The first thing we did was walk by the Berlin Cathedral on Museum island. Nearby was where you purchase the Berlin pass, the package that gives you some transportation and admission to various attractions. We picked that up and caught a bus.
We got asked for our papers. (Seriously. The guy at the bus stop asked for my papers.) And by papers he meant the little bus pass.
So we drove around on a double decker bus and got a good overview of much of the city. This was a good idea. The first guide we had was a transplant from Chicago who would remind you of John Malkovich. He played ABBA songs. When it was time for his break we got another guide who was very German, and very much a prankster. We sat right next to him and he’d tell jokes in both languages over his speaker system and then wink and smile and whisper to me that he was kidding.
Among the sites was the Reichstag building:
It opened for business in 1894 and housed the Reichstag, or Imperial Diet. It was occupied until 1933 when it was damaged by fire and fell into disrepair until the 1960s with no real restoration made until after reunification. After that was finished in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the modern Bundestag. (Reichstag is the building, Bundestag is the parliamentary body.)
The glass dome is a big feature. It provides a complete view of the Berlin cityscape. Natural light radiates through the dome onto the parliament floor, but there’s an electronic sun shield blocking direct light. If you want to tour it you have to make reservations.
This is Bellevue Palace the official residence of the President of Germany:
It was built in 1786 as a summer residence for Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia.
The Konzerthaus Berlin is the home of Konzerthausorchester Berlin. The building was erected from 1818 to 1821 as a theater. It became a concert hall during World War II.
It was badly damaged during the war. In the 1970s they rebuilt it (the exterior historically faithful) and reopened in 1984. It features a pipe organ with 5,811 pipes. Acoustics Today considers it one of the top five venues in the world for musical and operatic performances.
If you want to amuse or bore your friends, ask them what the first western advertisement in East Berlin was. This Coke sign:
And we got asked for our papers.
After the bus circle got us oriented we went back to the Berlin Cathedral. I shot a video:
Berlin Cathedral is the short name for the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin, Germany on Museum Island. The building was finished in 1905 and is a main work of Historicist architecture of the “Kaiserzeit.”
It has never been a cathedral in the actual sense because it has never been the seat of a bishop. The church’s community dates back to the 15th century.
Here’s more of the beautiful work inside. Click and scroll to move around your perspective. Please ignore the parts I messed up.
Here’s a still of the organ:
And a few shots of the altar:
At the Pergamon Museum, this is the Market Gate of Miletus (in western Greece). Built in the 2nd century AD, the gate was destroyed in an earthquake in the 10th or 11th century. Archeologists dug it up in the early 1900s, it was restored, rebuilt and placed here:
Here’s a model of Miletus to give you a sense of scale. See the gate in the background?
Also at the Pergamon, this is a portion of the famed Ishtar Gate. Click to embiggen:
This was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon, built about 575 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar II and excavated between 1902 and 1914. This reconstruction uses original bricks. It features bulls, the symbol of the weather god Adad and dragons, symbol of the city god Marduk.
The work on the gate continues right in front of you:
This is “Relief Depicting a River Town.” I shot it because I thought I might like a print. The marble dates to the second century. I’m intrigued by the cynicism of the signage. “Found allegedly in Apollonia-on-the-Rhyndacus” in northwestern Asia Minor:
This is a panel of the procession street into Babylon. The lions were the sacred animal of the goddess Ishtar.
Only a short segment was installed in the museum, but these are from the original fragments. The original was almost 80 feet wide. And what you can’t see from that first shot is that there is depth to the artwork:
This is the Fernsehturm, a television tower.
The tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the East Germans, something of an “Us too! Us too!” toward the administration of West Germany. At over 1,200 feet, it is the tallest structure in Germany and you can see it from most anywhere in Berlin. Also, there’s a revolving restaurant up there, too. There are more than two dozen stations broadcasting off the transmitter.
And, finally, bubbles:
But I’ll tell you about that on another day.
