Last night in Berlin – Monday 6 June

After spending a lot of the day in the Bode-Museum, we headed off to Friedrich str, to check out the shops there and Checkpoint Charlie. Sue tells me that she hasn't had much luck finding things of interest, and that she's “over” shopping. Hmmmm, I wonder how long that will last. It doesn't take long to take a couple of photos at Checkpoint Charlie. We didn't think it necessary to look at the museum there – Lonely Planet is (at best) only polite about it, and apparently it's relatively expensive. We also had a nice meal in the area, during which there was quite a heavy storm.

We check out tomorrow morning, before our evening flight to Zurich then on to Bangkok. After we store our bags, we're planning to head out to Potsdam for the day. However, it may be a couple of days before I get back on to the internet.

The Bode-Museum Monday 6 June

Added - Mosaics

There are 5 museums on Museum Island (only a couple of minutes from our accommodation), so it wasn't easy to decide which to visit today. We eventually opted for the Bode-Museum, because it included Byzantine art, as well as an extensive sculpture and collections. The building itself is quite beautiful and we ended up spending over 4 hours there (in an uncrowded atmosphere). The Byzantine collection was not as extensive as we had hoped, but what was there was impressive. It included a whole mosaic from Ravenna (a place that we would have liked to visit but it was so far out of the way that it was impossible). There were sculptures and carvings from various eras, including interestingly to Coptic period in Egypt (up to the 7^th century). There was a lot of Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance work, mostly sculptures but also including some artworks. These came from most of the main European countries, including Italy (going to some extent to remedy our omission to visit the Uffizi!) and of course Germany.

Added - altarpieces  in Bode

Added - entrance foyer in Bode

Oranierburger str - Sunday evening 5 June

We had dinner tonight not far from our accommodation, in Oranierburger str. Hmmm, an “interesting” area. A variety of vibrant eating and drinking places, and other activities on the street too (think King's Cross). After a nice meal, we walked the length of the street, taking in the “scene”. Once was enough – we caught the tram that runs along the street back.

In the meantime, there are a few other topics in relation to which I have had some thoughts. One is the price of wine. There's plenty of perfectly adequate wine here for around €2.99 to €3.99, and you can get bottles of drinkable wine for €1.99 (yes, someone had to taste test it, so we have undertaken that tough task!). Makes you wonder about Australian wine prices (or is my sense of taste so dulled that I can't appreciate that although we pay more, we get better quality in Australia?).

Another issue is tipping. I've followed the guidebook advice and in general merely rounded up bills (sometimes by only a few cents). Invariably, I have been nicely thanked. Seems that this is all that is expected.

The attitude to former East Germany and the Berlin Wall has interested me. I am conscious that my perception has been through a very narrow lens, but it does seem to me that the city is making the most of the former wall as a tourist attraction. I guess this is inevitable, given the unique nature of the wall. But there seems to be a bit of a self righteous tone (EDIT - for example at the displays at Checkpoint Charlie and in the DDR Museum), and I have on occasion wondered whether there is anyone around today (except for Angela Merkel) who actually owns up to having lived in the former DDR? Since the wall came down over 20 years ago, I suppose anyone under about 30 wouldn't have any real experience of the DDR.

Euro copper coins - what does one do with the collection of 1, 2 and 5 cent copper Euro coins that we accumulate? I can get rid of the 10 and 20 cent coins into ticket vending machines, but the copper coins baffle me. I know this is also an issue in the US, but we don't miss copper coins in Australia, and we're questioning whether we need 5 cent coins. One consequence of having so many small coins is that payment at the supermarket checkout is often slow, while customers look for a few copper coins to round off their payment (and avoid getting another handful of copper).

Berlin Sunday 5 June

I've now added this picture of the Serbian Church

After checking out how to get there yesterday, we had no difficulty getting to the Serbian Orthodox church. We can't decide whether it's in the Wedding or the Prenzlauer Berg district, but it's in the former East Berlin. I suspect that the building may be a former Lutheran church. The singing/chanting during the service was very impressive, and afterwards we were made most welcome over coffee/cakes/sparkling wine/beer (we declined the latter). Needless to say, there was some political discussion (so Sue tells me, since it was all in Serbian), but at a fairly general level (and basically similar views were expressed on both sides).

Sue then engaged in some retail therapy in and around KaDeWe, but Tiffany, Gucci, Chanel and the other designer names missed out as Sue only made limited purchases (including a massage ball for the soles of her feet, after all the walking). Meantime, I went off to Miniatur Welten Berlin. I didn't know this existed, but Sue found it in Lonely Planet, which says that this claims to be the world's largest model railway. I had previously thought this title belonged to a model railway in Hamburg, and I had originally planned to go up to Hamburg to see it. However, the need to go to Hamburg was eliminated if all I had to do was to go to Alexanderplatz, which I did, and I was indeed “wowed”.

Added:   model of Zoo station, Berlin

 All the stations are modelled on actual German stations (including several of the Berlin stations), the trains authentically represent U-bahn, S-bahn, regional and ICE trains, plus lots of freight trains, there are trams, a Luna Park, a military establishment (complete with marching band music), a power station, and an airport. At the airport, planes land and take off, the departure board which you can see inside the terminal changes as flights depart and much, much more. The trains don't just go around in circles, either. There's at least one major junction where trains merge and cross over, and operate in alternate directions over the same track. And the whole parliamentary district is there, including the Brandenburg gate, the Bundestag building, the parliamentary offices, the Victory monument and so many other things. I spent hours there, and still didn't absorb it all!

One issue that I have been meaning to comment on is the use of bikes. Bikes are very common in the cities where we've been. But the bikes themselves are often old clunkers (EDIT - did I say "old"?    No, many of them are quite new, but they are still "clunkers"), helmets aren't required and no-one wears lycra around the cities. So little old ladies and mature gentlemen are just as at home on a bike as anyone else. And speeds are (usually) sedate. Perhaps in return for this, bikes seem to be allowed everywhere, on footpaths, through pedestrian filled plazas, up the wrong way on one-way streets! I realise that no-one in Melbourne has made it compulsory to wear lycra, but if we really are to introduce a bike culture into our cities (as some would wish), then many of us would find it less intimidating if lycra (EDIT - and the associated requirements of performance bikes travelling at high speed) wasn't as prevalent in everyday use.

Today around the Zoologischer Garten area a number of the major streets were closed, and given over to bikes! Masses of bikes, many carrying green balloons. But all ridden at quite sedate speeds and no lycra to be seen. Pedestrians, however, tended to come off 2^nd best – it was very hard to cross the streets!

And for my “it can only happen in Germany” story: there was a ticket inspector on the train today (pretty casually dressed, but he had some sort of ID card and other people were showing him their tickets). But I got into trouble, there was something wrong with my ticket! Seems that seniors travel today was either free or at a discount rate, and I had a full fare ticket. I count myself lucky that I wasn't fined for paying too much for my ticket!

Berlin Saturday 4 June

After I checked the location of the Serbian church to make sure that we can get there tomorrow, we explored nearby Alexanderplatz. It's perhaps not one of the world's most visually attractive spaces, but Sue was pleased to discover that there are a couple of department stores there! We also took an interlude on one of the city sightseeing tours. These are not my favourite activity, but this one wasn't too bad. Although it covered a number of places that we had already visited, the commentary added to our understanding. It also covered a few locations that remain on our to-do list, but gave us a preview of what we might encounter. In particular, the KaDeWe store is apparently definitely on Sue's shortlist!

Hackescher Markt area - Friday evening 3 June

Well, I thought I was through for blogging for today, and that we'd go out to eat at one of the very many eateries in the Hackescher Markt area where we're staying. That was until Sue turned the TV on, and found that the Federer/Djokovic semi-final in the French Open was on, with Djokovic just on the verge of winning the 3^rd set and proceeding to an engrossing 4^th set which unfortunately ended in him losing in a tie breaker. That certainly ended any prospect of going anywhere for a while. So we ate bread, cheese and other nibbles which we'd accumulated and drank red wine, while Sue provided emotional support for Djokovic and I put some more thoughts down!

The Hackescher Markt area has been described as recently undergone a revival, and certainly there's lots of life around. However, it isn't far away from the areas described in Lonely Planet as including some derelict industrial areas, and certainly within a couple of blocks from where we are (and in the vicinity of the local supermarket) there are quite a lot of “alternative” types of people.

After the tennis finished we went for a walk in the immediate vicinity. There were lots of people out and about, drinking and people watching, but there were also some dark lanes!

First day in Berlin - Friday 3 June 2011

We've never been to Berlin before (obviously the reason we are here is to tick it off the list!), so what do you do the first time you are here? Attend a service at the Dom, walk the length of Unter den Linden, check out the Bugati car showroom in Friedrichstrasse (sorry Cath and Kev, too big to fit a couple in the baggage), observe the tourists (including us) gawking at Brandenburg Gate and look at the Bundestag, of course. In between, we had lunch at a restaurant where you enter your menu choices directly on a computer screen and got lost at the Hauptbahnhoff (there are at least 3 levels of trains, and a few additional concourses for passengers). Other achievements included Sue finding almonds (don't the Italians eat almonds? We could never find any).

A word about the Dom. It's a most impressive building, both outside and inside. We, along with many others, paid the fee to enter and were admiring it all, including the statue of Martin Luther and the immense organ, when an announcement was made. Everyone sat down, no-one else was admitted, and a short service occurred. It included an organ prelude, hymn (no-one sang, but they made up for it by joining in the Lord's Prayer) and organ postlude – all clearly designed to show the versatility and abilities of the organ. It was almost as good as Armadale UC's. The service included what the order of service described as a homily. Unfortunately this was in German, and we ony found out later that a simultaneous translation was available if you sat in an appropriate area. Since yesterday was Ascension Day (taken very seriously in Germany and we understand from Sabine and Sam, also in Austria, in that it's a public holiday), perhaps we missed something important.

And after we'd done all that, we headed out again, and visited the DDR museum – a compact but interesting museum about life in the former East Germany. Although it made some good points about the repressive nature of the regime, I thought it was a little critical about aspects of the standard of living. Perhaps I'm just showing my age, but I identified with many of the points made in relation to the way of daily life as being similar to Australia in the 1950s! I admit, however, that Australia had moved on, or at least changed, by the 1980s. Following this museum, we went on a 1 hour river cruise, which was quite informative (earlier in the day, these had been very crowded).

A word about our “apartment”. It's actually just a large hotel room, but with microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, cooktop and other kitchen type facilities. It's very satisfactory for our needs, even though it doesn't have laundry facilities.