Continued from Berlin Day 6 Part 1.
The tram dropped us off at a station close to museum island, close by Alexanderplatz.
Berliner Dom from another angle. Nice with the blue sky.
Museum Island.
Art Museum, not going to visit it today though. Only enough time to go see one museum.
Bullet holes from WWII are all over these buildings.
Accordion!!
More accordion!!!!!! Love it!
Pergamon Museum, my destination.
Glass armonica. So every time he wants to go out busking, he would have to carry his chair, his table, all of the different glasses, and then tune each cup individually. Then if he stayed out really long, the glasses would lose water which would cause them to be out of tune. What a pain in the ass instrument. Sounded great though.
Line at the Pergamon is out the door. Well, I guess everyone’s out this afternoon for Easter Sunday.
We bought our tickets, but the special exhibit only allows you to enter at specific hours, and our entry wasn’t for another hour.
At the museum cafe eating overpriced food. It tasted great though.
Time to go in! The special exhibit is a 360 degree panorama of the ancient city of Pergamon. It was 13 Euros just to see the special exhibit, and I didn’t think it would be worth the price.
The special exhibit is housed in a temporary building made out of shipping containers, steel beams and corrugated metal panels.
When I entered the exhibit, at first, I didn’t think it was worth my money. No photos are allowed inside. You are in this cylinder with very detailed 360 degree view of this virtual ancient city. But then the city goes from light to dark, and there are sounds that accompany the changes during the day. Words can’t explain, but it was so serene and peaceful. It did almost feel like you were in an altered universe. My description sucks, but it was worth the 13 Euros. Go see it if you are in Berlin and they still have it on exhibit, and then make sure you stay around for at least 15 minutes. The first 5 minutes, it’s nothing, but in 10 minutes, you get sucked in.
Holy shit! They’ve whole restored/reconstructed buildings inside for the main permanent exhibit. This is the Pergamon Altar.
Seriously, how do you reconstruct something with so many missing pieces? Like that piece that’s just randomly sticking out with nothing around it, how do they know that piece belongs there?
Model of the ancient city of Pergamon.
Market Gate of Miletus.
Ishtar Gate.
They also have miniature paintings like they do in India. I bet they are from similar origins.
One last look at the Pergamon Altar before leaving. The top is the actual stuff, and the bottom is an artist’s rendition, filling in all the blanks. Seriously, how the fuck do they know what exists where nothing exists? They just make shit up.
Love the clouds.
Museum Island model.
Fine, I am fucking impressed. Berliner Dom looks awesome with a nice sky as background.
The Parisians still make giant bubbles better.
Pergamon Altar has nothing on this. Look at this!!! He’s got gas, a grill, and an umbrella all strapped onto himself!!
That sky just looks fake. How is it so blue?
First, you eat at the place on the right, then you shop at the place on the left.
It may not seem so from the photos, but it’s been a full day of walking around nonstop. Pretty tired by now. It’s time to head back to the hotel.
Damnit! I always pass this kebab place in my subway station and I can never walk by without eating it.
They ran out of chicken, so I got the beef. I don’t know why I always get chicken, but I am glad that they only had beef this time. This was the most amazing kebab I’ve ever had. No joke. A combination of hunger, last kebab for this trip, and the amazingly seasoned beef made this the best ever. I was in heaven, and would not stop talking about how good this specific doner kebab was. I would continue to reminiscence about this kebab for days(I know because I am blogging this post 3 days after the fact). This one single kebab is the best, ever. Fuck Me! It was damn good!
After my oral orgasm, I had to make a trip to the laundromat to do laundry again.
Shit! We put in a 10 Euro bill, and then only after that did we see the little warning stating the machine does not give back change. Crap! We were the only people in here when this happened, so we decided that we’ll just guard this machine and ask anyone else who comes in to do laundry to pay us instead and they can use our credit for the machine.
After waiting around for a good 10 minutes, someone finally shows up. SO explains the situation, and we worked out a deal.
Made back 3.50 Euros! I would have been mad if our money had gone to waste. When our laundry got done, and it was time for drying, no one else had shown up. We used some more of our credit for drying, and had one lone Euro credit left. Whoever came next to use the machine after us lucked out.
It’s 50 minutes to dry, so we went out in search of a pub for a beer. It might be slim pickings because it’s Easter Sunday, and most places are still closed.
Walked by this tramp stamp removal shop. It amused me. I wonder how many of my readers have a tramp stamp and as they are reading this, they are cussing me out for making fun of tramp stamps…Don’t hate. I know where you can get it removed.
Finally found a pub that’s open. It looks very “Old German”.
Yes, literally very old German. It’s a neighborhood bar, everyone in here is German, and they are all at least twice our age.
Hey there big boy!
He loved me. I miss my dog.
Dropped off my clean clothes back at the hotel, and it’s time to head on out for some food. Here we are on the bus, and it seems like bus drivers are always getting relieved by another driver. Since I’ve been Berlin, I’ve encountered 3 different switches. Seems like a lot considering that I’ve only been here a week and have only ridden the bus a handful of times.
Walked by this store, had to get some postcards. I took a photo of this store when I first arrived in Berlin. I took that photo because I fucking hated Berlin and thought that this would be a good ironic photo. I am pretty neutral when I took this photo and as I am writing this post some 3 days after the fact, I am looking back on Berlin with some fond memories.
Had to try Vapiano. SO talked about it, and our bike tour guide also talked about it.
You walk into the restaurant and the first thing that you get is an electronic card.
Then you wait in one of the many lines.
Finally, after a long fucking time, you get to the front of the line and you tell the cook what you want to order. Then they cook everything right in front of you. I was told that this would be fast, but nope it was slow. I waited in line for 30 minutes.
Sure, the food is high quality, but it is also not cheap. I think Vapiano only strives on the novelty that you see the food cooked in front of you. It is no different than if I placed an order with a person at a register and they gave me a buzzer to pick up the food when its ready. It was only a little fun to watch the food get cooked in front of you, but I hated standing in line for 30 minutes.
On the walk back to the hotel, I saw this fruit stand. Oh wait, that’s not a fruit stand. That’s just real fruit display by Dolce & Gabbana. Some of the bell peppered are starting to get old and dried up. Good idea though, got my attention. Speaking of which, the main road that’s a 5 minute walk from our hotel is full of high end retail shops. SO says that it’s a very well known shopping street. Unfortunately, it’s not my cup of tea. I’d rather stay in Kreuzberg or Pranzlauer Berg.
I walked up to snap a photo of this C class parked with the front plate pressed against the Maserati ahead. When I walked up, some 10 feel away, the proximity alarm for the Maserati went off. Where was that alarm when the Mercedes parked right into it?
I am leaving Berlin tomorrow. It’s a love hate relationship with Berlin. It started TERRIBLE! Then Berlin started to redeem itself. I hated Berlin, but after these past few days, I can’t really say that anymore. As I am writing this some 3 days after the fact, since I am still way behind in blogging, I am remembering Berlin with fond memories. It’s like meeting a girl for the first time, and she irritates and annoys the crap out of you. Then one day you realize that you keep on thinking about her and then it dawns on you that you’ve got a thing for her. The girl is still irritating, but you can’t help but be drawn to her. Yeah, Berlin is kind of like that for me. If a friend of mine planned a visit to Berlin, and asked me to join, I’d agree in a heartbeat.
I think I love Berlin…
To be continued in Budapest Day 1.