Renata's First Day in Berlin, Part One: Museuminsel

Bright and early Saturday morning, I took the bus down to the train station (or Bahnhof), and I took the train to the part of Berlin I had been looking most forward to visiting – Museuminsel, or Museum Island.  Basically, it’s the oldest part of Berlin and there are a lot of museums there.  My sort of place?  Most definitely.

           
As I made my way into Museuminsel, Frederick the Great was there to greet me on his horse.  

Then I passed the German History Museum and the Altes (Old) Museum.  While these places looked wonderful, they were not on my schedule for today.  I was on course for the Pergamonmuseum, home to one of the world’s largest archaeology collections, including an actual Greek temple, a Roman marketplace, and the gates of Isthar.  

I got sidetracked by this:

Lined up along the Spree River was one booth after another.  It was a mix of handmade items, tacky souvenirs, and vintage miscellaneous.  I was in a browsing mood, not a shopping one, so I didn’t buy anything.  What a fun atmosphere, though!

And then I got sidetracked (again) by the beautiful Berliner Dom:

And then I watched this guy for a bit:

So, as I was immersing myself in one delight after another, I walked past the museum without noticing.  I ended up going a bit out of my way to find it again, and to do so I had to cross the street.  While waiting at the stoplight, a lady from an Asian tour group came up to me.  She literally posed next to me, asked somebody to take a picture of the two of us, thanked me, and then proceeded to walk away.  Um, okay.  I really should have asked her to send me a copy. 

Anyway, I finally made it to the museum, stood in a long line, and made my way inside.  Everything was stunning, and huge.

 The entrance to Pergamon altar:

Temple to Athena:

Roman Marketplace Entrance:

Ishtar Gate of Babylon:

They were so big, I couldn't take a whole picture of them!

Up next  was the Neues (New) Museum, home to a large collection ancient artifacts, in particular Greek and Egyptian.  This is also the home of the famed bust of Nefertiti.  Nefertiti is to Berlin what La Joconde (Mona Lisa) is to Paris.  No cameras were allowed the small room that housed her. In fact, I did not notice the sign coming in to the area (Honest!) prohibiting cameras and my first inclination was to take a picture of the crowd around Nefertiti.  It was then I got yelled at (in German).  I am mostly frustrated that I didn’t use my limited camera time for a better picture.  Instead, this is all I have:

 If you want to find out what all the fuss is about, do a Google image search.  You'll find her.

              These are items excavated from the supposed location of Troy:

Mummified children -- Roman, I think.  But I'm really just guessing.
(Notice how realistic the painted faces are):

Part of an Egyptian tomb:

A whole mess of sarcophagi:

The Neues Museum was actually kind of morbid, come to think of it.

And I'll leave it at that, because I am probably boring everyone by now.  However, if you find this sort of thing just as awesome as I do, I am going to try and put together a Picasa album with more to look at.  (Don't worry, I will still pare down the exorbitant amounts of photos I have been taking.)

Part two of my first day in Berlin will be covered at a later date.  Among other things...