Viking Homelands: Berlin (8/31/2018)

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.

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.

Painted buildings on Holzmarktstrasse

Soviet architecture at Strausberger Platz/Circle

Haus der Lehrers/Teachers' House (1962-1964)
and the Fernsehturm/TV Tower (1966-1969)

Mural of Unser Leben/Our Life by Walter Womacka,
mostly depicting various occupations

The Royal Palace that is being rebuilt to become the
Humboldt Forum, a museum and entertainment complex

Russia Embassy (1950-1952, by Anatoli Strischewski
in wedding-cake style) on Unter den Linden

The Elephant Fountain, the only surviving
piece of the original Hotel Adlon

Floral arrangements at Hotel Adlon

United States Embassy (2004-2008,
by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners);
the flag is at half-staff to honor John McCain

Tamiko & Kent at the Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate
(photo courtesy of Josefina)

A peek into the lower atrium of the DZ Bank designed by Frank Gehry

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

In the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas/
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
(2003-2004, by Peter Eisenman)

Trees are growing in the Memorial

The beloved East German Ampelmann/Traffic light man

Traffic light for bicyclists

Bicycle traffic light (10/2/1987)

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.

The large mirrored reverse cone reflects
natural light into the parliament chamber

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)

A sunscreen automatically moves
to block direct sunlight

There is too much reflection and glare
to be able to look down into parliament

The top of the dome is open for ventilation

Reflections on the mirrored cone

German Wachbataillon/Watch or protocol battalion members
escort Russian Army soldiers in the Reichstag dome

Stone carvings along the roof line

Fernando and Josefina snap a selfie at the dome...

Then they snap a photo of Kent & Tamiko

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.

A couple more chocolate sculptures at the Rausch
Schokoladenhaus/chocolate shop: the Reichstag/Parliament

Siegessäule/Victory Column

The chocolate Brandenburger Tor/Brandenburg Gate
comes with a 24-karat gold quadriga, for only $159

Butler James the bear at the Hilton Hotel

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.

Komische Oper/Comic Opera House
(1965-1966, by Kunz Nierade Collective)

Friedrichstadt-Palast (1980-1984) is
a theater complex that can stage
complex Las Vegas type shows

This building was covered in a fine netting

The netting was stitched together with cable ties

Lebron James, More Than an Athlete; what more can we say?

The Bernauer Strasse Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer/
Berlin Wall Memorial (1998)

A 60 m/200' section of the Berlin Wall still in place

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)

If Walls Could Talk (2016, by Marcus Haas,
assisted by Xi-Design, and Size Two and Mario Mankey)

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.

Stateroom attendants including our own (second from right)

Sunset over the Baltic Sea

Next: Gdańsk I.