Onto Friedrichstasse, where this building on a side street fascinated me every time we saw it:
To the Brandenburg Gate, which was somewhat more appealing than it had been in the drizzle a couple of days before:
A quick walk round the corner for me to get another look at the architecture of the British Embassy. When we had visited before I was so busy taking in the high security, the blocked road, etc, and then getting a picture of Amanda, that I had been completely oblivious to anything else, including these interesting design features:
Moving on to the Reichstag. Rear view:
Slightly off-set front view:
We quickly found the booking kiosk - a small Portacabin across the street - and found that there were indeed tickets on sale for the next 48 hours, with a constantly updated display showing how many were available in each one-hour slot. We could have visited that day, but that would have meant that we would have been constrained with respect to how far we could venture before our admission time, so elected to book for 12.30 the next day.
As a rule I don't tend to subscribe to the view that all American tourists abroad are loud, vexatious and arrogant; most of the Americans I have met have been fairly reserved, polite and sensitive to their environment. Such a pity then, that while we waited in line to book our admission, we found ourselves behind a couple that fitted the more popular stereotype to a T. It quickly became clear that they were part of a larger group of around six. They seemed to know that to register for admission to the Reichstag they would each need some form of photo ID, so made much of gathering together all their passports. A few steps further along the line and the penny dropped that it wouldn't be sufficient for the two in the line to hand over six passports - they would each have to present their own and have their identity confirmed.
At least four courses of action were then open to them:
- the four not in the line could have retrieved their passports and joined the end of the line (which was only about a dozen people behind us),
- they could all have withdrawn and joined the end of the line,
- the two in line could have turned to us and politely asked if we minded if their four companions joined them,
- the four not in line could simply have ducked under the guide rope and joined those in line without so much as a glance at the rest of us.
More bemused than annoyed, I stood reflecting on the concepts of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism. Then - shock horror - one of the party discovered that his passport was actually back at the hotel (never mind that German law requires you to carry photo ID with you at all times). No matter - he would run back and get it while the others held his place...
Of course, in the event, those in the queue reached the head of it before he had returned, so of course their expectation was that the rules would be bent and they would be allowed to register his presence, and he would be allowed to present his ID when he got back.
I have no idea how that suggestion panned out, because by then we were standing at a parallel desk and making our own booking. However, two of the party stood just inside the door of the small Portacabin holding a loud conversation, which was sufficient to distract and annoy the young lady who was dealing with us (in fluent English, probably her third or fourth language). They were asked in no uncertain terms to vacate the room and hold their conversation outside. There was a loud and somewhat pointed "Oh!" from one of the miscreants and they disappeared - probably to tell TripAdvisor how rude and officious the Germans are...
The booking made, we continued on our way.
Not far from the Brandenburg Gate, a fairly self-explanatory plaque in the pavement:
Our initial plan had been to explore some of the Tiergarten, but for some reason we had both expected it to be somewhat more open, whereas the vast majority of what we could see was woodland - which tends to look the same in any language.
Accordingly, we decided to walk along the Strasse des 17 Juni, which bisects the park, and take a closer look at the Siegessäule, which we had only seen in the distance until now.
The first port of call was Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten), one of many to the 80,000+ Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle for Berlin:
One of the two T34 tanks that flank the memorial. It is said that these were the first two tanks to enter Berlin, but this seems unlikely, given the size and confusion of the conflict:
There are around 2000 soldiers buried at the memorial, with the names of individual senior officers being inscribed on the main monument:
We walked further along Strasse des 17 Juni, taking photos in each direction from the central reservation:
This lady and I went head-to-head over which of us would move first and let the other get a clear shot down the road. In the end I decided to be chivalrous and took my picture with her present, leaving the view clear for her:
A memorial to the victims of the Berlin Wall:
Close up, the Siegessäule was impressive; however, having previously seen the city from the Fernsehturm we were not bothered about hauling ourselves up the 285 steps inside.
Instead, we hooked left along Hofjägerallee and paused at the junction with Tiergartenstrasse to look at the memorial to the Élysée Treaty:
Along Klingelhöferstraße and we arrived at our next destination - the Bauhaus Archive.
First things first - refreshments:
and then a look round.
The archive on display was quite modest, but the temporary exhibition by Jasper Morrison, Thingness was, in spite of its slightly up-itself name, very interesting. It was also frustrating in equal measure - never before in a museum or gallery, I think, have I ever felt so tempted to reach out and touch and engage with the exhibits (none of which we could photograph).
Outside, for a quick picture of the building:
and then on to our next objective - the Gemäldegalerie.
On the way, it was impossible to miss the war-time bullet and shrapnel damage to nearby buildings:
Unfortunately, after a (thankfully fairly rare) failure in planning, we arrived at the gallery to find that it was closed on a Monday.
More walking, past Tiergartenstraße 4, and Aktion T4 - a memorial to the 360,000 souls murdered by the Nazis under the term of 'euthanasia':
On, and past the Berliner Philharmonie, venue for Friday night's concert:
For the benefit of little friends I also insisted on getting my picture taken with the Lego giraffe:
I'm not entirely sure what Spiderman was doing in the foyer of the Film and Television Museum:
Exhausted, we took a break:
Grateful and sincere thanks to our sweet and very young waitress, who rushed after us because I had left my cap behind when we left.
Out, and along Voßstraße until we found our final destination of the day:
This unprepossessing car park and scrubby grass is the site (and all that is left visible) of Hitler's bunker complex.
A simple noticeboard gives details of the layout:
Back to the apartment, tired and footsore.
After regrouping, we decided to check out another of the restaurants that, back in the UK, I had identified as worth visiting. Thankfully close by, Meisterstueck featured quirky and eclectic decor:
and was built around a small courtyard (seen behind Amanda), overlooked by numerous neighbouring office buildings:
Given that the principal fare (sausages) are cooked on an open barbecue in the restaurant, and the scent wafts through and out into the courtyard, how anyone in the nearby buildings can concentrate on anything other than eating after about 17.00 is beyond me.
I chose a 'Thüringen sausage with luke-warm potato salad' and a basket of mixed bread, while Amanda opted for 'six (somewhat smaller) Nürnberger sausages with sauerkraut and a baked potato'.
After this Amanda declared herself too full for anything but a coffee, but I was intrigued by a sweet called 'Chocolate and Chocolate' - which turned out to be chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream and a chocolate brownie - accompanied by whipped cream...
Thankfully for the sake of my cholesterol level, this was off-set by a thin slice of what appeared to be a healthy fruit-like substance, and which later research revealed to be pitaya or dragon fruit:
Back to the apartment, and preparing for our last day.
Not far from the Brandenburg Gate, a fairly self-explanatory plaque in the pavement:
Our initial plan had been to explore some of the Tiergarten, but for some reason we had both expected it to be somewhat more open, whereas the vast majority of what we could see was woodland - which tends to look the same in any language.
Accordingly, we decided to walk along the Strasse des 17 Juni, which bisects the park, and take a closer look at the Siegessäule, which we had only seen in the distance until now.
The first port of call was Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten), one of many to the 80,000+ Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle for Berlin:
One of the two T34 tanks that flank the memorial. It is said that these were the first two tanks to enter Berlin, but this seems unlikely, given the size and confusion of the conflict:
There are around 2000 soldiers buried at the memorial, with the names of individual senior officers being inscribed on the main monument:
We walked further along Strasse des 17 Juni, taking photos in each direction from the central reservation:
This lady and I went head-to-head over which of us would move first and let the other get a clear shot down the road. In the end I decided to be chivalrous and took my picture with her present, leaving the view clear for her:
A memorial to the victims of the Berlin Wall:
Close up, the Siegessäule was impressive; however, having previously seen the city from the Fernsehturm we were not bothered about hauling ourselves up the 285 steps inside.
Instead, we hooked left along Hofjägerallee and paused at the junction with Tiergartenstrasse to look at the memorial to the Élysée Treaty:
Along Klingelhöferstraße and we arrived at our next destination - the Bauhaus Archive.
First things first - refreshments:
and then a look round.
The archive on display was quite modest, but the temporary exhibition by Jasper Morrison, Thingness was, in spite of its slightly up-itself name, very interesting. It was also frustrating in equal measure - never before in a museum or gallery, I think, have I ever felt so tempted to reach out and touch and engage with the exhibits (none of which we could photograph).
Outside, for a quick picture of the building:
and then on to our next objective - the Gemäldegalerie.
On the way, it was impossible to miss the war-time bullet and shrapnel damage to nearby buildings:
Unfortunately, after a (thankfully fairly rare) failure in planning, we arrived at the gallery to find that it was closed on a Monday.
More walking, past Tiergartenstraße 4, and Aktion T4 - a memorial to the 360,000 souls murdered by the Nazis under the term of 'euthanasia':
On, and past the Berliner Philharmonie, venue for Friday night's concert:
For the benefit of little friends I also insisted on getting my picture taken with the Lego giraffe:
I'm not entirely sure what Spiderman was doing in the foyer of the Film and Television Museum:
Exhausted, we took a break:
Grateful and sincere thanks to our sweet and very young waitress, who rushed after us because I had left my cap behind when we left.
Out, and along Voßstraße until we found our final destination of the day:
This unprepossessing car park and scrubby grass is the site (and all that is left visible) of Hitler's bunker complex.
A simple noticeboard gives details of the layout:
Back to the apartment, tired and footsore.
After regrouping, we decided to check out another of the restaurants that, back in the UK, I had identified as worth visiting. Thankfully close by, Meisterstueck featured quirky and eclectic decor:
and was built around a small courtyard (seen behind Amanda), overlooked by numerous neighbouring office buildings:
Given that the principal fare (sausages) are cooked on an open barbecue in the restaurant, and the scent wafts through and out into the courtyard, how anyone in the nearby buildings can concentrate on anything other than eating after about 17.00 is beyond me.
I chose a 'Thüringen sausage with luke-warm potato salad' and a basket of mixed bread, while Amanda opted for 'six (somewhat smaller) Nürnberger sausages with sauerkraut and a baked potato'.
After this Amanda declared herself too full for anything but a coffee, but I was intrigued by a sweet called 'Chocolate and Chocolate' - which turned out to be chocolate mousse, chocolate ice cream and a chocolate brownie - accompanied by whipped cream...
Thankfully for the sake of my cholesterol level, this was off-set by a thin slice of what appeared to be a healthy fruit-like substance, and which later research revealed to be pitaya or dragon fruit:
Back to the apartment, and preparing for our last day.
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