hotel, as it was now nearly 11pm.
Berlin at Night
Parliament Chamber.
The next morning, Saturday we got up fairly early to try and take in some more museums. At this point though, it had gotten much colder and begun to rain. We tried to head to what is called Museum Island, which is home to half a dozen museums covering ancient history. When we got there however, we saw that the lines were running out the doors of the all the museums and down to the streets. There was no way we would be able to get in for a least a couple of hours. So we hailed a cab, and headed to Potsdammer Platz, which is like the Times Square of Berlin. It is home to the German Film and Television museum.
Like its counterpart in German History, the Film and Television museum goes into exhaustive detail about the history of German cinema. It includes exhibits on early German films like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the German film star Marlene Dietrich, the propaganda films of Leni Riefenstahl, and the modern German cinema, including some of the films that I had to watch for class. It was a most impressive museum…and they had an Oscar…which I wanted to steal…I guess I’ll just have to win one...someday.
After that we raced across Berlin to reach the Jewish history museum. The Jewish History Museum was another intense and exhaustive exploration of history, beginning with Judaisms founding in the Holy Land and running up to the present day. Of course the museum is also kind of a memorial for the Holocaust, complete with a vast empty room, which is complete pitch black as a kind of memorial. It was really interesting. Unfortunately we got there so close to closing that we had to rush through the whole of modern Jewish history, and missed an exhibit on Jewish influences on comic books.
Superman outside the Jewish History Museum.
After that, the three of us were pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel, and grabbed a quick bit to eat at a restaurant run by a guy speaking Italian…in Germany. The next morning was fairly laid back. We managed to make it to the Train Station with plenty of time. The trip back to Prague was fortunately uneventful. As soon as I got home though, I had to start hitting the books for my history final on Monday.
Next: Prague Part XII: Na Sleddou
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