Trip Report: Berlin, May 2022
Jul 23rd, 2022, 02:54 PM
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Trip Report: Berlin, May 2022
This is the second part of our travels in Europe in May 2022. If interested in the basic costs of our travels, read the beginning of the first part of Trip Report: NYC and Paris, May 2022.
We traveled from Paris to Berlin by train, which is longer than by plane but much more convenient and more comfortable; you get on the train and park your luggage where you find space. To secure the luggage left on the racks close to the wagon doors I use a ski chain that loops through the handles of the luggage and where possible, through the bars of the rack. That at least discourages any robber who is not carrying cable cutters.
Any ticket for the TGV includes a reserved seat. That is not the case for German trains, which can be a problem (no seats available) and at times a salvation (any train will do). The train we were on required a transfer in Frankfurt. The train stopped at the last station before Frankfurt, left the station and 10 minutes later stopped in the middle of nowhere. After a while we received an announcement that because of track work the train would re-routed to another city (I do not remember which one) with an hour delay upon arrival. So much for meeting my cousin upon arrival in Berlin.
But the continuing journey was on a German ICE train, which meant that we could get on it even though we had no reservations. It was a Friday, which may have exacerbated the situation, and the train was packed with standing room only since it contained the passengers who originally intended to be on that train and those going to Berlin from the train we were on. One lady told my wife to go to the restaurant car so that she could order a coffee and have a seat. That did not happen. After wending their way over sitting bodies and luggage in the next car, it became obvious that a seat in the restaurant car would not be available. Fortunately the Germans are polite and someone offered my wife (she uses a cane) their seat. I strayed in the original car standing by the luggage rack where our suitcases were located, declining the offer of a seat for the moment. I decided to look for my wife but gave up after struggling through two cars of bodies and luggage. Eventually she found me and a couple offered us their seat back in the original car.
There was another complication to this story. My cousin had told me that it would be better to get off at Berlin Südkreuz was more convenient that the main train station which was our final destination. I have a flip phone that I carry in case of emergencies when not in my house. Presumably it can use WiFi to make calls in Europe. When in the Paris apartment, our friend gave me the password to her WiFi connection and the phone worked without any problem. There is free WiFi on the trains, but when I tried to call my cousin to tell him that I would be late, the connection was refused. Subsequently I learned that a connection through a hotel WiFi also did not work. So I had to ask someone using his phone on the train if he could call my cousin and tell him that I would be late arriving at the Hbf Berlin. I also did not know if the train would stop at Südkreuz because it could have arrived in Berlin from the west rather than the south. The man called and left a message. My cousin was able to retrieve the man’s number and called back with the information that my train did stop in Südkreuz and that is where we should get off. That meant that the good Samaritan had to navigate through the crowd (there was a distance between my standing room location and our subsequent seats) to relay the message, and eventually do it a second time. But we met our relatives with no problem. Back in the States I called the OS provider (KaiOS) and presumably got the system fixed. As of this writing, my phone is with a friend in Australia so that she can test to see if it is fixed without having to count on it working as she has her own phone.
Paris was a return to a very familiar city that had hardly changed. We have been going to Berlin fairly regularly but less frequently, and while most of it is recognizable, it is being constructed all over the place. Some changes are obvious, others less so. Anyone not familiar with the immediate museum area, the island and surrounding locales, will not find for example the Humboldt Forum as anything but the adaptation of an old building to a new venue. But it is in fact a brand new building with the reconstructed façade of the pre-W.W.II palace to replace the People’s Palace that had been built there in the DDR days. There is new housing all over and the building cranes are part of the general landscape.
Nine years ago:
https://flic.kr/p/fmubWY
and now:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC6tM
Our primary reason for going to Berlin was family. We stayed at my cousins and had a group meal that included another part of that family in a very nice neighborhood Italian restaurant; we closed the place down. Other plus or minus restaurants in Berlin are as follows:
For traditional German food, from Königsberger Klopske to Matjesfilet Hausfrauenart, go to Diener Tattersall (https://diener-berlin.de/) $91 for four, and the portions are generous. Most main dishes are less than 13 €.
Far less satisfying was our lunch in the Restaurant Baret (https://www.humboldtforum.org/en/pro...t-baret-46066/) located at the top of the Humboldt Forum. Part of it was that it had just opened and they were in a training period. We sat outside at first, but it was in the full sun with no shade, and after no service for 10 minutes we moved indoors. The wait was just as long if not longer. The food was similar as to what one gets in U.S. museum restaurants (the Met, for example), with relatively small portions. One plate and drink totaled $32 for two. Service might improve, but until umbrellas are provided on the western exposure, sit inside unless you manage to get a shady spot of the northern exposure of the restaurant’s outdoor dining area.
The Neue Nationalegalerie is equally bad in a different way. It’s use the old Horn & Hardart system of distributing the food, except that payment is done with a cashier; and the food is nothing to write home about.
Five years go we told our cousins that Currywurst was terrible, and they proved us wrong by taking us to a snack shed in one of the woodlands between Berlin and Potsdam.
As indicated by the mention of various geographical locations, we visited the Neue Nationalgalerie which had a great exhibit entitled The Art of Society 1900–1945: The Nationalgalerie Collection.
https://flic.kr/p/2nswbHT
That was the exhibit to be compared with the Pompidou exhibit. Both interesting, fascinating at times, and completely different even though they both covered in good part the same movement: die neue Sachlichkeit.
The building itself is fabulous, a prime example of modernism architecture.
https://flic.kr/p/2nsBmjk
The Humboldt Forum contains what one relative alluded to as Germany’s colonial past, as distinct from its pillaging (?) past in Mesopotania and Turkey. We did not see any African collection, but Germany’s colonies were mainly in Africa with some in Polynesia. In fact, its Buddhist collection was purchased to quite an extent from British art dealers, at least that is the information given on many of the labels that I read. The collection is not organized by country but rather by style of the collected pieces, some of which are quite impressive, and the layout is roomy.
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC7QX
Our feet were getting tired, so of the Polynesian section we visited only the large room holding several outriggers. I am no sailor but have used a sail on a Klepper (a folding kayak with sailing capabilities). With that kayak the mast is attached in a fixed position, as with most western sail boats from what I know. In the case of the outriggers such as this one:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC7P4
it is obvious that the mast is kept in place exclusively by guy ropes, while on the outrigger with the heart-shaped sail, one mast is tied to the outrigger with ropes and remains flexible while the other is free to move, as if the sail can be moved according to the direction of the wind. I understand that conceptually, in the calmness of dry land, but can’t imagine trying to handle heavy masts in heavy winds and seas. Am I wrong in what I see? Apart from the two masted outrigger which may have traditionally fixed masts, the smaller but sea-going outriggers all had masts that were essentially held by guy ropes.
There are rooftop views to be seen from the top of the Humboldt Forum, and I believe that the access is free, by taking the elevator to the restaurant.
https://flic.kr/p/2nswVrZ https://flic.kr/p/2nsDjst
I found the Pergamon Panorama, which is not in the Pergamon Museum, a disappointment. It is intended to represent various elements of daily life in Pergamon with the light changing from day light to night time. Visitor stand in a tower in the middle of a circular room, and the diorama surrounds them. I find the Wroclaw diorama much more convincing, where the 3D element in front of the painting is connected seamlessly to the painted element:
https://flic.kr/p/cDDJwG
as compared to this one scene of the Pergamon Panorama:
https://flic.kr/p/2ntKYWE
Berlin has a belt of greenery around it well used by Berliners. It was also the summer escapes for royalty; and one of the primary examples is the Sanssouci palace built by Frederick the Great.
https://flic.kr/p/fmeFyi
While this palace is in Potsdam, a separate town from Berlin, others are scattered through the greenery, often at the water’s edge. One goal for our visit to Germany was to get replacement sandals for my wife who wears orthotic sandals of a specific German brand. A friend recommended getting the sandals in Berlin. It turns out that two out of the three stores that specialize in that brand disappeared during the pandemic. The third is on the west side of Berlin, but it no longer sells these shoes, only repairs them. We spent the rest of the day on the west side, venturing into Brandenburg to walk on the grounds of Babelsberg, another summer castle for 19th century royalty.at the outer edge of Potsdam. It is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and is probably more accessible when driven by car as we were:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsKQit https://flic.kr/p/2nsJBAP
That pretty much covers our days in Berlin. These are the photo albums that contain the pictures from all our visits to Berlin and Potsdam:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpnMFMv https://flic.kr/s/aHsjHhhCVR
We traveled from Paris to Berlin by train, which is longer than by plane but much more convenient and more comfortable; you get on the train and park your luggage where you find space. To secure the luggage left on the racks close to the wagon doors I use a ski chain that loops through the handles of the luggage and where possible, through the bars of the rack. That at least discourages any robber who is not carrying cable cutters.
Any ticket for the TGV includes a reserved seat. That is not the case for German trains, which can be a problem (no seats available) and at times a salvation (any train will do). The train we were on required a transfer in Frankfurt. The train stopped at the last station before Frankfurt, left the station and 10 minutes later stopped in the middle of nowhere. After a while we received an announcement that because of track work the train would re-routed to another city (I do not remember which one) with an hour delay upon arrival. So much for meeting my cousin upon arrival in Berlin.
But the continuing journey was on a German ICE train, which meant that we could get on it even though we had no reservations. It was a Friday, which may have exacerbated the situation, and the train was packed with standing room only since it contained the passengers who originally intended to be on that train and those going to Berlin from the train we were on. One lady told my wife to go to the restaurant car so that she could order a coffee and have a seat. That did not happen. After wending their way over sitting bodies and luggage in the next car, it became obvious that a seat in the restaurant car would not be available. Fortunately the Germans are polite and someone offered my wife (she uses a cane) their seat. I strayed in the original car standing by the luggage rack where our suitcases were located, declining the offer of a seat for the moment. I decided to look for my wife but gave up after struggling through two cars of bodies and luggage. Eventually she found me and a couple offered us their seat back in the original car.
There was another complication to this story. My cousin had told me that it would be better to get off at Berlin Südkreuz was more convenient that the main train station which was our final destination. I have a flip phone that I carry in case of emergencies when not in my house. Presumably it can use WiFi to make calls in Europe. When in the Paris apartment, our friend gave me the password to her WiFi connection and the phone worked without any problem. There is free WiFi on the trains, but when I tried to call my cousin to tell him that I would be late, the connection was refused. Subsequently I learned that a connection through a hotel WiFi also did not work. So I had to ask someone using his phone on the train if he could call my cousin and tell him that I would be late arriving at the Hbf Berlin. I also did not know if the train would stop at Südkreuz because it could have arrived in Berlin from the west rather than the south. The man called and left a message. My cousin was able to retrieve the man’s number and called back with the information that my train did stop in Südkreuz and that is where we should get off. That meant that the good Samaritan had to navigate through the crowd (there was a distance between my standing room location and our subsequent seats) to relay the message, and eventually do it a second time. But we met our relatives with no problem. Back in the States I called the OS provider (KaiOS) and presumably got the system fixed. As of this writing, my phone is with a friend in Australia so that she can test to see if it is fixed without having to count on it working as she has her own phone.
Paris was a return to a very familiar city that had hardly changed. We have been going to Berlin fairly regularly but less frequently, and while most of it is recognizable, it is being constructed all over the place. Some changes are obvious, others less so. Anyone not familiar with the immediate museum area, the island and surrounding locales, will not find for example the Humboldt Forum as anything but the adaptation of an old building to a new venue. But it is in fact a brand new building with the reconstructed façade of the pre-W.W.II palace to replace the People’s Palace that had been built there in the DDR days. There is new housing all over and the building cranes are part of the general landscape.
Nine years ago:
https://flic.kr/p/fmubWY
and now:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC6tM
Our primary reason for going to Berlin was family. We stayed at my cousins and had a group meal that included another part of that family in a very nice neighborhood Italian restaurant; we closed the place down. Other plus or minus restaurants in Berlin are as follows:
For traditional German food, from Königsberger Klopske to Matjesfilet Hausfrauenart, go to Diener Tattersall (https://diener-berlin.de/) $91 for four, and the portions are generous. Most main dishes are less than 13 €.
Far less satisfying was our lunch in the Restaurant Baret (https://www.humboldtforum.org/en/pro...t-baret-46066/) located at the top of the Humboldt Forum. Part of it was that it had just opened and they were in a training period. We sat outside at first, but it was in the full sun with no shade, and after no service for 10 minutes we moved indoors. The wait was just as long if not longer. The food was similar as to what one gets in U.S. museum restaurants (the Met, for example), with relatively small portions. One plate and drink totaled $32 for two. Service might improve, but until umbrellas are provided on the western exposure, sit inside unless you manage to get a shady spot of the northern exposure of the restaurant’s outdoor dining area.
The Neue Nationalegalerie is equally bad in a different way. It’s use the old Horn & Hardart system of distributing the food, except that payment is done with a cashier; and the food is nothing to write home about.
Five years go we told our cousins that Currywurst was terrible, and they proved us wrong by taking us to a snack shed in one of the woodlands between Berlin and Potsdam.
As indicated by the mention of various geographical locations, we visited the Neue Nationalgalerie which had a great exhibit entitled The Art of Society 1900–1945: The Nationalgalerie Collection.
https://flic.kr/p/2nswbHT
That was the exhibit to be compared with the Pompidou exhibit. Both interesting, fascinating at times, and completely different even though they both covered in good part the same movement: die neue Sachlichkeit.
The building itself is fabulous, a prime example of modernism architecture.
https://flic.kr/p/2nsBmjk
The Humboldt Forum contains what one relative alluded to as Germany’s colonial past, as distinct from its pillaging (?) past in Mesopotania and Turkey. We did not see any African collection, but Germany’s colonies were mainly in Africa with some in Polynesia. In fact, its Buddhist collection was purchased to quite an extent from British art dealers, at least that is the information given on many of the labels that I read. The collection is not organized by country but rather by style of the collected pieces, some of which are quite impressive, and the layout is roomy.
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC7QX
Our feet were getting tired, so of the Polynesian section we visited only the large room holding several outriggers. I am no sailor but have used a sail on a Klepper (a folding kayak with sailing capabilities). With that kayak the mast is attached in a fixed position, as with most western sail boats from what I know. In the case of the outriggers such as this one:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsC7P4
it is obvious that the mast is kept in place exclusively by guy ropes, while on the outrigger with the heart-shaped sail, one mast is tied to the outrigger with ropes and remains flexible while the other is free to move, as if the sail can be moved according to the direction of the wind. I understand that conceptually, in the calmness of dry land, but can’t imagine trying to handle heavy masts in heavy winds and seas. Am I wrong in what I see? Apart from the two masted outrigger which may have traditionally fixed masts, the smaller but sea-going outriggers all had masts that were essentially held by guy ropes.
There are rooftop views to be seen from the top of the Humboldt Forum, and I believe that the access is free, by taking the elevator to the restaurant.
https://flic.kr/p/2nswVrZ https://flic.kr/p/2nsDjst
I found the Pergamon Panorama, which is not in the Pergamon Museum, a disappointment. It is intended to represent various elements of daily life in Pergamon with the light changing from day light to night time. Visitor stand in a tower in the middle of a circular room, and the diorama surrounds them. I find the Wroclaw diorama much more convincing, where the 3D element in front of the painting is connected seamlessly to the painted element:
https://flic.kr/p/cDDJwG
as compared to this one scene of the Pergamon Panorama:
https://flic.kr/p/2ntKYWE
Berlin has a belt of greenery around it well used by Berliners. It was also the summer escapes for royalty; and one of the primary examples is the Sanssouci palace built by Frederick the Great.
https://flic.kr/p/fmeFyi
While this palace is in Potsdam, a separate town from Berlin, others are scattered through the greenery, often at the water’s edge. One goal for our visit to Germany was to get replacement sandals for my wife who wears orthotic sandals of a specific German brand. A friend recommended getting the sandals in Berlin. It turns out that two out of the three stores that specialize in that brand disappeared during the pandemic. The third is on the west side of Berlin, but it no longer sells these shoes, only repairs them. We spent the rest of the day on the west side, venturing into Brandenburg to walk on the grounds of Babelsberg, another summer castle for 19th century royalty.at the outer edge of Potsdam. It is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and is probably more accessible when driven by car as we were:
https://flic.kr/p/2nsKQit https://flic.kr/p/2nsJBAP
That pretty much covers our days in Berlin. These are the photo albums that contain the pictures from all our visits to Berlin and Potsdam:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpnMFMv https://flic.kr/s/aHsjHhhCVR
Jul 24th, 2022, 05:18 AM
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I enjoyed your report, Michael. My husband and I were in Berlin for the first time at the end of June for five days. We enjoyed Berlin although it was very hot which slowed us down a bit. It was fascinating to be in in a city with such a riveting history and we felt we barely scratched the surface of all it has to offer. The museums were incredible.
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