Berlin - Das Kapital

After a couple of days getting to know and appreciate Dresden, especially the outskirts, Maggie and I finally pulled into Berlin. Of course this city was totally obliterated by the end of the war, and any kind of original buildings are few and far between. There's not even an attempt to recreate whatever was here before.


About the only thing I saw that looked old-school was the Berliner Dom - a protestant cathedral near the museum quarter.

We spent the day in the Museum. Berlin has a Museum Insel- "Museum Island", where there are five State Sponsored Museums devoted to art and history. Serious Stuff; really big with no fluff. Guards everywhere, no guns, but radios. I bet they could have called in a SWAT team inside of thirty seconds if anybody tried anything. They made us check our coats and our backpacks. They have exhibits of artifacts from ancient prehistory, Egyptian, Greek and Roman relics, up to modern artwork. Of course I like the old stuff best. Unfortunately the Russians stole Schliemann's Trojan treasure that he stole from the Turks, and only copies are on display in Berlin.

After we had had enough of the museums for the day, we can go back tomorrow, we walked down the street to the Brandenburg Gate. Today is May Day - International Workers' Day, and we had a little concern because as recently as 2010 riots occurred here between Right and Left political parties on May Day. But that wasn't happening today. People were everywhere. It was pretty warm, food stands and beer tents abounded, bands and street actors performed, and we all partied like it was 1989. It turns out that some problems surfaced after dark.

There are reminders everywhere about the wall and the division, the way it was there for thirty years or so. Of course, capitalism is at its best now; one can buy various souvenirs with this logo on it.

Potsdamer Platz

Here's an example of Berliner style.