On the way to the stadium on the S-bahn the train cars were totally crammed with people supporting both teams. The cars were so full, I think even the Japanese train crammers would have been impressed. The supporters were singing their team songs back and forth - all very friendly and quite amusing. We pulled into one station and there was a very heavy police presence and the platform was overflowing with more fans. At this point there is no more room on the car so only a few people can get on. That station must have been a transfer point from other transit lines because the next station we came to had only one lonely man standing on the platform. Picture a loud, beery, singing train car full of people decked out in their team colours and on the platform one tiny, tidy little old man in a tidy homburg, with a tidy little coat and a tidy little suitcase. The entire train car burst out laughing - it was such a contrast. There was no room for Mr Bean.
The game was close with the home side coming out on top 2-1. Afterwards there was great celebration...
When we bought the tickets the fellow at the Hertha shop indicated that they were 'partially obstructed view'. I think he was referring to the barrier around the field that cut off our view of the ground level immediately in front of us .... but in fact the view was more obstructed by the huge Hertha fan who sat in front of Kris. And I do mean huge fan. This guy had an immense bushy head of hair, he must have been at least 6'9" tall (a really big guy) and he was wearing a poncho made out of what appeared to be a Hertha sofa blanket. I am not making this up; he was quite a sight.
The trip home from the match was not without adventure. We didn't stay to see all the medals being handed out at the end of the game as the attendance was so high, we wanted to get a small head start on the train home. Germans are very orderly, albeit enthusiastic people, and they can drink more beer at a soccer match than you would think humanly possible. So we get on the train to come home and it is a bit crowded, we have to stand but (thankfully) we are not crammed in like sardines and we get about a quarter of the way into the car and are standing in the aisle. There is an area for bicycles and a older couple are sitting there with their bikes. Two young guys get on, I would say they were maybe 16 and 20-ish? At any rate, we aren't more than 100 yards out of the station when the younger of these guys begins to upchuck beer all over the place. His friend grabs the back of his neck and has the poor guy pushed over double so the fellow's head is practically level with his knees so he mainly hits his own feet and vicinity. Brian leans over and opens the window (all the train windows have little sign politely indicating that you must not throw your beer bottles out the window!) and a few seconds later the guy starts to get sick again. Same routine, his friend is trying to make sure he doesn\t hit anyone else. Then his friend asks if anyone has a tissue or kleenex, the older lady with the bicycle hands him the tiniest kleenex I have ever seen and he placed it onto the ocean of used beer and begins to try to direct it all toward the train door. At the next stop he pushes as much of it out the door as possible, and he drags his poor suffering friend off the train. Then Brian says, look out, the rest is flowing this way .... so we wandered down to the other end of the train car. Thank God the boy had not had currywurst for lunch.
Later we checked out a local stop (just down from our apartment) for one of the Spree River cruise companies as we have decided that would be a fun way to see parts of the city from a different angle. While looking at the schedule an older gentleman was walking by and we asked if he spoke English... "just a little..." he replied, so we asked if he could help us interpret what the sign was saying with regards to the different cruise options. Turns out he spoke pretty darn good English and engaged us in a conversation about our stay in Berlin, making many excellent suggestions as to what we might consider doing.
While chatting he asked if we had come across any "stumbling blocks". We confessed that we did not know what he meant so he explained what they are and the history behind them. In a nutshell, these Stolperstein or "stumbling blocks" are small memorials, about 4 inches square, placed in the sidewalk outside apartment buildings where people were taken away by the Nazis. The idea is that people stumble upon them and can know that this happened right here, maybe in the building they live in. It turns out there is a pair of them outside the apartment building next to where we are staying. Here is a photo of them showing the couple who was taken...
These are very powerful memorials and a daily reminder:
- Here lived Max Mannheim; born 1866; deported Aug 25, 1942 to Theresienstadt (concentration camp) where he died Sep 28, 1942.
- Here lived Frida Mannheim, nee Heimann; born 1883; deported Aug 25, 1942 to Theresienstadt where she died Jan 30, 1944.
We looked through the brochure showing most if not all the museums of note. Clearly there were going to have to be some left for next time. We decided to limit ourselves to 2 per day with a target limit of about 2 hours in each.
Tuesday we chose the Pergamonmuseum and Alte Nationagalerie museums.
The Pergamon Museum almost defies description. Remember at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Germans are depicted as trying to box up all of antiquity and ship it home? From the looks of this museum they did a pretty darned fine job. The scale of the artifacts makes you ask "how the dickens did they get all this home?". The Pergamon Altar would probably cover the better part of a basketball court. The Ishtar gate is, well, a city gate! It isn't really possible to do more than to stand there and gape at the things, they are so totally over the top.
Leaving the Pergamonmuseum, we noticed a Rathskellar restaurant across the street. Sweet... not too far to get some lunch and close to our second choice museum for the day. Unfortunately there was a tour bus group in there and the place was full but we decided to just wait rather than wander off in search of something which may or may not end up being close by. Ended up having a very nice lunch. Then on to the Alte Nationalgalerie... but wait, as we passed the new Neues Museum, Kris noticed a sign indicating that you had to get a time slot entrance ticket (this is because the Nefertiti is widly popular). Kris also observed that there was currently no lineup at the door, so we quickly went next door to the Alte Nationalgalerie, where we could get a timeslot ticket) and were issued an entrance ticket for "right now". So off we went with a change of plans. Neues Museum instead of Alte Nationalgalerie for today.
Even if the Neues Museum were empty, it would be worth seeing. The building is another example of the miracle that has transformed Berlin since German reunification. The building had been bombed in WW2 and left standing to the elements until the early 1990's. There was a competition and a British architect was chosen. As with the lovely church in Hannover, this restoration put the structure back in place, but did not attempt to restore the interior. The room where the Nefertiti is displayed is an octagonal shaped room with dark green walls; the patches and re-plastered areas of the wall are quite apparent. The green walls give a lovely contrast to the skin tones of the bust and the chipped plaster on the walls is very compatible with the chips in the old girl, the one place in the museum where photos are not permitted...
Wednesday we chose the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) and the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings). Both of these are in the Kulturforum at Potsdamer Platz so easy to get to and close together.
The Decorative Arts Museum should have been wonderful, but it was so hot and although the things were beautiful the displays were un-inspsired. And Brian got chewed on by a guard because he opened a drawer on one of the cabinets "This is a musem" we were informed. To which Kris muttered ' a hot boring musem'. Actually, the drawer did contain interesting stuff! why they didn't have a few of the drawers open to begin with is something only the curator will ever know. As ho-hum as the exhibit was, there were interspersed couturier pieces which Kris enjoyed and then ..... a display on dress-forms! Kris is one of the few people on earth who find this interesting; so the museum was redeemed in her eyes.
Leaving the Kunstgewerbemuseum, we spotted an outdoor eatery as part of the Kulturforum complex. Again, how convenient was that, and they had quite good food to boot. It's a cafeteria style with a board above that supposedly tells what they have available to serve... but everybody just looks at what is available and points to what they want. The guy behind us kept looking up at the board and asking for something but the guy serving just kept saying to him in his best english "...don't look up there, look down here, this is what we have today!"
After eating we headed for the Kupferstichkabinett only to find that none of the 500,000 prints and 110,000 drawings they advertise as having, are actually on display. Sometimes they have special exhibits but otherwise you have to know what you want to see and the person in the study room can retrieve it (or a copy of it) for you. Since there was no special exhibit on when we arrived, this was a rather short museum visit.
The Kulturforum complex houses another museum that was an alternate on our list so we ended up going to the Gemaldegalerie (Old Master Paintings) instead.
It is quite fitting that the word Gem is in the name of this gallery. Again, it is a newly renovated space, although sort of confusing in its layout. What is wrong with linear progressions people? why do we have to wander like Moses for 40 years to get from one end of the collection to the other? But the collection is superb! Two exquisite Vermeers, many Rembrants (including the Man with the Golden Helmet) and Botticelli madonna.
Thursday we chose the Judisches Museum (Jewish Museum) and the Gedenkstatte Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall Memorial).
The Jewish Musem is a very striking structure and the focus of the collection is on Jewish life in Germany through the ages. The holocaust is not the central theme, although it is not possible to discuss Jewish history without this topic in the back of one's mind - there are areas in the building dedicated to contemplation and remembrance. The collection itself is a great tribute to the richness that Jews brought to German culture and learning and the emphasis is truly on the life aspect - home life, school life, role of women, business life, etc. There was also a special exhibit entitled Fallen Leaves which represented the lost people...you can walk on it and it makes a sound like walking on metal leaves...
The museums Thursday were definitely far apart. We opted for a nice lunch in the Jewish Museum before beginning the trek to the northern part of the city. We took the U-bahn up to Friedrichstrasse Bahnof then the S-bahn north to the Nordbanof station. The Nordbanof station is interesting because it is part museum. There is an exhibit there showing how this station (and others) were turned into ghost stations when the wall went up. This underground station is on a line that went from West Berlin through East Berlin to West Berlin again. The trains were allowed to run but could not stop at these ghost stations. The exhibit shows how some folks escaped to West Berlin via the tunnels before the stations were bricked up. The wall memorial along BernauerStrasse is still being worked on but is very interesting. They have kept part of the wall along with it's "death strip" and watch tower to illustrate what it was like. They have removed all the barbed wire etc but you still get the idea. Throughout he memorial, which stretches a couple of blocks along BernauerStrasse, there are numerous individual stone memorials marking the places where people died trying to escape over the wall. There is new visitor information center where they show short documentary films. Just up the street from the visitor center is the Documentation Center where there is a very interesting permanent exhibit "Berlin, 13 August 1961", the day the wall went up.
That marked the end of our 3 day museum pass. Very well worth buying the pass. There are so many museums in Berlin it almost makes your head spin.
Friday we had hoped to do the river cruise thing again, but the weather forecast was for rain all day. Poop... maybe we would have to save this for another time as well. So we took it easy in the morning and decided that Friday would be a stroll around shopping in the rain kind of day. When we left the apartment the sky started to clear but it was too late to catch the morning cruise so off we went. Well, the weather forecast was a tad off... it got clearer as the day went on. Later in the afternoon, as we were on our way back to the apartment, Kris commented that maybe we could catch a late afternoon cruise. There turned out to be one almost right away, so we had a quick coffee at a corner bakery/coffee place and hoped on board for the 2 hour roundtrip down the Spree River. It was wonderful blue sky by this time so sitting out on the top deck of the cruise ship gave a fabulous view. It was late Friday afternoon and there were folks by the hundreds/thousands out enjoying themselves along the river pathway restaurants and parks, mostly taking in the sun and the odd brew. We commented about how this was so cool and also about the total lack of anything like it in Calgary. Yes, we have the bike paths along the river but how many places are there where you can sit at an outdoor cafe along the river and just sit and enjoy, never mind the "not allowed to have a beer in public places" law?
Saturday we went off in search of the best model train store in Germany, so they say, and if it isn't then there are some other might fine ones out there! Brian, the potential budding model train enthusiast decided to buy a car or two depicting German beer companies. The guy in the store was very helpful and explained differences in German vs American engines and car couplings. Kris spotted a car for a famous beer company so we picked that and another car that was on sale but will have to change the couplers when we get home in order to hook up with the small CPR train set we bought late last year. Having worked on contract at CPR for a number of years, it seemed prudent to start with a model of their train.
The area where the model train store was is a quaint little residential plaza with a beautiful garden. On the plaza was a flea market where one of the stalls was selling vegetables. It is "spargel" season here and this guy, in his Spargelmobile, must have had the cream of the crop. There was a lineup about 20 people long and there were empty spargel boxes flying out of the back of his truck... Kris muttered to ourselves.. "...people, it's just asparagus, you can get it anywhere...". White spargel is a delicacy here. In restaurants we often see menu items such as "Spargel und Salzkartoffeln mit Butter" (White Asparagus with boiled potato and butter)... now there's an all white dish for you. On a side note, one evening we stopped at a nearby eatery for a glass of wine and sat next to a couple of people from Dallas Texas and chatted with them. She was having her plate of "Spargel und Salzkartoffeln mit Butter" for the 3rd night in a row!
We went and walked around the Charlottenburg shopping area a bit before taking the S-bahn over to the Tiergarten where we had noticed another very large flea market set up. We wandered around there for a bit, marvelling at the collections of stuff of all varieties. There was no place to eat around there so we jumped back on the S-bahn and went over to the Friedrichstrasse area for a nice pub lunch along the river. We both passed on the house special... you guessed it... spargel!
Saturday night was the German Football DFB Cup championship game and it was played in Berlin at the Olympiastadion. We looked at getting tickets but they were selling in the 300+ euro range so screw that. We can watch it on tv. Anyway, all day Saturday there were hordes of Schalke and Duisburg (the two teams in the cup final) fans on the trains and wandering around town. Everywhere we went there was much singing, hollering and of course, being Germany, beer consumption. There were also hordes of riot police ready to hop into action if need be. On the way home about 4:00 pm, we were on the train with some Schalke fans who were entertaning the train passengers with their team song. We spoke with one guy and asked what time the game started. It didn't start until 8:00 pm so they still had a good 4 hours of partying to get under their belts. He said they had been drinking beer so far but hadn't got into the vodka yet!
We ended up watching the game on tv, however it was a bit of a blow out. Schalke grabbed a quick lead and never looked back.. final score 5-0, hardly what you'd expect for a national championship but it happens sometimes.
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