Friday, August 31, 2018
Had breakfast at 5:00 in the World Café that had opened earlier today. The Viking Star arrived at the port of Warnemünde (near Rostock). By 6:00 we were ready to disembark for the included shore excursion, Berlin Your Way. We walked to the train station to board special "Cruise Line" trains, using the double-decker commuter cars, to take us the three hours to Berlin. There was hot water for coffee and tea, and cookies were passed out.
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| Cruise Line train at the Ostbahnhof/East Train Station in Berlin |
(We were in
West Berlin and
East Berlin in 1987, and earlier this year for four days in
May and June.)
Once in Berlin, we boarded motor coaches for a brief tour of the city, before being dropped off at Brandenburg Gate to be on our own.
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| Painted buildings on Holzmarktstrasse |
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| Soviet architecture at Strausberger Platz/Circle |
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Haus der Lehrers/Teachers' House (1962-1964)
and the Fernsehturm/TV Tower (1966-1969) |
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Mural of Unser Leben/Our Life by Walter Womacka,
mostly depicting various occupations |
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The Royal Palace that is being rebuilt to become the
Humboldt Forum, a museum and entertainment complex |
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Russia Embassy (1950-1952, by Anatoli Strischewski
in wedding-cake style) on Unter den Linden |
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The Elephant Fountain, the only surviving
piece of the original Hotel Adlon |
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| Floral arrangements at Hotel Adlon |
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United States Embassy (2004-2008,
by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners);
the flag is at half-staff to honor John McCain |
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Tamiko & Kent at the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate
(photo courtesy of Josefina) |
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| A peek into the lower atrium of the DZ Bank designed by Frank Gehry |
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Akademie der Künste/Academy of Arts mural,
Das Gastmahl des Wilddiebs/Banquet of the Poacher
(1957-1958, by Harald Metzkes) once stood in the basement |
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In the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas/
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
(2003-2004, by Peter Eisenman) |
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| Trees are growing in the Memorial |
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| The beloved East German Ampelmann/Traffic light man |
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| Traffic light for bicyclists |
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| Bicycle traffic light (10/2/1987) |
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| A musician playing a Handpan percussion instrument |
We had made arrangements online months ago to visit the dome of the Reichstag, which has free admission, but is limited and requires timed tickets that are nearly impossible to get on the same day. The
Reichstag/Parliament (1884-1894, by Paul Wallot in Neo-Baroque style) was renovated after reunification, in 1998-1999 by Norman Foster , and the long demolished dome was replaced by a glass dome.
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The large mirrored reverse cone reflects
natural light into the parliament chamber |
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The spiral ramp affords a 360-degree of Berlin; here we see the Tiergarten with the black
carillon tower and the curved roof of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt/House of World Culture (KSS) |
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A sunscreen automatically moves
to block direct sunlight |
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There is too much reflection and glare
to be able to look down into parliament |
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| The top of the dome is open for ventilation |
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| Reflections on the mirrored cone |
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German Wachbataillon/Watch or protocol battalion members
escort Russian Army soldiers in the Reichstag dome |
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| Stone carvings along the roof line |
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| Fernando and Josefina snap a selfie at the dome... |
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| Then they snap a photo of Kent & Tamiko |
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Wir/We (2015? by Stephan Guber) in the garden of
the Hessischen Landesvertretung/Hessian State building |
We had lunch from a grocery store deli, and passed the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie before arriving at the meeting point for the motor coach back to the train station in Berlin.
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A couple more chocolate sculptures at the Rausch
Schokoladenhaus/chocolate shop: the Reichstag/Parliament |
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| Siegessäule/Victory Column |
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The chocolate Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate
comes with a 24-karat gold quadriga, for only $159 |
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| Butler James the bear at the Hilton Hotel |
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Gorgeous day in Gendarmenmarkt with the
Konzerthaus/Concert Hall and Französischer Dom/French Church |
The motor coach took us on a different route to a different train station in Berlin.
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Komische Oper/Comic Opera House
(1965-1966, by Kunz Nierade Collective) |
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Friedrichstadt-Palast (1980-1984) is
a theater complex that can stage
complex Las Vegas type shows |
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| This building was covered in a fine netting |
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| The netting was stitched together with cable ties |
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| Lebron James, More Than an Athlete; what more can we say? |
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The Bernauer Strasse Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer/
Berlin Wall Memorial (1998) |
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| A 60 m/200' section of the Berlin Wall still in place |
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Kapelle der Versöhnung/Chapel of Reconciliation (1999,
by Rudolf Reitermann and Peter Sassenroth, on the site of
a church demolished because it was in the no-man's land
between the two walls, and using rubble from the old church) |
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If Walls Could Talk (2016, by Marcus Haas,
assisted by Xi-Design, and Size Two and Mario Mankey) |
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Organ grinder at the Gesundbrunnen
Bahnhof/train station in Berlin |
On the train back from Berlin, we were given bottles of water, and pretzel bread with butter already inside the bread.
As we walked from the train station in Warnemünde back to the Viking Star, we heard loud music. Was there a festival, or was it someone in the camp grounds? It was our ship making all that noise, and we were welcomed back by nearly all the staff lined up on both sides of the walkway, clapping and dancing.
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| Stateroom attendants including our own (second from right) |
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| Sunset over the Baltic Sea |
Next: Gdańsk I.
