It has been almost six months since I returned from Denmark and I've been trying to find the time to write this up as I think many would be interested in reading what I am about to share with you.
Every year while staying in Copenhagen during Christmas, we always try to plan out a short trip to a particular city nearby. I've done two trips to Oslo, which were very pleasant and I shall post photos of those one day as well) and one short trip to Sweden. Berlin had always been on the list but we never had the chance to visit, until last December.
Our plan was to do a two-night trip and Nina was able to find a relatively inexpensive deal at a four star hotel since it was right after Christmas. The mode of transportation was bus and ferry, which apparently was rather long according to Nina. I was not aware of the travel time as I slept through the entire way!
Berlin is unique since it is incredibly modernized compared to other European cities. Most of the old buildings were completely destroyed during the war and the city is now dominated by large modern buildings. The odd old buildings could still be seen if you pay attention, and structural damages by the war are still very evident. It was also interesting to witness how fast the city has developed since the fall of the Berlin Wall. To an outsider such as myself, it was impossible to differentiate the east and west.
Our objective of the trip was not to shop or dine locally, but to visit museums.
During our last trip to Oslo, I think we managed to visit four seperate museums in one day, as well as the royal palace, and the town hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented every December. Very nerdy stuff. Berlin has thirty of forty museums, and it seemed they are all worth a visit. After some reading before the trip, I recommended that we spend most of our time at the Pergamon Museum.
The Pergamon Museum was built in the early 1900s. It houses three different cultural components - antiquity collection, the Middle East museum and the museum of Islamic art. What I really wanted to see was the Pergamon Alta, which is this giant monument that was reconstructed by the German archeological team.
From the hotel to the Pergamon Museum, we passed several museums that pretty much had no line-ups. When we arrived at our museum, it was a different story...
Can you spot the yellow jacket?
It seemed like every tourist in Berlin decided to congregate at that location. I think we spent at least 30 minutes in the line-up.
Once inside, the agony was quickly forgotten.
The photo does not give a good estimate to the actual size of the structure. This temple was built 2,200 years ago in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon, which is located in today's Turkey. It was dedicated to Zeus. One of the important features is over 350 feet of sculptures that tell the stories of the battles between the gods and the giants. See photos below.
There are three other main features in the Pergamon Museum but I only managed to get good photos for two of them. The Market Gate of Miletus was displayed behind a net because it is fragile.
The Ishtar Gate and the Procession Street of Babylon was the other highlight. Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon (today's Iraq), built around 2,500 years ago.
To appreciate how significant the structure is in the photograph, one has to understand that the giant structure (note the comparison between the height of the people and building) was built by small blue tiles 25 centuries ago, completely destroyed, and rebuilt in the late 1800s. The brighter blue tiles are new replacements, while the faded tiles are the originals. Also note on the walls, the bulls and dragons and dragons were created with the style of bas-relief, so they would look more realistic. The above photo only shows about 10% of the entire reconstructed structure, which is also only a fraction of the original building.
Anyways, Pergamon Museum, highly recommended!
On the way back, we stopped by Check Point Charlie.
The museum was very informative, I was able to pick up lots of new knowledge regarding the Berlin Wall. My only complaints would be it was too small and unable to accommodate the large crowd.
Hope you enjoyed the read. There might be part two.
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Topic: Our trip to Berlin last December (Read 6185 times)