As I walked back from the train station to my apartment this evening, I thought, “It’s nice to be home.”
And it is. Even if it sounds funny to say it. And even funnier to think about it.
I guess it’s the whole thing of going away to another place…
Anyway, it is nice to be home.
I had a great day in Berlin before I left. Well. Technically, I had a great afternoon in Berlin before I left, since I didn’t wake up until 11:30. But still.
I had planned to go see the Reichstag — and climb to the top of the dome. The outside is pretty nice. Apparently the inside and the view from the dome is spectacular.
But then I thought. Forget THIS!
Because, you see this photo…
This is the line for the Reichstag. A 2 hour wait.
Here’s a travel tip: When you only have 30 waking hours in a city, do not spend two of them waiting in line for ANYTHING.
So, instead, I went and checked out two of the museums on Museuminsel (Museum Island for those of us who don’t speak German.) The first one, the Altes museum, was a bit of a bust…
With the main attraction being the bust of Nefertiti. Pun intended.
If you stare straight at the statue, it’s really quite eerie. It’s like she’d come alive at any second… The pix don’t really do it justice.
Anyway, other than old Nefi, the Altes Museum wasn’t all that amazing.
The Pergamon Museum, on the other hand…
Outstanding.
The main exhibit at the Pergamon is the Pergamon Altar. The Altar was an enormous structure in the city of Pergamon in ancient Greece.
Here’s what a model of the complete structure looks like:
Well get this. Most of the front half was recovered in an archeological dig about 125 years ago. And they’ve rebuilt the thing IN BERLIN!
Look:
The coolest part is that the frieze that ran all the way around the building (see the arrow above) has been partially reconstructed.
What the frieze depicts is a fascinating battle between the Gods and the Giants. In great detail.
It’s not for the faint of heart (there are lions biting, people getting stabbed and the giants basically taking a major pummeling). But it is fascinating. I listened to the audio guide for almost 2 hours.
In this shot, the goddess Hekate (second from the left) is about to take down the giant, Klytios, to the left.
Note that these are no ordinary, everyday tall-guy, moronic Harry Potter giants. No sirree, these are bad-assed giants. These are winged giants with serpents for legs and claws for hands. (Check out a close-ups of the clawed hands below.)
Anyway, as Hekate is about to strike the giant Klytios, Klytios is trying to hurl a boulder at her. She’s protecting herself with her shield and is about to stab Klytios with her torch/lance. You’ll notice Hekate’s large dog is biting the giant on the leg.
Hekate’s daughter, Artemis, the second figure from the right, has already taken down one of the giants, who is tumbling to the ground. You’ll notice this giant is being chomped on the neck by Artemis’ dog. Yarch.
The clawed fingers of the giants.
Here’s one more.
Athena, daughter of Zeus and goddess of war and the city of Pergamon, is about to kill the giant Alkyoneus (left). His mother Gaia (right, coming up from the ground) begs to keep him alive. No such luck, old Alky is toast. We know this because on the upper right of the photo the winged goddess of victory, Nike, is mostly missing. But when she was there originally, she was coming to celebrate the victory of the Gods.
The size, the history, the stories.
Pretty amazing.
It was so good I bought one of those bazillion dollar pamphlets about the whole thing. Bug me about it when I get home if you’re interested.
Anyway, from the Pergamon Musuem, I headed over to the S-Bonn (the Berlin aboveground subway, not to be confused with the U-Bonn, which is the Berlin underground subway) and headed to the Berlin Haupbanhoff (main station), where I caught me a train back home.
That’s right. For another 2 weeks, it’s home.