I had always wondered why I couldn’t find a lot of direct
flights between Berlin and other major cities in North America or even Europe
for that matter, unlike Frankfurt or Munich, even though Berlin is Germany’s
capital and a big city in itself. The answer came the minute we landed in
Berlin TXL – in fact, all of Berlin’s airports including SKF are awfully small
and outdated.
Each landing gate has its
own luggage carousal but we had to wait for a long long time for the luggage to
show up.
Luggage service is one of the
slowest we have ever experienced.
The whole
place is small, stuffy, and old.
Apparently, all four of Berlin’s airports hail from East Germany
era.
Although plan has been underway to
build a brand new bigger airport to serve Berlin, its progress has been very
slow.
Going to downtown from the airport, on the other hand, is a
breeze. We took city bus to our hotel
which was very convenient but extremely crowded. Our hotel is located right at the Spree River
and across the beautiful Berlin Dom. The
museum island is only a few blocks away.
We were surprised to see so many tourists in Berlin.
Our hotel Radisson Blu unexpectedly provided us with an
undersea experience: Its lobby has the biggest free-standing aquarium in the
world measuring six stories high. It was
loaded with beautiful tropical fish swimming round and round. The hotel guests could see this for free from
the atrium or in elevators but others had to pay admission to see this
attraction.
We met up with Jason and Dorcas, our old friends hailed all
the way back from Montreal, in their huge apartment.
Jason has accepted another assignment from
Foreign Affairs and is posted to Berlin.
We had such a good time catching up.
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| The largest free-standing aquarium in the world - right inside our hotel atrium! |
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| Berlin Dom - opposite our hotel |
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| Walking through Museum Island on our way to visit Dorcas and Jason |
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| Visiting our old friends, Dorcas & Jason, here in Berlin |
The next day, after a huge breakfast buffet at the hotel (and is literally
breakfast for champions with champagne to wash it all down), we met up with
Jason and Dorcas to attend the worship service at the Berlin Dom next to our
hotel. What a beautiful building to
worship in!
We then spent the whole afternoon exploring the Museum
Island, so named because there are 5 world-class museums located next to each
other: Pergamon (Babylonian, Assyrian, Roman, Greek), Neues (Egyptian), Bode (sculptures
& Byzantine art), Altes (Roman & Greek), Alte National Gallery
(Romantic, Impressionist, & Modernist paintings). This is indeed a museum lover’s heaven. The collections are all very impressive due
to the Nazi Germany’s tendency to confiscate artworks everywhere they
went. Also, museums in Western world had
a tendency to just dig up, cut up, and transport everything (lock, stock, and
barrel – even gigantic stone wall) back to cities like London and Berlin for
study and display. We saw beautiful tile
walls from Babylon and stunning Assyrian statues, as well as the bust of the
most beautiful woman ever lived, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt).
Dorcas and Jason invited us for dinner tonight and we had a
great time reconnecting. Dorcas and
Jason have always been such wonderful hosts and Dorcas has this special gift to
whip up a simple yet delicious and filling meal in no time! Best of all, their apartment is within a short walking distance
from our hotel. We can combine sightseeing and exercise after dinner all in one activity.
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| Impressive facade of the grand city of Babylon (Pergamon Museum) |
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| Beautiful 3D tile work of prowling lions decorating the walls of entrance road into the great city Babylon |
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| More colorful tile work found inside Babylon |
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| Assyrian statues (Pergamon Museum) |
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| Large collection of Egyptian coffins (Neues Museum) |
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| Bust of the most beautiful woman alive, Queen Nefertiti (Neues Museum) |
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| Egyptian tablet (Neues Museum) |
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| Berlin Gold Hat (Neues Museum) |
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| Alte National Gallery |
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| Praying Boy (Altes Museum) |
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| Entrance Hall of Altes Museum |
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| Dinner on the terrace of Jason & Dorcas' apartment |
Berlin is most famous for its Berlin Wall which was
constructed in 1961. At the end of WWII,
Germany was divided into Eastern Germany run by Soviet Union and Western
Germany run by US, Britain, & France.
While Berlin was well inside the Eastern half, the agreement called for
similar split of the capital city. This
is very intriguing as there was this pocket and island of democracy deep inside
the Red communist Soviet Union’s influence sphere. Soviets tried to blockade the western half of
the city in 1948 but had to give up a year later. As citizens from the East Berlin continued to
migrate to the west side in large numbers, East Germany completely sealed off
the border and erected a concrete wall in 1961.
The wall lasted till 1989 when the Soviet Union started to crumble and
East Germany allowed free travel for its citizens to the West. Both Germanys were reunified in 1990.
Most of the wall has been dismantled but there are still
sections remained as tourist attractions.
The East Side Gallery has the most complete remnant left with many
thought provoking paintings on it.
We also
visited the Berlin Wall Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie.
Sadly, Checkpoint Charlie now has
deteriorated into a commercial spot where actors and actresses posing as US soldiers demanding donation to be photographed.
Berlin is also a city still on the move.
Almost 30 years after reunification, we were challenged to find exactly
where the wall was located.
The hint is
a row of metal markers on the road surface where the original Berlin Wall
lied.
Honestly, I could not distinguish
which side belonged to which Germany now as there are lots of construction
activities still going on today.
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| Most intact part of Berlin Wall is found at East Side Gallery with lots of paintings on the wall |
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| West Berlin was an isolated island inside the red sea of communism |
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| This part of the Berlin Wall near the Berlin Wall Memorial is just plain wall |
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| This is a reconstruction of a watchtower on the death strip of land between West and East Germany |
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| Actors posing as US soldiers for tourist at Checking Point Charlie |
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| Check Point Charlie |
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