Back from Berlin

I was in Berlin over Spring Break, putting together a course I'll be teaching there this summer on the history and culture of Berlin --- starting back with the slavic tribes who initially settled the area, all the way to the present day. In five weeks. My own insanity aside, here are a few images from the trip:






View from the Reichstag dome down into the chamber.




View from hotel room over the city of Berlin-Spandau, where we were staying.

Margrave Joachim II., the first of the Brandenburg Margraves to convert to Protestantism. No one is really sure where he first took communion "with both the bread and wine", but the Nikolai church in Spandau jumped at the chance to claim the honor by putting up a statue. Oh, this was in 1539 (the 95 Theses were posted in Wittenberg in 1517).

The Pergamon Museum!!

Pericles ... in the Pergamon Museum, with a rather large assortment of other heads, famous and othewise.

And who might this be?

Poor guy lost his hands in some sort of a mishap. Well, he's better off than some of the other statues I saw.

No, wait ... THIS is Caesar. Who's that other guy?



Sorry about the expressionist effect ... but I couldn't leave Nefertiti out of the line-up!

And this, of course, is the famous "Berlin Goddess" -- no one knows if she was a goddess, or just some girl who died. But a very cool statue, nonetheless. One of very few to retain some of the original paint, because she was encased in lead.

Umm, I don't really see the pomegranate...

Hair in scallops ... check.

Sandals .. check.

More famous bits at the Pergamon.








And why do these look so familiar? Oh, yeah ... that new movie: 300.

Nikolaikirche in the Nikolaiviertel -- site of the original city of Berlin, right across the river from Cölln. This church was originally built in the 13th Century, but has been rebuilt / refurbished a number of times. Extensive bombing will do that.

Part of the medieval wall --- right next to the oldest Kneipe - "Zur Letzten Instanz".

A rather more recent wall - the rest of the 1961-1989 Berlin wall. Ironic that it was built right over the ruins of the Prinz Albrecht Strasse building that once housed the Gestapo. This picture looks at the back of the wall, which is right over the cellars of the Prinz Albrecht building, which is now an exhibit called, "Die Topographie des Terrors".

Zur Letzten Instanz. Not quite sure how it got it's name ... last chance to drink before heading out of the city? Because the courts of justice were nearby? The Bar of Last Resort? We found out the hard way that it's best to reserve if you plan on eating dinner there....

My travelling companions:

Andy

Brad

On the Cölln side of the river:

I took a picture of this just for the Cute One and the Engineer. Can you name that embassy?






This is the Märkisches Museum. It houses the history of the Mark Brandenburg, but primarily focuses on the history of Berlin. There are prehistoric remains, but also incredible evidence from the daily lives and homes of Berliners throughout the centuries. And they have fantastic little models of the city that show the development throughout.







Pictures of Berlin wouldn't be complete without a little graffiti. It says, "Jesus lives in the [people's] heads, and Elvis lives in my cellar." -- I think the second part was added by a different artiste, but I'm not certain.