We were exhausted when we got home last night and I vowed and declared I wasn’t going to do anything today! So Clare was up early and off on her own adventure in Berlin. After a sleep-in we decided to have one last throw of the dice. So off we went. I took a last photo of our local Nettelbeckplatz.
Starting with coffee around the corner in the cool cafe we’ve been walking past for the last two weeks.
Good coffee. Throughout my stay in Berlin I get something like my normal long black by asking for a double espresso with hot water on the side. Has usually worked. This was very good.
Joe was keen to see the Holocaust Museum, me less so. People walking through taking selfies, children playing hide and seek. I wasn’t keen. You could see the Reichstag, and people gathering for a demonstration in support of women in Iran.
We embarked on a walk around the outskirts of the Tiergarten to find the Wagner memorial. On the way we came upon this statue of the writer and dramatist Gotthold Lessing who gets a mention in Jena 1800: The Republic of Free Spirits by Peter Neumann. I was delighted. He was a friend of Moses Mendelsson whose face is one of those in relief at the base of the statue.
I liked the figure at the back of the statue, an allegory of criticism with the scourge as attribute.
Walking along I found more of the pretty crocus like flowers I’ve seen elsewhere. Lovely.
Further along I was surprised to see the Berlin Symphony hall so close to the garden.
Moving right along here is a statue of a Prussian soldier in amongst the foliage.
Finally we came to the Wagner monument. It was erected in 1801-3, designed by Gustave Eberlein it’s a 2.7 metre high marble sculpture. Beneath Wagner are figures from his operas. At the front is Wolfram von Eshenbach from Tannhauser – included at the express wish of Emperor Wilhelm II. Weather damage and vandalism had damaged the statue so much, the canopy was fitted over it in 1988 and in 2015-16 major conservation and restoration work was undertaken. This included reconstructing parts damaged during WWII. Cracks were repaired and encrusted dirt removed.
Here is Brünnhilde holding the dead body of Siegrfried.
And here is Alberich wresting the gold from the Rhinemaidens. I was startled to find a man in a sleeping bag lying on this side of the statue – he poked his head out and I mouthed sorry and moved on.
This last is the penitent Tannhauser.
I hadn’t expected to like this statue as I’d been told by more than one person it was over the top. But I liked it a lot. From there we decided to walk to the Neue Nationalgalerie given it was so close. We’d actually decided to give this a miss as we were too worn out. I’m terribly glad we did. I’ve blogged about it separately here. On the way we came upon a building peppered with bullet holes. I was pleased about this because although I’d been told they were there I hadn’t seen these on any of the buildings on Museum Island. A bit macabre wanting to – but there you go. This is real history! The building was alongside the Gemäldegalerie, (the gallery of Old Masters).
I suspect it is an administrative office related to the art institutions nearby. Here is Joe taking a picture.
Pretty daunting, especially up closer.
After our visit to the Neue Nationalgalerie which I describe in this blog, we were surprised to find ourselves so close to Potsdamer Platz and decided to walk there to get something to eat. Immediately next to us was the Berliner Philharmonie. I’ve been trying to get a decent picture of it – hard because it’s very big. Great building outside and in.
Between it and the gallery is a building site – they’re building a new modern art gallery to house art from 1950 onwards. Here’s the usual pipe taking water away.
Also between the gallery and the Philharmonie is St Matthäus Kirche. A handsome building. Walking towards it we were beside a will enclosing the building site on which was the story of a philanthropist who had donated a lot of paintings to the Neuegalerie only for them to discover he had been an enthusiastic Nazi, responsible for multiple killings. It’s interesting how these stories are given prominence all around the place – this was effectively a temporary lane. Anyway here is St Matthäus Kirche. We didn’t go in because you had to pay but I saw a pamphlet on Dietrich Bonhoeffer through the window, and looking it up sure enough he was ordained a pastor in this church. It was severely damaged in the war and has been reconstructed. It’s now part of the Cultural Forum – that is the series of art galleries around here – and it contains works of art. Should have gone in!
We were very close to Potsdamer Platz and walked there, coming upon this grassed area serendipitously. It’s mentioned in the Kirsty Bell book, The Undercurrents, as the place covering the railway lines of the Potsdamer Bahnhof. There’s nothing to tell you that is what it is.
We couldn’t find anywhere to eat at Potsdamer Platz so continued walking back towards the Reichstag where a demonstration was in full swing. During the course of the morning we had seen demonstrators walking towards a focal point, others waiting for fellow demonstrators. We ‘d seen them from a distance at the Holocaust Memorial and later saw people walking around the Tiergarten perimeter. A lot had Iranian flags so we assumed this was a demonstration in support of the women of Iran. Their slogan – Women. Life. Freedom – was on tshirts and banners. However this demonstration was about climate change. There were plenty of people here, not properly captured in the photo. There was a stage with fiery speeches interspersed with songs.
We returned to the place we’d had lunch on our first foray into this part of the city. We both had weisswurst and pretzels washed down with a dark beer. Very satisfying.
The beer here in Berlin has been very good. Tastes almost healthy!
Rested and refreshed we walked a short way to have a look at the Reichstag. Joe had wanted to check it out but this was stymied by his two days of Covid. There’s quite a lot of security palaver to go through to get inside and to book a table at the restaurant that’s up top. A couple from our tour group had come here for lunch and enjoyed it , said the views were terrific, but were then caught up in a right wing protest on their way back to the hotel. Anyway we missed that. Here is the front of the building – interrupted by the perennial Berlin building works.
There were lots of people alongside us queuing up at what looked like temporary booths, but presumably were not, to get tickets to go inside. I don’t know where they entered. Not obvious from these photos. Here’s another minus the building works.
Then back down Unter den Linden for us. Past this restaurant where we’d eaten on the night we saw the Brandenburg Gate and other buildings lit up with light shows. This is the typical streetscape both sides of this famous street, which is quite lovely. You walk down the middle between the lines of traffic.
Back at the apartment we were terribly pleased to see reports of the Iranian demonstration. This picture came around on Twitter and later reports estimated 80,000 people had attended. Good to see. This wasn’t that far from where we were – just on a different side. We’ve walked there often.
We packed and then walked across the the way from the apartment to the restaurant Julius. It gets a guernsey in an article about Secret Berlin you can find here. It might be behind a paywall. In addition to recommending the Neue Nationalgalerie – very strong on early German modernism – it refers to Julius as the slightly dressed-down sister restaurant of the Michelin-starred fine dining establishment Ernst, just down the block in Wedding. Julius offers similarly Japanese-inflected meticulously sourced cuisine, but at a slightly lower price point and level of accessibility. It was a more traditional restaurant than Ernst. Beautiful food, lovely service. Here we are, curtesy of Clare.
And that was a fine end to our stay in Berlin. Next morning we were up at about 6.30, saying farewell to Clare at 7 and in the taxi at 7.15 en route to the airport. Bye bye Berlin, it’s been great. Here we are waiting to board our flight for the 25 hour trip back to Australia via Doha. I’m not sure whether this picture was taken in Berlin or Doha. Either way I’m looking wrecked!
And here’s shortly after we entered Australian airspace – home sweet home.
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