Right now it’s Thursday, and I’m using the free wifi at Tegel Airport, so this will be truncated whenever the free hour is up. My Vodafone SIM ran out of credit this morning too. Good timing.
Wednesday was my last day in Berlin. I could hear the rain outside when I woke up, but it had almost stopped by the time I set forth for the Gemaldegalerie, near Potzdamerplatz.
First problem, inbound trains were not running on the U2 from Bismarckstrasse. There was a replacement bus.
I followed the signs to the bus stop outside. There was a group of people discussing it. It looked to me as if it might only apply from 8pm to 7am.
The group went back into the station. I assumed they knew what was happening and followed them back, but they seemed confused again in the station. The outbound trains going beyond Bismarckstrasse were temporarily using the inbound platform too. I decided to walk the length of Wilbersdorferstrasse and get the S1 or S5 in, but they had been blocked a day earlier, probably by the same work, whatever it was. Then I realised that the U7 ran north-south here, deeper down, so I went down there and rode the U7 to Yorckestrasse, changed to the S1 for 2 stops, and I was at Potzdamerplatz, much faster than the bus could have been.
At Potzdamerplatz is a large hoarding, double sided, telling the history of Nazi atrocities in WW2. It told the story directly, holding nothing back (although it had to be only a brief summary). You would not see this in Munich.
Three notable new buildings in the redeveloped Potzdamerplatz. Of interest (to me anyway) is the configuration of European semi trailers. Most of the load is carried by 3 axles quite far forward, and the prime mover drives through a single axle, not two as in Australia. It would make for a tighter turning circle suitable for European cities, but high axle loading too. Their roads need to be well made.
I found the Gemaldegalerie. Endless 17th century collection with some treasures by Velasquez, Rembrandt, Murillo, Caravaggio and many more. It took hours to see it all, even skipping most portraits and many religious paintings. So many paintings of Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows, some obviously fatal wounds but not looking too discomfited. No photos allowed.
I phoned my son David, who recommended the Pergamon Museum, and a book/CD store near Friedrichstrasse Station. I spent another €12 to get into the Pergamon. I could have bought a 3 day pass to all the main museums for €24, but it would be a hectic 3 days. I ended up spending much more than twice that, to see 5 museums. Museums are particularly tiring, more like standing than walking. Like shopping, nothing more enervating than an hour in a shopping centre.
The bookstore was Dussmann, at Friedrichstraase 90, in the middle of a bustling shopping precinct near the station. It was the best thing I’d seen all day. Five floors of books and CDs. Amazingly comprehensive. How do they make money selling CDs? Maybe Germans don’t illegally download music?
After that, I went 2 stops north on the S1, to Nordbahnhof, where there is a display about the “ghost” subway stations on 3 West Berlin subway lines that went under a salient of East Berlin. The stations, all in East Berlin, were closed and sealed to prevent escapes. The West German trains slowed but didn’t stop at the walled-off stations. There were a small number of successful escapes to the West through these subway lines.
Then, dinner at the restaurant next door to this Imax theatre, in the Sony Centre, followed by seeing Swiss Army Man, a bit weird.
Then, on the U2, I struck the closed line problem between Zoological Gardens and Bismarckstrasse again. This time, along with many other people, I boarded the substitute U2 bus, which took us to Bismarckstrasse as advertised.