Our Inner Design Nerd Requires a Trip to the Bauhaus Archiv Museum

Raelene here. We got another early start and headed by bus to the Jewish museum. There was security similar to an airport to enter this museum but that went pretty quick. This museum was set up with several axis or hallways with different themes. At the end of one hallway, after reading about people from the holocaust and reading letters, a museum staff person opened a door and we walked into the inside of a dim angular tower for a few minutes. It was stark and isolating.



Another hallway lead to a "Garden of Exile" which had some massive parallel but off-angled pillars which had a disorienting effect. I found this to be a more interactive museum, with speakers and drawers you open compared to the others we had been to. Doug and I crawled under some stairs (probably a space meant for small kids) to watch an animated cartoon there and to get off of our feet for a couple minutes... It was a Disney film named Alice and the Fire Brigade, I think.



After having a tea and coffee in the atrium area, we headed out to find the transit to the Bauhaus-Archiv museum. This museum is small but interesting to graphic designers. The audio clips on the headsets we carried around reminded me of critique sessions from school.

Doug needed a little part for his camera so, with the help of advice from our friend Klaus, we were able to locate a Canon camera shop and found our way there, seeing more of the city by bus and train.

Supper was at a restaurant near Brandenburger Tor then back to our hotel. In the lounge we made friends and chatted with a Swiss fellow and a German fellow.

Museums, museums and more museums.

Turns out Nefratiti's bust was just a sculpture of her head. They should be more clear about these things.



Today we finished off the last two floors of the Neues Museum and hopped over to the Altes National Gallery of Berlin which featured paintings and sculptures from the German banker J.H.W Wagener's collection.



They also had works from great expressionist painters such as Cezanne, Pissarro, Monet, Manet, Gauguin and Van Gogh as well as the original sculpture,"The Thinker" by Rodin.



Next was Brandenburger Tor and the Tiergarten park before a visit to the third museum of the day, the Bode Museum. We were unable to see the "Gesichter Renaissance exhibit" with our passes but did a brief tour of the available rooms containing a display of the bronze casting process from wax sculptures, some huge statues and a Rafael painting.
We then went back to the A&O for a beer and much needed rest.

Museum Island

Museum walking is so much more tortuous than walking a long distance. The human body was not designed to step, step, stand, lean, step, stand and repeat. The 20 km of museum walking felt like 100 km of just walking. Regardless I filled many gigabytes of camera card space in a very short time. My Flickr photostream has almost tripled since leaving Canada. When you have so much to see in these museums, one can't resist.
The Altes (old) Museum housed many early Roman and Greek exhibits while the Neues (new) Museum has a collection Egyptian artifacts. It is a good thing that we purchased the three day museum pass that offers us admission to over 50 museums because due to our slow pace through museums, Rae and I where unable to complete the Neues Museum. Nefratiti's bust will have to wait for tomorrow.

Berlin

Today we travelled the short distance to Berlin. We hiked through the graffiti adorned streets of Köpenicker Straße to our new home, A&O hotel/hostel. In spite of nervous looks from Rae as we passed imbiss after imbiss and razor wire fences, she soon became comfortable in our new space.
After we dropped off our bags and head our to get our bearings. We quickly found a place for wurstchen and beer, located Museum Island, and arrived back home before dark to catch up on blogs (much like I'm doing on the train right now). Blogging from limited bandwidth and sorting through the hundreds of photos has proven to be a little difficult to stay on top of.

Last Day in Schwerin

This was a quiet day where we checked out of the Hotel Fritz and were invited to stay the night at Kelly and Klaus', not ready to say goodbye. This day was great as we were able to figure out our plans, watch a movie with Kelly, visit, and rest our aching feet.

Election day, Schwerin.

Today we spent the day in Schwerin. We engage in our new routine of coffee and cake in the many cafés to be found in any German town. Our guides then lead us to climb another church tower. Two churches in two days, I've officially been in more churches in Europe than I have in Canada.
Next was Schwerin Castle where we toured the lavish appearing castle. I say appearing because apparently much of the gold mouldings and decoration were actually gold-leafed paper-mâché. After that, you probably guessed it, more coffee and cake in the castle café.
As we walked the castle grounds, Klaus and I were compelled to take more photos of the beautiful statues that were displayed upon pedestals throughout the garden.








We finished the day at a nice little Italian place where, as we entered, were swept up with a crowd of photographers trying to catch an image of the losing candidate. With my camera already in hand, I decided to join the paparazzi and snapped some photos of my own.

Favourite threats our friends have heard from non-native-English speaking people

Here are a couple phrases that make us giggle:

"I make you hospital."

"I make you knife."

"I know where your house lives."