Berlin, Day 4

Berlin, Day 4

The last day in Berlin was a blast. We tried to travel by bicycle, but could not manage a half day rental from the grumpy front desk guy. There was a little confusion with him, and he got a little angry. He seemed to get very mad when I said there was not a problem and his stubbornness did not help the situation. Oh well. Bikes would have been nice, but we managed to get to the museum without a problem. Our mission was the Pergamon Museum on the Museum Island. We arrived 15 minutes early, then they let us inside. We were handed a headset and started the tour. It was a self guided stroll with each feature having a number to punch into the digital player. This made travel very nice since we could go at our own pace. The museum is one of the most popular in Germany and it holds the massive altar of the Pergamon from the central east coast of Turkey. It has been rebuilt on this site in Berlin with extreme attention to detail. Interesting though, was how this structure was claimed and brought back to Berlin. It is a Hellenistic beauty from 200 BCE to 100 CE. Huge friezes were on display with columns and marble sculptures. It is funny how we began our trip with ancient Greek ruins and now we have ended it with more. By far, these are some of my favorite things to see and learn about. Knowing a little about the mythology makes them a real treat to see up close in person. It was a different feeling to see these ruins out in their native environment back in Greece and Turkey. I did not read up entirely yet on the procurement of the items, but the Germans did a great job "taking" them all. Around the early 1900's it seems like Turkey was ransacked and the locals were easily coerced into treaties allowing the items to be taken. I am sure that there were some wonderful bribes and political promises. Hell, they had a totally reconstructed Gate of Babylon. It might be me that is dumb, but it did not know that world icon was in the museum. In Europe, it seems that the big museums like the Louvre and the British Museum are just war trophies. Some taken by force and others wheeled and dealed for. If you set that shady business aside, the artifacts were displayed in a great professional way. Having English text and audio was informative. We were all glad that we made it to the museum and would have felt very bad if we missed out. My luck is normally to read about something after you missed it only to realize how cool it was.

From there, we headed to the main strip called Unter den Linden. We needed lunch and I was on a hunt for some German Weinerschnitzel! After a little walking, we sat down at a great street side place. The food was tasty and the beer was something different, but great and dark. Right in the middle of the road was a construction site with a jackhammer tearing up concrete. It became quite humorous watching people react to the nuisance. We didn't let it bother us, but after leaving, we realized how loud it really was.

The second museum of the day was the Topographie of Terror Museum. Interestingly enough, we had just be to a "terror museum" in Budapest. Seems to be the vibe going around in the 1940's and on! This museum lies just in front of the largest remaining section of the Berlin Wall. Inside is a giant timeline that hangs on steel cables from the ceiling. The building is very new and clean. The layout is very clear with pictures and documents displaying the rise and fall of the Third Reich. There were photos that I had never seen before shedding light into the deep secrets of Hitler and his partners. I had heard that in Germany the history of the Nazis is sometimes not taught in entirety to students and not talked about in the lives. Walking into this museum, I realized that even if that might be true, here was a place that the gruesomeness of the times was not hidden. I walked through with Germans and tourists in complete silence as we read and looked at the pictures. If that was true in the past, it is not now. Maybe, they are more in touch with their past today than they have ever been? Hopefully we can all learn from history only to not let it repeat itself. On a daily basis, I see things and events in the works for catastrophic failure, only to repeat some blunder in history that has already happened.

Back at the hostel, we got our bags together and prepared for our last night in Europe. We went to bed early because 4:15 am would happen oh too soon. Andrew was a little perturbed since our three new roommates were young beautiful French girls. Previously, we had a super snorer with a quiet wife and a French guy. I was just glad he did not go out with them that night since when we left at 5am, they were not back from being out on the town. Those French know how to party. I guess they sleep all day and party all night? That's something I just don't get. I had a tough time sleeping because I knew the next day would be some tough travel back to the USA. But, we were ready for it.