Berlin 2/15/13 Day One

Started out the day with breakfast in this pretty brasserie, imported from france, in our hotel

wonderful art nouveau lamps in brasserie

berlinale (film festival) was on, brasserie was "decorated" for this event

cutest little kids table in brasserie- who wouldn't want to sit here!

more wonderful lamps

original potsdam platz subway sign, now preserved under plexiglass

piece of Berlin wall (at night) at potsdam platz with good descriptive signage

 -Sony center dome at potsdam platz

From the modern to the ancient in the museums, stepping into the incredible pergamon museum, frieze detail of pergamon altar

 Pergamon museum. one sees this as soon as you step in museum- rather stunning. Museum  Island, consisting of 5 world class museums, since 1999 has been  a UNESCO site.

lovely roman mosaic

more detail of same fresco

2nd room in museum is another stunner-  Roman gate of Miletus (Turkey).  It decorated a square leading to the forum. 180-200 A.D.

Very pretty syrian gate. you walk from pergamon altar room to the gate of miletus room via this gate.

Roman relief of a river town 

part of gate of ishtar, 6th century B.C. babylonia (now Iraq)

Gate of Ishtar, reconstructed with original bricks

cuneiform on gate of ishtar

gorgeous stucco reliefs from Assyrian region, dates back to 6th century b.c.

wonderful lions

great islamic section, mihrab 

loved these Assyrian figures carrying purses

another amazing piece, taking up the whole room. The  mshatta stone facade of the 8th century Umayyad palace from 30 km south of Amman, Jordan.

lovely design on an islamic carpet, ottoman period

Four happy travelers  in front of  a part of the ishtar processional wall leading to the gate

Aleppo, Syria room from a Christian merchant's home. all gorgeous wood panelling, 16th century

Moving on to the Neues Museum:

Neues Museum was a very pretty building, bombed out in war, closed for 70 years and recently re-opened. Its collection was stored in underground bunkers during the war. Its claim to fame is the gorgeous bust of Nefertiti from 1340 B.C.  (no photos allowed).  

lovely Roman bronze found in the city of Xanten, Germany in 1858. dating from 180-200 A.D.

the Egyptian collection in Neues Museum was vast. egyptian glass vessel, if I remember correctly dating from b.c.

more of egyptian collection (Neues Museum)

gorgeous gold vessel from Troy collection

very cool gold ceremonial hat with a beautiful hammered design decorated with astronomic symbols. Bronze Age.

good view of berlin Dom, early 1900's, (cathedral) on river spree. 

Turkish restaurant for dinner

one of the great underground stations

East Berlin colorful housing at the turkish market

great fruits, vegetables and bargain prices at turkish market

Fun East Berlin building

canal where the turkish market was