Germany Day 3

Day three of our travels was a little slice of heaven for me. I ventured out on my own to Museum Island which is the farthest I'd gone by myself. I had to navigate the bus line but it actually was pretty straight forward. No changing buses or anything like that. The ride was about 10-15 minutes each way. It was really cool actually to be driven through the city and see parts of Berlin I wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Berlin and the bus lines

Museum Island is paradise for any art lover! It houses five huge and impressive museums. I made it to two the first day I visited. I took my time and listened to the audio for every piece available. I don't think I've ever spent hours and hours in just one museum like that. It's fun to go at your own pace! It was really nice because there would be little bursts of crowds but there would eventually be large spaces and chunks of time where I had the place to myself.

The first museum I made it to was the Altes Museum. It was built all the way back in the 1820's and was at one point called the Royal Museum.

Weird selfies happen when exploring on your own...

The scale of the first museum, the Altes, was really crazy impressive!

See the person to the right, gives you a sense of the scale!

The first thing I saw when I walked into the Altes was the beautiful Rotunda! Which was a fun surprise because you cannot see it from the outside of the museum. The ceiling is beautifully coffered and the perimeter is surrounded with 20 Corinthian columns. Some of the museum's statue collection is displayed between the columns.

I'm not very good using the iPhone's panoramic thing, okay.

The museum houses the city's collection of classical antiques (mainly Ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman sculptures and funerary art). Of all the museums I visited in Berlin over the week, the Altes was the least crowded. I spent about two and a half hours exploring and I took a million photos. I really tried hard to limit the amount of pictures I'm sharing in this blog, as I know not everyone is an art enthusiast like me.

An old handheld mirror

A comb and pair of tweezers

There also seemed to be a lot of pieces that were actually replicas or pieces that had previously been 'mysteriously missing' since 1945 and only recently been found.... A number of artifacts were also 'acquired' around 1938-1945.

After the Altes I went next door to the National Gallery. The National Gallery houses 19th, 20th, and 21st century art, most of which is paintings. I learned a lot of German history and painters I didn't know. I was really bummed though because the whole second floor (dedicated to impressionists) was closed for renovations. It of course opened back up on Friday - the only day we had plans all day.

Again, the scale of this museum was crazy impressive. See the people descending the stairs in the background? Yeah, the scale was big!

Again, I'll try not to bore everyone with an overload of art, but I'll skim over some of my favorites.

I thought the story behind this painting was interesting. German artist, Franz von Stuck, painted this image of actress, Tilla Durieux, playing the role of Circe. I think it is an intriguing image, but Durieux hated it. She didn't like the green tone of her flesh and publicly spoke poorly of the image.

Then this painting of a German king reminded me of the actor Bill Nighy! Miguel doesn't see it, but to me they look almost identical!

I also thought this unfinished work by Adolf Menzel was interesting. For starters, it was massive! It took up a whole gallery wall and was so large that I couldn't fit the whole thing into my camera frame! It depicts a scene from the Seven Years War of Frederick the Great's address to his generals before the Battle of Leuthen. Frederick is one of the unfinished, blank characters in the middle of the generals who sort of form a semi-circle around him. Menzel wanted to show the strength of the generals against the cold and the upcoming battle. One of the reasons Menzel never finished the painting is because he was afraid Frederick would look small next to the generals.

After six hours I realized it had been hours and hours since I had eaten and I was actually pretty hungry. So I decided to go track down some food. I walked around the area for a bit looking for somewhere to eat. It was so cool walking around. This this the kind of moment I wish Miguel had been with me because it's just so cool and you want someone to share it with! There were violinists and accordion players playing music in the streets giving such ambiance to the area and it felt like I had stumbled into a European romance movie. That was the first time that Berlin actually felt like Europe to me.

I ended up going to the Neuse Museum, which was next to the National Gallery, to eat at their cafe. Eating by yourself is kinda bleh especially when you have no internet or reading material to distract yourself (the museum makes you lock up your bag). But it forces you to really take in the scene around you... The table across from mine was a group of French people who sent their food back twice. Haha! Stereotypes are there for a reason I guess. I also found it interesting that English is the language used to communicate for a lot of foreigners. For example when the French guests spoke to the German waiter they spoke English to each other. This was common everywhere we went.

The cafe itself was pretty cool. It was pretty and felt old. Right across from the wall were the art exhibits so that was neat. The cafe was in the heart of the museum not near the lobby. I ate a chicken, tomato and basil sandwich which I was grateful for as I finally found a nitrate-free sandwich that I could eat!

At least I wasn't the only one eating alone!

After I ate I headed back to the hotel. Miguel's seminar lasted an hour longer than we had expected so I sat down on the couch instead of the bed so I wouldn't fall asleep as I waited for him to finish up. An hour and a half later I woke up.

This is where Mig found me when he arrived back at the hotel room.

Miguel and I were both pretty exhausted from our days so we decided to just stay close by for dinner. Our hotel was located on the edge of a huge park (similar to Central Park I guess) that has a couple of beer gardens. We decided to check out the park and a beir garten for dinner. Walking through the park felt kinda magical. I can definitely see why fairytales are set in German woods! Did you know they have RED squirrels there?!

The beer garden was amazing!!! It's one of those memories I hope I have forever! The beer garden was on the lake were there were rowboats anyone could take out for free, cafe lights strung up over head, a booth where you can purchase beer and pretzels then go sit on the benches by the water and a restaurant restaurant. We ate at the restaurant and I had so much fun!