It’s 4:15 pm and raining in Berlin. I bail on Murray and come back to the hotel, while he walks in the rain to see the Bauhaus Archive building and a couple of other buildings. Too wet for me.
The day starts cool but dry, a good walking temp. We walk over the canal by our hotel and then to Checkpoint Charlie. If you need to locate tourists, go there. We don’t stay long, just long enough to look at a few info boards with photos from the days of the wall, snap a few pics and we are out of there.
Checkpoint Charlie
I find it rather ironic that the sign in the back of the photo of Checkpoint Charlie is, of course, McDonalds.
There are two places to view sections of the wall. We stroll by the first one where there is a display and a museum which talk about the wall.
Our next stop is the AEG building that Peter Behrens, Gropius’ mentor before the Bauhaus started, designed. It was initially a factory and it is imposing, massive and amazing. Two, or more, story high windows. I feel very small and insignificant standing next to it.
We walk past the other section of THE wall and this one has displays about all the people who were shot trying to cross the wall. This part of the wall was built through a cememtary, requiring many graves to be relocated. It is a somber sight.
The western Wall through the eastern Wall across no man’s land
Our art fix for the day is visiting the Berggruen Museum, which houses modern artworks by Picasso, Klee, Matisse and Giacometti. I love the tall thin figures of Giacometti’s sculptures and the colours used by Klee.
It is way past lunch so we stop in at Charlotte restaurant where Murray has Curryworst and fries and I have Weiner Schnitzel and fries. Curryworst is a large sausage with BBQ sauce poured over top and curry powder sprinkled on. The food is just what we needed.
Oh, a knock on the door…Murray is back already! I will pass the post to Murray now to finish off.
Bauhaus Archive
Few more Germany/Berlin thoughts. There are no speed limits on the autobahn. It is amazing how the cars fly along the highway. There is a big difference between Alberta and Germany that makes this possible. The roads are in fantastic shape. There are virtually no potholes even on the city streets, no bumpity bumps, no ridges caused by freeze thaw or temperature changes, nothing, the roads are smooth. Our road crews should come take lessons from the Germans.
We thought we might have trouble using a credit card in rural Denmark so we brought a bit of extra cash with us. Traveled though the entire country and had so much cash left we lived most of our Copenhagen stint with Krone. Then we get to Germany, figure we should have no trouble using a credit card here. But, even in Berlin, the world class metropolis, most of the food establishments we have eaten in take cash only, no cards, go figure.
Germany shuts down on Sunday. But we are in Berlin, city of the world, yes. No, this place is shut tighter than a drum. Half the restaurants are open, the museums and galleries are open but grocery stores, nope, malls, nope, corner stores, nope. Sunday is a day of rest here.
After saying we were having trouble finding people that speak English in Germany we hit Berlin. Folks from all over the world live here, people need to communicate with each other and English is the chosen language. Here it is unusual to meet someone that does not speak English.
Monday is gallery closing day so tomorrow is a day of sights.