Deutscher Dom, the German Dome at Gendarmenmarkt, across the street from the Hilton hotel where we stayed
Alexander von Humboldt, explorer and scientist, honored in Philadelphia (see http://www.philart.net/person.php?id=52) as well as in Charlottenberg Castle.
Altes (old) National Galerie, with 19th century paintings and a few impressionists, the original Rodin Thinker, and a fragile artwork disintegrating on its front.
Bebel Platz, where books were burned in 1933. Nearby there's an empty bookcase underground as a reminder of those books.
Weiss (white) beer, light and fruity yeast beer.
The opposite, a heavy black beer. I didn't like the ordinary Berlin beer.
"Berlin", the sculpture symbolizing the broken city. From this angle it looks more like robots wrestling than broken links in a chain. For details see "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_%28sculpture%29"
Boys School for the Jewish District. In 1942 it was an old people's home.
The Gestapo collected 55,000 Jews here before sending them to the concentration camps to be "beastially murdered." NEVER FORGET!
The Brandenburg Gate symbolizes Berlin. On a lovely Saturday afternoon it was full of tourists - and people to serve them, like this Indian band.
Have your picture taken with a Russian soldier and a US Marine!
Or a photo with this silver-plated soldier in Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Or take a ride in this pedicab.
A serious view of the Brandenburg Gate, with its Quadriga above
The four horses and carriage of the Quadriga. The German cross and eagle were added after the Germans took it back from Napoleon's Paris in 1814.
This head from one of the horses of the Quadriga is in the Markishe Museum of the City of Berlin. I don't know whether this is the original or a copy of the one on top of the Brandenburg Gate.
For further entertainment, there's a bike race on the other side of the Brandenburg Gate.
In front, on Pariser Platz, a park on one side and new buildings all around, including the American Embassy off screen to the left.
Dinner dishes we had: first course, tuna cooked and tartare, with avocado mousse and eggplant, at Hartmanns. From the Enlish menu: "Two differents of tuna with avocado, eggplants caviar and currycreme"
Main course at Hartmanns was pigeon breasts with duck liver mousse. Can this be pigeon breast?
at E T A Hoffman, this dish includes foie gras with a thin layer of chocolate. Delicious!
The Berliner Dom, or Cathedral, with the broadcasting tower (fernsehturm) on the right.
Fredrick the Great, honored by the King of Prussia tavern in the town named after it - and also by this statue. More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Prussia
"Fredrick the Great, Friedrich Wilhelm the Third, 1840. Completed under Friedr. Wilh. the Fourth, 1856." But Friedrich II, the one generally known as "Frederick the Great" was the great uncle of this Friedrich Wilhelm III who died in 1840
The Hamburg Train Station is now a museum of post-1945 art. I looked and saw that they are separate from the building, not used for storage, so the shipping containers must constitute an art work.
A room by Bruce Nauman. When I came out of it the world was pink; my eyes hurt for several minutes.
Two Nauman televisions in the Harburger Bahnhoff, capturing Max and Gloria.
In another wing this immense Mao by Andy Warhol, displayed on wallpaper with heads of Mao colored with purple over the faces.
By I M Pei, the entrance to the new building of the History Museum.
Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche (Memorial Church) saved as a ruin. Much or most of the city was burned out like this at the end of the war.
A model of the church, from the other side, in chocolate. One of several large models in the chocolate store just off the Gendarmenmarkt.
Spherical vase with geometric decoration, by Camille Faure, Limoge, c. 1925. In the Crafts Museum (Kunstgewerbemuseum).
In the below-ground gallery of the Neue National Galerie
Above ground is a huge empty glass-walled square by Mies van der Rohe. The exhibit is a monochrome carpet enlarged from a digital image of an oriental rug for Rudolph Stingel, with chandelier above. See http://coutequecoute.blogspot.com/2010/04/rudolf-stingel-live-exhibition-at-neue.html for more.Outside in the background is St Matthew's Church. On the left, Broken Obelisk by Barnett Newman, which has appeared in Philadelphia and other American cities.
Another view from inside the Mies building.
Across town from the New National Gallery is the New Museum, Neues Museum, with Egyptian and other ancient items, including this bewigged man and, more notably, Nefertiti. She was truly beautiful, but photos aren't allowed.
A study in piebald. The New Museum reopened in March 2010 for the first time since the 1940s. Timed tickets are required; we waited 18 minutes in line outside for ours.
Flowing stone in the New Museum
In the Neues Museum, this tour group isn't hidden by the glass.
Max and other reflections from DZ Bank on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The bank was closed on Saturday afternoon.
The bank building by Frank Gehry looks very interesting, but was as tightly closed as the American Embassy next door.
I have been wanting to go to Berlin since we were in Bergama, Turkey, where a German team under Carl Umann excavated the pieces of the temple then known as Pergamon. They are here, bigger than life, in the Pergamon Museum. Gloria is resting on the bottom step.
Also in the Pergamon is the Ishtar Gate, also recreated from fragments by another German team. This is the mythical animal that decorates it.
Elsewhere in the Pergamon Museum is this beautiful crystal vase.
The Reichstag. We waited outside in line for 20 minutes on a cold, almost-raining Monday morning.
The line to enter the Reichstag went under this emblem for Friedrich III. The building was burned in 1933, either by Communists of Nazis. It wasn't used till recently.
Once inside the Reichstag building, it took another 20 minutes for security and the line to this elevator to the base of the new dome.
The dizzying look down from the top of the ramp up in the dome. The funnel looks like a ladder rising from the glass ceiling of the meeting hall of the Bundestag, the German Parliament, and the history display that surrounds it
Gloria looks at one of the panels detailing the history of the Reichstag building and Germany. The mirrored "funnel" reflects the sun into or away from the meeting hall of the Bundestag below. When the discussion gets heated, it also serves to carry off the excess warmth. There's a gentle ramp to walk up for a good view of the city.
The mirrors can be used for photos too. The dome was designed by Sir Norman Foster.
Multi-part Gloria and multi-part Max, thanks to Foster's design. Did he anticipate this? The mirrors swivel to reflect the sunlight, though there was little of it this day.
Max, elongated
The Reichstag from the left rear From the dome, we could see the museum affiliated with the Reichstag, so we hiked up to the nearest bridge and down to the museum of the office building across the Spree River. But I forgot that it was Monday, when museums are closed. We walked and walked to another, livelier section.
"The Thinker" by Rodin According to the audio guide in the Altes Museum, this is the first cast from Rodin's original plaster, before it was enlarged for more-monumental versions. Try to sit like this; it's not comfortable! He's more worried than thoughtful.
Schloss Charlottenburg. The center eleven axes were built as a country house for Queen Sophie Charlotte. It was greatly enlarged after her death, and rebuilt after the Second World War.
Closeup of Schloss Charlottenburg, with equestrian statue of Fredrico Guilielmo Magno, born 1703. The plaque is in Latin, so that's all I can read. Which Fredrick Willhelm the Great was he? Wikipedia has the answer: The original palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg in what was then the village of Lietzow. Originally named Lietzenburg, the palace was designed by Johann Arnold Nering in baroque style. The inauguration of the palace was celebrated on 11 July 1699, Frederick's 42nd birthday.[3] Friedrich crowned himself as King Friedrich I in Prussia in 1701 (Friedrich II - Frederick the Great - would later achieve the title King of Prussia). In 1702 he began to extend the palace, starting with two side wings to enclose a large courtyard, and the main palace was extended on both sides. Sophie Charlotte died in 1705 and Friedrich named the palace and its estate Charlottenburg in her memory.
Fence decoration Behind it the dome. On top of the dome is a gilded statue representing Fortune, designed by Andreas Heidt. Information from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottenburg_Palace
The Porcelain Room in Schloss Charlottenburg, with 2300 pieces of porcelain.
All the porcelain was lost in the bombings of WW II; these pieces are replacements.
A third view of the porcelain room, and in the next room, one of the many mediocre paintings brought in from the storage rooms in other museums (I think).
Sophienhöfe, with decoration of the Berliner Handwerker Verein. (Sophie courtyard, with sign of the Berlin Craftsmen's Society.) Now with a small theater, a "wedding" room, artist studios, etc.
The view from inside the Sophienkirche, Sophie's Church. It seems to have very old glass panes, but I can't imagine that they survived the bombings of World War II, which did damage the church. The stucco on the buildings on either side of the entrance are pockmarked; I think from explosives.
A scene on Charlottenstrasse at the Gendarmenmarkt, including Pegasus on the Konzerthaus. It's in Mitte (center city), far from Schloss Charlottenberg.
"an odd-looking ruin, ther remains of the Tacheles, a large elegant shopping complex devastated during the war and unrestored thereafter. Following the fall of the Wall, artists moved in, squatting and working here." - Insight Guide, Berlin There's a translation of the big sign on the next page.
Belarus - Minsk Contemporary Art Roof X
Behind the roofed parts of Tacheles are these sculptors' studios, with decent work.
The Wall Two sections in the garden of the Markisher Museum of Berlin history. Note the pipe on top so that there's nothing to grab hold of, nothing to hook onto. The painted side is the west side of the sections, which are not in the original location.
Or click one of these links: http://picasaweb.google.com/maxbuten/ (recent) or http://buten.net/max (older) or http://pbase.com/mistermax
