I tried to update the blog when I got home last night, but it was already 3 am, so I just went to bed. It's been a jam-packed weekend though with Ariel, Joan, and Galane in town.
We started our day yesterday with a trip to Museum Island, where we went to the Pergamon Museum. I have an annual card, so I can get in anytime I want. There was a very long line outside the Pergamon and the box office for the Neues Museum (the two top museums on Museum Island), so I suggested getting tickets at the less exciting Altes Museum around the corner instead.
We waited for one person in front of us before we got Joan and Galane their 3-day tickets. I had learned from visiting in December/January with my friend, Olivia, that you can also book a time slot for the Neues Museum at the same time (without waiting in the long line outside), so we did that too. Brilliance.
At the Pergamon, after a moment of hesitation, we went all the way around the giant line and entered the museum. We skipped the line that spanned two small flights of stairs, the entire lobby, and halfway out the platform in front of the museum, and we walked right up to the entry point.
Inside, I sat and people watched for a bit, since I've seen the museum probably 5 times in the past few months now. However, there is a new temporary exhibit going on now, so I went to see that. There used to be a great museum in Berlin with great collections of art pieces from the Middle East. Unfortunately, in 1943, Allied bombing destroyed the entire collection. What remained of the smithereens were stored in the Pergamon vaults until now.
The exhibit itself was quite impressive. Much more so than the previous temporary exhibit ("The Silver Horse"). I hadn't even known about this former museum until yesterday, so it was a very fascinating and informative exhibit. There was one part in particular that I found quite striking. They showed a video of Allied bombing that was basically a black screen with flashes of light for every bomb that was dropped. Then it cut to scenes of intense fires consuming buildings, etc.
Apparently, the museum burned at temperatures of 1500-1600 degrees Fahrenheit. After the war, they had the entire city to reconstruct, so the museums weren't touched until after a winter had passed, exposing the burnt and broken remains to ice and snow. By the time, they pulled them back out, the pieces "shattered into thousands of smithereens" as one person documented. Many of those pieces were on display (second photo above).
Others were reconstructed and put together in original shapes, but the damage is obvious. I thought the entire exhibit was extraordinarily well done though, and I'm glad to hear that by 2025 that exhibit will become the next permanent exhibit in the Pergamon.
We headed to lunch soon after at Brauhaus Lemke, a restaurant that our group had visited in 2007. I hadn't been back since, mostly because I found it rather touristy and expensive. But it was a good spot for our reunion, and there's no question there food is good. Check out our platters:
After lunch, I headed to Brandon's for a haircut while the girls went to the Neues Museum. We planned to meet up three hours later. Brandon had just returned from softball practice when I arrived, so after he had lunch, he cut my hair. It's looking good, though Ariel thinks it's too short. Haha.
I met up with the girls at Starbucks after leaving Brandon's, and from there, we made our way down to the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate area. For some reason (maybe because the weather's getting nicer), Berlin has become crowded with tourists this weekend. As much as I like that people are exploring Berlin, it is quite hard to get around with so many people.
Nevertheless, we got some good shots at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. I even played around with different settings on my camera.
By the time we walked around there and Potsdamer Platz, we were pretty hungry. So we headed to my favorite schwarma spot in Kreuzberg. Actually it's the place that Ronny brought me to in November. Delicious. We had falafel and schwarma sandwiches, and they were heavenly.
Our plans for the evening were to go to the farewell party of a friend of mine, but we still had another hour or so. So we went to a bar down the street from the schwarma place, where our server was quite possibly the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen in Germany. Indeed.
After drinks, we went across the river into Neukölln to a small French-themed cafe/bar for the farewell party. It was good to see Cécile as well as my friend, Matt, from UW, who is also studying in Berlin. We hadn't caught up since probably the Super Bowl, so it was good to chat.
It was a busy evening as Fulbrighters have started arriving in Berlin from around Germany for our conference this week. So I invited Katherine and Laura, two other Fulbright friends, as well as their friends to join us for drinks. After a few hours there, we all headed to Prenzlauer Berg to the absinthe bar again. It's a popular little hang out spot, and it was certainly still full at 1 AM.
After a few drinks, we all headed home around 2 AM, which by Berlin standards is still quite early to go home. In any case, we felt like we had a full and productive day.
This morning, we slept in slightly, given our late night out. When we woke up, we had a nice German breakfast with Nürnberger sausages, scrambled eggs, brötchen with Irish butter, cheese, and salami (as well as a nice fruit spread that Ariel brought for us from France—I forget what it's called). Since I have to head to the conference shortly, the girls headed out on their own to explore more of Berlin. We will catch up again later tonight.
Meanwhile, I'm about to head down to Alexanderplatz for the opening of our conference. Should be interesting. I am bummed that things start right when my Huskies play Nick's Tar Heels. We've got a NCAA bracket/pool going, and we each picked our alma maters in this contest. We will see who wins. :)
Finally, I had a giant scare this morning. My computer froze while I was transferring photos to it. And so I had to shut it off. When I turned it back on, my iPhoto gave me this error message: "Your iPhoto library is damaged or unreadable and must be restored." Since I don't have it backed up (yeah yeah, I know...I'm working on it), I was quite worried I'd lost all my pictures since 2008, which includes all photos from my Italy trips, my Greece trips, my Scholarship Junkies albums, Dream Project albums, Fulbright albums, Ireland trip, and more. Basically, everything.
Thank goodness I found a way to get it all rebuilt. I did have a moment where I wanted to slam my MacBook on my table though. Maybe it'll be time for a new laptop in a year or two?
Anyway, I need to get ready for this conference. More to come this week.
Sam
We started our day yesterday with a trip to Museum Island, where we went to the Pergamon Museum. I have an annual card, so I can get in anytime I want. There was a very long line outside the Pergamon and the box office for the Neues Museum (the two top museums on Museum Island), so I suggested getting tickets at the less exciting Altes Museum around the corner instead.
We waited for one person in front of us before we got Joan and Galane their 3-day tickets. I had learned from visiting in December/January with my friend, Olivia, that you can also book a time slot for the Neues Museum at the same time (without waiting in the long line outside), so we did that too. Brilliance.
At the Pergamon, after a moment of hesitation, we went all the way around the giant line and entered the museum. We skipped the line that spanned two small flights of stairs, the entire lobby, and halfway out the platform in front of the museum, and we walked right up to the entry point.
Inside, I sat and people watched for a bit, since I've seen the museum probably 5 times in the past few months now. However, there is a new temporary exhibit going on now, so I went to see that. There used to be a great museum in Berlin with great collections of art pieces from the Middle East. Unfortunately, in 1943, Allied bombing destroyed the entire collection. What remained of the smithereens were stored in the Pergamon vaults until now.
The exhibit itself was quite impressive. Much more so than the previous temporary exhibit ("The Silver Horse"). I hadn't even known about this former museum until yesterday, so it was a very fascinating and informative exhibit. There was one part in particular that I found quite striking. They showed a video of Allied bombing that was basically a black screen with flashes of light for every bomb that was dropped. Then it cut to scenes of intense fires consuming buildings, etc.
Apparently, the museum burned at temperatures of 1500-1600 degrees Fahrenheit. After the war, they had the entire city to reconstruct, so the museums weren't touched until after a winter had passed, exposing the burnt and broken remains to ice and snow. By the time, they pulled them back out, the pieces "shattered into thousands of smithereens" as one person documented. Many of those pieces were on display (second photo above).
Others were reconstructed and put together in original shapes, but the damage is obvious. I thought the entire exhibit was extraordinarily well done though, and I'm glad to hear that by 2025 that exhibit will become the next permanent exhibit in the Pergamon.
We headed to lunch soon after at Brauhaus Lemke, a restaurant that our group had visited in 2007. I hadn't been back since, mostly because I found it rather touristy and expensive. But it was a good spot for our reunion, and there's no question there food is good. Check out our platters:
After lunch, I headed to Brandon's for a haircut while the girls went to the Neues Museum. We planned to meet up three hours later. Brandon had just returned from softball practice when I arrived, so after he had lunch, he cut my hair. It's looking good, though Ariel thinks it's too short. Haha.
I met up with the girls at Starbucks after leaving Brandon's, and from there, we made our way down to the Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate area. For some reason (maybe because the weather's getting nicer), Berlin has become crowded with tourists this weekend. As much as I like that people are exploring Berlin, it is quite hard to get around with so many people.
Nevertheless, we got some good shots at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. I even played around with different settings on my camera.
By the time we walked around there and Potsdamer Platz, we were pretty hungry. So we headed to my favorite schwarma spot in Kreuzberg. Actually it's the place that Ronny brought me to in November. Delicious. We had falafel and schwarma sandwiches, and they were heavenly.
Our plans for the evening were to go to the farewell party of a friend of mine, but we still had another hour or so. So we went to a bar down the street from the schwarma place, where our server was quite possibly the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen in Germany. Indeed.
After drinks, we went across the river into Neukölln to a small French-themed cafe/bar for the farewell party. It was good to see Cécile as well as my friend, Matt, from UW, who is also studying in Berlin. We hadn't caught up since probably the Super Bowl, so it was good to chat.
It was a busy evening as Fulbrighters have started arriving in Berlin from around Germany for our conference this week. So I invited Katherine and Laura, two other Fulbright friends, as well as their friends to join us for drinks. After a few hours there, we all headed to Prenzlauer Berg to the absinthe bar again. It's a popular little hang out spot, and it was certainly still full at 1 AM.
After a few drinks, we all headed home around 2 AM, which by Berlin standards is still quite early to go home. In any case, we felt like we had a full and productive day.
This morning, we slept in slightly, given our late night out. When we woke up, we had a nice German breakfast with Nürnberger sausages, scrambled eggs, brötchen with Irish butter, cheese, and salami (as well as a nice fruit spread that Ariel brought for us from France—I forget what it's called). Since I have to head to the conference shortly, the girls headed out on their own to explore more of Berlin. We will catch up again later tonight.
Meanwhile, I'm about to head down to Alexanderplatz for the opening of our conference. Should be interesting. I am bummed that things start right when my Huskies play Nick's Tar Heels. We've got a NCAA bracket/pool going, and we each picked our alma maters in this contest. We will see who wins. :)
Finally, I had a giant scare this morning. My computer froze while I was transferring photos to it. And so I had to shut it off. When I turned it back on, my iPhoto gave me this error message: "Your iPhoto library is damaged or unreadable and must be restored." Since I don't have it backed up (yeah yeah, I know...I'm working on it), I was quite worried I'd lost all my pictures since 2008, which includes all photos from my Italy trips, my Greece trips, my Scholarship Junkies albums, Dream Project albums, Fulbright albums, Ireland trip, and more. Basically, everything.
Thank goodness I found a way to get it all rebuilt. I did have a moment where I wanted to slam my MacBook on my table though. Maybe it'll be time for a new laptop in a year or two?
Anyway, I need to get ready for this conference. More to come this week.
Sam
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