In the Bundestag

We’d tried to book a visit to the Bundestag when we arrived but were unsuccessful; there was no availability until next weekend.  We felt cross that we hadn’t thought ahead, but the concierge in our hotel had an idea – he’d book us a table for dinner!

So this evening, we set out in drizzly rain and found ourselves in front of the Brandenburgertor with hardly any traffic.  Picture time!

Just to our left, outside the French Embassy lay hundreds of flowers and candles.  Another sad reminder of events in Paris the weekend before last.

By the time we reached the Bundestag, the rain was falling heavily and though that looks like a lovely moon in the photo, it’s actually a raindrop (or two…)

Through security and up in the lift, we dodged the rain a couple more times as we scuttled across the roof to the restaurant entrance.

We had a beautiful window table with a fine view of the city – though as we noted, looking east there’s not much of a skyline, although the TV tower at Alexanderplatz kept coming into view and disappearing again as the clouds came down during the evening.

The food was delicious, although we’d both choose somewhere offering more hearty fare normally.  In particular, my pudding was quite cute I thought – a hazelnut parfait wearing a spiced prune beret with winter spiced biscuits and tiny plums.  As yummy as it looks, believe me!

Before leaving, we walked up to the top of the dome and down again, getting dripped on from time to time because it was still pouring with rain outside.

A fine view of the cabinet meeting rooms from here, too.  Don’t you love the transparency of government here?

No—one sitting at this time of night, of course.

With a last look through the “ja”, “nein” and “enthaltung” division doors, we went out into the rain and back to the S bahn.

Fingers crossed, the weather front will have passed through by morning.

Import/export

Well, in our case, forget about the second part on this trip.  The worldwide spread of culture has resulted in there being very few things we can’t buy at home – or our German friends can’t buy here.  So, our list of things to bring home is rather shorter than it used to be – and the similar list of things we bring for our friends consists of just a couple of items now.

So, what will we bring home this time?  Where do we head for and what do we buy when we are in Germany?

On Saturday, in KaDeWe, we headed straight for the Falke department.  We can buy some Falke socks in John Lewis, but not quite the huge range available here and my favourite “Berlin” socks are most easily found in department stores here.  They fit beautifully, are comfortable and don’t fall down and above all, they live forever (or seem to do).  Sadly, this time, they didn’t have my size and colour so I left empty handed.  My hero, however, managed a few pairs of his favourites, so at least one of us is content.

Next stop, when we see one, is a WMF. 

Here can be found good quality tableware and every cooking implement you could possibly need.

As we stood chatting to the sales assistant and saying as much, we added “and some you never knew you needed until you saw one”.  She pointed out this:

Apologies for the poor photo but perhaps I was distracted by the concept of the “Nutella spreading knife”, specially shaped to fit into the curve of the jar so every last bit can be retrieved.  There.  You didn’t know you needed one, did you?  (No, we didn’t)

On almost every street is a DM and I find it hard to pass one by.

The equivalent of Boots or possibly more Superdrug, this is where I find a few favourites.

My Bayrischer Blockmalz sweets which you’ve seen here before if you’ve been reading a while.

Mostly, though, I’m here to get the amazing bath “cures” for all kinds of aches and pains, colds and flu and, at this time of the year, the special “Winter magic” salts which smell of Christmas and which I love.

One of the first things we do in a German city is look for an OSKA shop.  There’s one in Cheltenham now and several in London, but none have quite the range as in the German stores and of course, there is quite a price difference too (more or less the same in pounds as in Euros here)

Next, I don’t go looking for a Nivea shop – we can get most of it at home, of course – but if I pass one by, it’s fun to get some of the Christmas tins for stockings and small presents.

This store was particularly sparkly and was launching the new Nivea perfume – yes, you can smell like your favourite blue and white tin!  (why?)

Last but not least, the supermarket haul.  Spaetzle, which are sometimes in our local Lidl but not very often, a packet of knödel, rahmsauce mix for making geschnetzeltes at home and last but not least, a packet for Kaiserschmarrn.  Four long standing favourites which we’ll treasure and share.

Now, thinking of that bath for aching joints and muscles….I might just go and make use of its remarkable healing powers.  There could be another short blog post later, for we have interesting plans for this evening.  But for now, the bathroom is calling…

(oh and in case you’re wondering what we bring to Germany when we visit our friends: Gingernut biscuits and Yorkshire Tea Bags!)

And then…

Turning the corner and finding the entrance to the Pergamon museum, my hero will go and sort our tickets out whilst I take care of coats and bags.  Security is especially tight here today and we are allowed nothing but a camera in our hands.  Admission includes an audio guide and there are plenty of lockers and an efficient cloakroom so actually, it feels good to leave everything there.

We can go right inside through a small, unassuming door and turn right…

Oh yes, it’s exactly as I remembered it, if not better.

The magnificent Ishtar Gate from Babylon stands immediately to the right as we step inside.  It was this that I’d remembered so clearly.  Me!  The non-historian!

But who wouldn’t have remembered such fantastic relief animals?

Such wonderful lions treading softly along a bright yellow pathway decorated with daisies?

Though parts of the 6th Century BC gate are still being restored, it didn’t matter one bit.

Because the mirror image is there to see on the other side.

We spend a while taking it in, marvelling at the scale of the whole assembly and trying to imagine it complete – this is only the smaller of two gates which would have stood there and they’d have been approached by a long walkway.

Only part of that is there, together with a model so we can get a better idea of what would have greeted us upon entering Babylon by the Processional Way.

The Pergamon Museum is rebuilding some areas and so much of it remains closed.  We took the opportunity to see what’s still open, however and did a quick run through the Assyrian Room where these finely carved panels adorn the walls.

I rather liked this piece of Assyrian jewellery too.  It’s dated well considering it’s been around for more than 2000 years, don’t you think?

My hero spotted this similarly aged wall fragment, all neatly constructed with shaped bricks which piece together incredibly accurately.

And I’m keen to see the beautiful Aleppo Room.  According to our audio guide, it still stands in Aleppo, welcoming visitors as it always has done.  Except that it probably doesn’t.  Who knows?

Of course, there’s heaps more to share from the Pergamon Museum but for now, we’ll move on.  It’s lunchtime and we’re feeling peckish!

Back out into the building site of Unter den Linden, the crowds are just making their way to the museums – we timed it well!

We are heading for Gendarmenmarkt, where we stayed on our very first visit to Berlin, some twenty five or so years ago, in that red roofed hotel.  There’s a Christmas carket here which we might look around later, but for now, we’ll find something to eat.

Blue and white signage is often a good sign, suggesting that Bavarian food might be served here.  Sure enough, Augustiner offers a great selection of favourites and refreshed by a couple of Weissbiers, we are happy.

 

It’s almost 4 pm when we leave…

Though it’s not quite dark yet, the Weinachtsmarkt is bustling.  Unusually, there’s an entrance fee, so we pay up and in we go.

We understand it’s a security precaution, for this year the Christmas Markets are seen as being rather vulnerable to…well….all kinds of things we’d rather not ponder too long on.

So, we join the happy crowd amongst the clove scented stalls between the two cathedrals.  This is a beautiful setting and the air is cold enough to feel seasonal.

As dusk falls, we hear music coming from the steps of the Konzerthaus so we make our way through the crowds to see what’s going on.

A troupe of young ballet dancers are performing on a small stage and doing a grand job in spite of low temperatures.  It’s altogether quite magical to stand there beneath the cathedrals, amongst a jolly crowd watching the dancers under the twinkly lights.

A stern Madame watches from the side as her dancers put on a wonderful show.

Meanwhile, back in the market, two angels make their way through the crowds.

They are wearing stilts and tower above the heads of everyone around them.  They’re glamorous and rather lovely, dressed in fur and twinkles.

But we giggle at their “feet”, fixed to the bottom of their stilts.  Even angels have a sense of humour it seems.

It’s getting dark now, so we head for a small bar for a drink before leaving.  Isn’t it lovely?

Thankfully, cosy inside too.  It’s almost time we were heading to the Komische Oper, just over the street, for the performance of La Belle Helene which starts at 6pm today.

I note the sign and follow it.  Nice one, don’t you think?

No photos from the show, of course, but suffice to say, it’s the most hilarious opera we’ve seen.  Very gay – it’s attracted a large number of gentlemen in the audience! – those lederhosen worn by the extraordinarily camp dancers are not quite what they seem and are “cheeky” in the literal sense of the word!!

What fun!

The theatre, though modern outside is traditional in style and very comfortable indeed.

The seats are electronically enabled for reminders and subtitles in the language of your choice, too.

For us, we are simply too swept along with the events on stage – roller skates and the most amazing costumes plus, needless to say, outstanding performances by the cast.

Afterwards, we collect our little chocolate truffle (“Eine fur alle”) on the way out and decide we’ll walk back to the hotel.  Though our feet are aching, we are pleased of the night air and hum our way back.

It’s been quite a day, don’t you think?

Walk with us in Berlin

It’s Sunday morning and Berlin’s quiet as we set out.  No shops open – not now, nor later, for these sensible people maintain Sunday closing and so we’ve planned our day carefully.

We’ve walked along this street a few times now but always on the market side, so have missed this small section of the wall which stands here, near to the line where it stood originally.

Across the street, several sections still stand on the line.  It’s not a pretty sight for not only is it shocking to think that this city was divided for so many years within our lifetime, but these pieces are an attraction for anyone with a felt tip pen, or a piece of chewing gum.

So, they’re covered with the stuff.  Yuk.

The streets are pretty empty at this time the day, but it’s an easy walk up to the Brandenburgertor, up there in the distance.

In the grounds of a museum, there stands a green “Ampelmann”.

When we want to cross though, we have to wait forever.  Patience needed!

We were crossing the street to take a closer look at this, the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

Walking amongst the stones provokes our curiosity and we want to learn more about the concept behind the design but it’s cold and we are ready to move on. 

We don’t intend to linger here either, because we’ll be back here tomorrow.

I’m glad I didn’t choose to wear shoes like this today, though.  On cobbles, too!

We stand and watch a bunch of people squeeze an inflatable world into a frame, whilst my hero worries they won’t get it at the right angle.

Not bad, eh?

Come on then…on through the Brandenburg Gate where both sides have “stuff” in front of it.  A shame, that.

We’re now in Unter den Linden which is also a bit of a mess thanks to the major works involved in building a new U bahn line.

Outside the Russian Embassy there’s a line of neatly arranged roses, we assume to commemorate those killed in the Egyptian air crash.  The line goes on for quite some way and there’s maybe some significance with the colours?  More sobering thoughts.

On the next corner however, is a jolly trailer outside the Komische Oper.  We’re coming here tonight to see La Belle Helene and watching this makes us think we’re in for a giggle.  Roller skating men wearing skirts?  (Bottomless lederhosen?  errrmmm…)

The building site which is Unter den Linden right now goes on as far as Alexanderplatz, where the TV tower still stands.  We intend to peel off to the left some point along here though and perhaps won’t make it as far as there.

The building site stretches to both sides of the street now, with the Staatsoper under renovation too. 

Mind you, when there are decorative touches to the hording, it’s not too bad, is it?

Last time I came to Berlin, the whole of Potsdamerplatz was a sea of cranes like this – the city is still a work in progress it seems.

A good place to cross the road here, then, in front of the German History museum.  Quite tempting to go in there actually, but for today, we have a different destination in mind so we’ll keep going a bit further.

The Berlin cathedral stands on the other side of the river and looks a bit forbidding in this wintry light.  Rather than cross the River Spree here, we turn left and head up through a small artists market and over the next bridge.

At this point I’m going to growl.  You know why, don’t you?

Here we are on Museen Insel – Museum Island – and there, sitting high above the park beneath it is the art museum.  For once, we’re going to give that a miss in favour of the next museum along.  We’re heading for somewhere I visited on my last jaunt to Berlin and which left a deep and lasting impression on me.  I knew my hero would feel similarly and we decided to make it the focus of our morning here.

Keep going then.  There’s good news ahead.

There’s no queue whatsoever for the Pergamon Museum and we can go straight in.

Join us in the next post and see what it was that I so wanted to share.

A night at the Oper

I don’t know about you, but since I’ve been reading most fiction on my Kindle, I’ve noticed that publishers have upped their game a bit. They’ve made an effort to create more attractive and interesting books with features that can’t be replicated on a small handheld device and from time to time, I’ve felt that ebooks have been A Good Thing in providing an incentive to be more creative with the printed page and to produce something a little more extraordinary as a result.

Something similar happened last night.  We have got used to going along to the cinema, to watch opera live from the Met and to enjoy a relaxed evening with friends in a comfortable, spacious setting.  We take along wine, snacks, chocolates and from time to time have commented how much more civilised (and cheaper!) it is to see world-class performances in this way rather than pay a fortune to travel to London and buy tickets for the real thing.

It was almost as if someone was listening, though, because last night’s performance was so utterly magical and definitely couldn’t be replicated on any screen, however big, however superb the sound system might be.

It started with our realisation that this Aida performance was not going to be one which might have been performed in Verona.  There were to be no elephants, no lavish settings, no cast of thousands.  In fact, the stage was rather spare and having read that it was to be performed in modern dress, we were curious.  When we took our seats in the dress circle, we could see only a few boxes around the stage and a desk with some papers on it.  The backdrop was plain black with a screen.  We had no idea…

There might have been a little clue in the foyer as we waited for the auditorium to open, because from time to time a trumpeter would appear amongst us and play the first line of the Grand March – just a few notes to begin with, but then, a little more.  A small teaser for what was to come, then.

There was no curtain to go up, but as the stage came to life, we noted there was no orchestra pit – they were behind the black gauze screen on stage and the white screen, which was showing what appeared to be a montage of Egyptian themed images turned out to be a live screencast from a docucam over the desk – as the story moved on, characters were able to highlight particular images there and it was a most effective means of revealing their thoughts.

The big surprise, however, was yet to come.  The first act began with the principals on stage and gently, we heard a chorus somewhere.  Offstage?  Hmmm….not sure.  But then, a couple of rows in front of us, a gentleman stood up and began to sing in a rich, bass voice.

What!?  Wow!!

As the story moved on, the chap next to him stood up – he too was part of the cast; playing the King.  He had one of those rich, Russian-style basso profundo voices and I can tell you, everyone around us sat up in their seats.  This was magical.

Nothing could have been more magical than when the chorus began to sing, however.  By that, I mean to really sing.  We’d now worked out that they too were sitting amongst the audience; we could see a group of men in the boxes either side of the balcony as they stood to sing but we could hear women’s voices from downstairs in the stalls and elsewhere.  At times, it was rather like being part of a flashmob.  We just didn’t know who might stand and sing next, or where the glorious sound would come from.

Of course, it all came to a climax in the Grand March, which was one of the most fantastic, completely immersive experiences I’ve enjoyed.  The sound was extraordinary – the more so because it was all around us, we were part of it.  Everyone in the audience around us was captivated too – we sat open mouthed.  Wow.

The story doesn’t end well, sadly, and the second half doesn’t contain any such triumphs, but nevertheless, we all left the opera house buzzing from the experience and I’m sure we’ll not be alone in counting that particular performance as one of the greatest opera experiences ever.  Sure, a night at the cinema is fun and we’ll still enjoy watching Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann (oh….Jonas Kaufmann…..!) now and then. But one thing is certain.

There really is nothing like live music.

(a review and better description can be found here, in German but Google does a pretty neat translation into English if you need it!)