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

Bern, Switzerland Jan 2013

statues everywhere in center of Bern, including the hunting bear (bern in german) 

another statue in town

yet another

 1600's clock tower which chimes on the hour

close-up of cathedral door, incredible work carving

cathedral door

scott in front of door

the bern bear is everywhere. 

old homes in bern

pretty store window

houses in city center, near the river

Aare river

funny sculpture in bern center, right on the track!

Bern city hall with skating ring in front

view from our hotel window

church ceiling

klee painting

good exhibit of itten and klee at art museum

We (Scott, Matthew and I) had a January overnight in Bern. took train from Milan which is a beautiful train ride passing by Lago Maggiore in Italy and Lake Thun in Switzerland. At one point you can see the Matterhorn. Alps were snow-covered but much to my disappointment we did not have snow in Bern, although we did get to experience some very cold weather. Was good as the cold weather encouraged eating a heavy dinner of cheese fondue and rostis! and of course there is the chocolate.. Was good to get back to the Italian diet.

milan jan 2013

Matthew and I on roof of Milan cathedral

cathedral spires

chocolate shoes and bags

Jan 5th, a gorgeous sunny day

fresco in church of san maurizio by B. Luini

lovely art deco work in chapel in museum poldi-pezzoli

carrying the relics of the 3 magi, church of san eustorgio on Jan 6th, epiphany

streets signs, near da vinci's last supper church of S. Maria della grazia

lovely painting in museum mentioned above by G. Schiavone

navigli area of milan at sunset

cathedral in fog on Jan 6th, morning

bellini's pieta (oldest)

bellini pieta'

bellini pieta'

bellini pieta'

i think this might have been mantegna but have to check

the museum poldi-pezzola was really lovely, so many masterpieces you wouldn't expect.  They had a special exhibit of Bellini's pietas, thus the four pictures above. they owned one of them. Saturday was a gorgeous almost spring -like day. Sunday was more typical milanese weather, foggy and bit damp. Weekend was packed with sightseeing: churches of san maurizio, san ambrogio, duomo, san eustorgio, san lorenzo- all incredible,  Brera and Poldi-Pezzoli museums, good restaurants and coffee bars. well worth the trip. A special exhibit in the town hall of amore and psyche which was one painting by frenchman gerard and one sculpture by canova. Both gorgeous. Long lines for this free exhibit but we managed to see it early Mon morning when all the crowds had left Milan.

Frank's bar, very welcoming

our aperol spritz

it was befana on Sunday, some happy and not too scary befanas

colorful befana coal