Five Days in Berlin - Notes
Feb. 19th, 2004 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bimoFrom February 12th to February 16th, I was away on a short trip to Berlin; my first "real" visit, so I did what every good, culturally interested tourist does and spent most of my time rushing frantically from one location or museum to the next. A full, detailed account of my impressions would probably lead to the longest entry in the history of LiveJournal, so I'm restricting myself to the mere basics *g*
Trip organised by: Several members of my university's history department's film class.
Travelling Companions: Eleven fellow students (eight guys, three girls), a determined, somewhat chaotic history professor plus the suprisingly calm and well organised son of afore mentioned prof.
Accomodation: Haus Wichern, a medium sized hostel run by a Catholic youth organisation. Clean, freshly renovated rooms, friendly staff. However rather spartanic.
Museums visited: Jewish Museum (highly impressive, not only in its depiction of the Holocaust but also in its rendering of about 1700 years of Jewish life) Film Museum, Pergamon Museum (think British Museum with a strong focus on ancient Greece, Near East and Islamic art), Bauhaus Museum (design, art and architecture of the Bauhaus movement. Gropius, Kandinsky, Klee, Mies van der Rohe), Old National Gallery (large collection of 19th century art, ranging from Romanticism and Realism to the French Impressionists. Anselm Feuerbach,Caspar David Friedrich, Wilhelm Leibl, Renoir, Cezanne.
Locations visited: Reichstag, television tower at Alexander Square, Berlin Cathedral,
Aquarium section of the Berlin Zoo, Babelsberg Film Studios, various famous streets and squares
Movies watched: Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (my take at supporting the ever limping German film industry; the film, however, turned out to be an actually pretty atmospherical drama about teenage love and suicide in the "Roaring Twenties"). Taxi Driver (intense, brilliant, one of the cruelest movie endings I've ever seen. Watching the young, still mannerism-free Robert DeNiro was amazing).
Most impressive experiences: Standing at the television tower's top floor, looking down on the city's lights. Riding the Berlin Underground at night. Walking through a life-sized, about five mether high replica of the famous Babylonian Ishtar Gate at Pergamon museum.
Scariest experiences: Realizing the omnipresence of security checks and paranoia; the fear of terrorism manifests itself much more concretely in the capital than it does in the easy-going Rhineland. Standing on a small, wooden bridge at the Aquarium's reptile floor, just about 1,80 meters above the ancient killer eyes of a massive crocodile.
Books bought: Sonnenfinsternis, a translated version of John Banville's Eclipse. Wolf Schneider, Deutsch für Profis, a prominent journalist's attempt at pointing out examples of bad writing and language abuse in German news magazines and taking revenge on our renowned news magazine Der Spiegel.
Hours spent at the Starbucks at Potsdam Square, reading Sonnenfinsternis resting my poor, much abused feet and waiting for the beginning of Taxi Driver: Four.
Trip organised by: Several members of my university's history department's film class.
Travelling Companions: Eleven fellow students (eight guys, three girls), a determined, somewhat chaotic history professor plus the suprisingly calm and well organised son of afore mentioned prof.
Accomodation: Haus Wichern, a medium sized hostel run by a Catholic youth organisation. Clean, freshly renovated rooms, friendly staff. However rather spartanic.
Museums visited: Jewish Museum (highly impressive, not only in its depiction of the Holocaust but also in its rendering of about 1700 years of Jewish life) Film Museum, Pergamon Museum (think British Museum with a strong focus on ancient Greece, Near East and Islamic art), Bauhaus Museum (design, art and architecture of the Bauhaus movement. Gropius, Kandinsky, Klee, Mies van der Rohe), Old National Gallery (large collection of 19th century art, ranging from Romanticism and Realism to the French Impressionists. Anselm Feuerbach,Caspar David Friedrich, Wilhelm Leibl, Renoir, Cezanne.
Locations visited: Reichstag, television tower at Alexander Square, Berlin Cathedral,
Aquarium section of the Berlin Zoo, Babelsberg Film Studios, various famous streets and squares
Movies watched: Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (my take at supporting the ever limping German film industry; the film, however, turned out to be an actually pretty atmospherical drama about teenage love and suicide in the "Roaring Twenties"). Taxi Driver (intense, brilliant, one of the cruelest movie endings I've ever seen. Watching the young, still mannerism-free Robert DeNiro was amazing).
Most impressive experiences: Standing at the television tower's top floor, looking down on the city's lights. Riding the Berlin Underground at night. Walking through a life-sized, about five mether high replica of the famous Babylonian Ishtar Gate at Pergamon museum.
Scariest experiences: Realizing the omnipresence of security checks and paranoia; the fear of terrorism manifests itself much more concretely in the capital than it does in the easy-going Rhineland. Standing on a small, wooden bridge at the Aquarium's reptile floor, just about 1,80 meters above the ancient killer eyes of a massive crocodile.
Books bought: Sonnenfinsternis, a translated version of John Banville's Eclipse. Wolf Schneider, Deutsch für Profis, a prominent journalist's attempt at pointing out examples of bad writing and language abuse in German news magazines and taking revenge on our renowned news magazine Der Spiegel.
Hours spent at the Starbucks at Potsdam Square, reading Sonnenfinsternis resting my poor, much abused feet and waiting for the beginning of Taxi Driver: Four.
