Where east met west and I met Schneiderweiße. Who knows which will have a bigger impact on Berlin. Judging by the number of monuments and museums dedicated to the former vs the later, approximately 1,000,000 vs 2, it will probably be the cold war. But I think I made an impact.
I would have loved Berlin, if i understood it. The museums I were looking forward to most were panifully short on English translations and I found myself skirting through exhibits that otherwise would have had me engrossed for hours. There were a few exceptions. The Jewish museums, one of more interestingly designed museums you will come across, and the Allied museum, Ronald Reagans answer to Monica Lewinsky.
Most of the first day I spent looking for the Soviet war Monument but instead found that tourists maps are not always to scale and omit important information such as said monument isn't where the dot is but is in fact another 5km off the map. Atleast I got some exercise and found a pretty cool beer garden next to a canal on the way to cool my feet off.
The second day I beat the crowds to checkpoint charlie and the wall museum. Checkpoint Charlie is now just a point on the road with a reconstructed gate house and an original sign saying "You are now leaving allied territory". The associated wall museum contained mostly German news clippings and other offical documents. No translation, yawn.
The Jewish museum as mentioned earlier was housed in a pretty interesting building. Apparently is was designed by the same guy currently doing the new world trade center in New York. The exhibits themselves were also pretty interesting documenting(in English thankfully) the history of Judism. Though it did get a bit repetitive. I don't want to sound too insensitive but I felt "Ok I get it. The jews have been fucked over by every generation since year dot. But what else have you got?"
The Allied Museum focused on post-war to pre-fall of the Berlin Wall. Something were pretty interesting but as you might have guessed from my earlier comment the majority of it looked like some sort of shrine to Ronald Reagan.
The topography of terror exhibit on the former site of the SS headquaters was also in English but as it was also outdoors and sunny, reading from shiny white metal boards for any decent amount of time would have rendered me permantly blind.
The Stasi Museum had some exhibits on the techniques used to gather intelligence but there wasn't a word of English to be found. Ditto with the German-Russian Museum housed in the Soviet headquaters during the occupation of Berlin. There were however some pretty cool propaganda posters from both sides and a few armoured vehicles and artillary. On the museum side of it that was pretty much it. The much hyped Pergamon museum was only saved by the free audio tour headsets that gave information on the exhibits. The exhibits themselves including the reconstructions were a distant second to seeing the real thing in the Middle East.
Overall I didn't like Berlin as much as I thought I would. Though their is an alternative feel to the place that makes it an interesting place to visit for that reason alone.
cheers,
schuey
I would have loved Berlin, if i understood it. The museums I were looking forward to most were panifully short on English translations and I found myself skirting through exhibits that otherwise would have had me engrossed for hours. There were a few exceptions. The Jewish museums, one of more interestingly designed museums you will come across, and the Allied museum, Ronald Reagans answer to Monica Lewinsky.
Most of the first day I spent looking for the Soviet war Monument but instead found that tourists maps are not always to scale and omit important information such as said monument isn't where the dot is but is in fact another 5km off the map. Atleast I got some exercise and found a pretty cool beer garden next to a canal on the way to cool my feet off.
The second day I beat the crowds to checkpoint charlie and the wall museum. Checkpoint Charlie is now just a point on the road with a reconstructed gate house and an original sign saying "You are now leaving allied territory". The associated wall museum contained mostly German news clippings and other offical documents. No translation, yawn.
The Jewish museum as mentioned earlier was housed in a pretty interesting building. Apparently is was designed by the same guy currently doing the new world trade center in New York. The exhibits themselves were also pretty interesting documenting(in English thankfully) the history of Judism. Though it did get a bit repetitive. I don't want to sound too insensitive but I felt "Ok I get it. The jews have been fucked over by every generation since year dot. But what else have you got?"
The Allied Museum focused on post-war to pre-fall of the Berlin Wall. Something were pretty interesting but as you might have guessed from my earlier comment the majority of it looked like some sort of shrine to Ronald Reagan.
The topography of terror exhibit on the former site of the SS headquaters was also in English but as it was also outdoors and sunny, reading from shiny white metal boards for any decent amount of time would have rendered me permantly blind.
The Stasi Museum had some exhibits on the techniques used to gather intelligence but there wasn't a word of English to be found. Ditto with the German-Russian Museum housed in the Soviet headquaters during the occupation of Berlin. There were however some pretty cool propaganda posters from both sides and a few armoured vehicles and artillary. On the museum side of it that was pretty much it. The much hyped Pergamon museum was only saved by the free audio tour headsets that gave information on the exhibits. The exhibits themselves including the reconstructions were a distant second to seeing the real thing in the Middle East.
Overall I didn't like Berlin as much as I thought I would. Though their is an alternative feel to the place that makes it an interesting place to visit for that reason alone.
cheers,
schuey
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