The Berlin Museum system is probably the best i have ever encountered.. usually to enter the museum you pay a set amount (extra if you want to see the special exhibitions) of around 10 euro for an adult i think.. but for a student, i could pay 7 euro to visit all 5 museums on museum island which is nuts!
Downside of all the museums.. everything is in german. But the upside.. they include an audio tour guide in the price of your ticket.. so i grabbed one at every museum i went to to 'enhance' the experience and know what the hell was going on haha
I started off in the Pergamon Museum which houses the collection of classical antiquities,
museum of islamic art and museum of ancient near eastern art. To see the Pergamon steps (sadly not the altar) and be able to climb them was crazy. This was accompanied by many statues and stone art.. even a big mosaic. I then got to see other various structures from throughout history.. like these massive blue tiled walls and gateway from babylon times. I have photos, but cannot upload them yet, but when i do i will add them onto here.. will save me from trying to have to describe everything. I was a bit sad though.. didn't get to see what the museum looked like from the outside as they have started restoration processes.
I then moved next door to the Bode Museum (formally known as the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum)
which houses many sculptures, byzantine art and an extensive coin and medal collection. The museum itself was fascinating.. small, yet so elegant. It was quite odd to walk through a museum where everything was based solely around religion, but it was interesting to see all the different interpretations of the story of christ and listen to the reasonings behind the structure on the audio guide.
After the Bode Museum, I walked around to the Neues Museum which has recently been reopened after a lengthy restoration and reconstruction. The museum itself was actually destroyed in World War II and official construction didn't begin
on the building till 2003 (they started in 1986 but it was soon put on hold when the wall collapsed, and planning didn't start till 1997). It reopened in October 2009.. so it's now one of the most popular museums to visit. So much so that when you purchase a ticket, you are allocated an entry time as a crowd control measure. The Neues Museum houses the Egyptian, prehistory and early history collections.
The egyptian stuff was amazing.. especially the bust of queen nefertiti. Shattered i could take photos of all of that but the bust. The bust of Nefertiti is housed in its own room, along with 5 security guards. They treasure the bust here in Germany.
Once i got out of the Neues Museum, i realised i didn't have long till all the museums closed at 6pm, so i had to decide out of the final 2 which one i would rather see.
It was either visit the Altes Museum across the road that housed the collection of classic antiquities - Antikensammlung, or visit the Altes Nationalgalerie which housed a collection of classical, romantic, biedermeier, impressionist and early modernist artwork. I knew i wouldn't be able to get through the nationalgalerie in time, so i went to the Altes Museum instead.
There i got to see a lot of busts from roman times, pottery (black and orange, some blue and white) and early use of glass in household items of that time. It was very interesting to see items i had studied in school up close. After Altes, i was about to try and race over to the Nationalgalerie to see if i had time, but realised they had a special exhibition upstairs in the museum, so i stayed there and walked through the special exhibition.
As i was leaving the Altes Museum (around 5.30pm) they started to close their doors which was odd.. but i could understand why. Why let someone in for 1/2 an hour when they wont get the chance to see much.
Took a few photos of the Berliner Dom, then headed to starbucks for a much needed hot
chocolate. Then jumped onto a train and headed to the East Berlin Wall Art Gallery. I was excited to see the art here as it had all been redone last year (every wall paining was marked with 2009). Totally forgot how long 1.3km is.. it's a long way to walk in the snow people!
It was quite an eye opener to imagine that not long ago this wall extended through the city and people were blocked off from the world on the other side.
Took some photos of paintings i thought were interesting and meant something, then back onto a train to meet up with Antje for a mini goodbye dinner and drinks.
We went to a cocktail bar where it was happy hour all night.. bad idea! So many cocktails and shots (plus food) = very little money left in my wallet haha
We ended up leaving the bar around 12.15am and somehow made the trek through the snow to the train.. which we then had to wait another 1/2 an hour for which wasn't cool. Did i mention by now i really was busting to use the loo? haha
Was sad to say goodbye to Antje when she got off at her station.. i didn't want her to go!
Then it was a slow ride home and didnt get into bed till about 2am :-(
Downside of all the museums.. everything is in german. But the upside.. they include an audio tour guide in the price of your ticket.. so i grabbed one at every museum i went to to 'enhance' the experience and know what the hell was going on haha
I started off in the Pergamon Museum which houses the collection of classical antiquities,
museum of islamic art and museum of ancient near eastern art. To see the Pergamon steps (sadly not the altar) and be able to climb them was crazy. This was accompanied by many statues and stone art.. even a big mosaic. I then got to see other various structures from throughout history.. like these massive blue tiled walls and gateway from babylon times. I have photos, but cannot upload them yet, but when i do i will add them onto here.. will save me from trying to have to describe everything. I was a bit sad though.. didn't get to see what the museum looked like from the outside as they have started restoration processes.I then moved next door to the Bode Museum (formally known as the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum)
which houses many sculptures, byzantine art and an extensive coin and medal collection. The museum itself was fascinating.. small, yet so elegant. It was quite odd to walk through a museum where everything was based solely around religion, but it was interesting to see all the different interpretations of the story of christ and listen to the reasonings behind the structure on the audio guide.After the Bode Museum, I walked around to the Neues Museum which has recently been reopened after a lengthy restoration and reconstruction. The museum itself was actually destroyed in World War II and official construction didn't begin
on the building till 2003 (they started in 1986 but it was soon put on hold when the wall collapsed, and planning didn't start till 1997). It reopened in October 2009.. so it's now one of the most popular museums to visit. So much so that when you purchase a ticket, you are allocated an entry time as a crowd control measure. The Neues Museum houses the Egyptian, prehistory and early history collections.The egyptian stuff was amazing.. especially the bust of queen nefertiti. Shattered i could take photos of all of that but the bust. The bust of Nefertiti is housed in its own room, along with 5 security guards. They treasure the bust here in Germany.
Once i got out of the Neues Museum, i realised i didn't have long till all the museums closed at 6pm, so i had to decide out of the final 2 which one i would rather see.
It was either visit the Altes Museum across the road that housed the collection of classic antiquities - Antikensammlung, or visit the Altes Nationalgalerie which housed a collection of classical, romantic, biedermeier, impressionist and early modernist artwork. I knew i wouldn't be able to get through the nationalgalerie in time, so i went to the Altes Museum instead.
There i got to see a lot of busts from roman times, pottery (black and orange, some blue and white) and early use of glass in household items of that time. It was very interesting to see items i had studied in school up close. After Altes, i was about to try and race over to the Nationalgalerie to see if i had time, but realised they had a special exhibition upstairs in the museum, so i stayed there and walked through the special exhibition.As i was leaving the Altes Museum (around 5.30pm) they started to close their doors which was odd.. but i could understand why. Why let someone in for 1/2 an hour when they wont get the chance to see much.
Took a few photos of the Berliner Dom, then headed to starbucks for a much needed hot
chocolate. Then jumped onto a train and headed to the East Berlin Wall Art Gallery. I was excited to see the art here as it had all been redone last year (every wall paining was marked with 2009). Totally forgot how long 1.3km is.. it's a long way to walk in the snow people!It was quite an eye opener to imagine that not long ago this wall extended through the city and people were blocked off from the world on the other side.
Took some photos of paintings i thought were interesting and meant something, then back onto a train to meet up with Antje for a mini goodbye dinner and drinks.
We went to a cocktail bar where it was happy hour all night.. bad idea! So many cocktails and shots (plus food) = very little money left in my wallet haha
We ended up leaving the bar around 12.15am and somehow made the trek through the snow to the train.. which we then had to wait another 1/2 an hour for which wasn't cool. Did i mention by now i really was busting to use the loo? haha
Was sad to say goodbye to Antje when she got off at her station.. i didn't want her to go!
Then it was a slow ride home and didnt get into bed till about 2am :-(
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteOne thing is certain, you certainly crammed in a lot ofexperience over the last 8 days or so; fromplaying in the park to visit KaDeWe,the Zoo,several Museums your friend Angee and finally but not last meeting quite a part of my family. Perhaps now you can understand why from time to time to dreaming once more to see meine Heimat read my special place in Germany. You certainly have seen a lot more than a lot of Berliners, because they don't realise how much they are missing of their education and culture...I shall keep following your trip right to the end.
Please give my love and regards to Tina,Ricki,Johns, Britta and family.
God bless on the rest of your trip
lots of love , hugs, and kisses
Opa and Omi