The M12 tram (which would have gone all the way) is not running west due to roadworks in Inviladenstraße, so I take an S2 to Friedrichstraße then M1 to the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum), for 'Frederick the Great: Respected. Revered. Reviled', a major temporary exhibition examining Old Fritz's legacy in art, politics and society. I had half an hour for photos of the buildings in the area (including Schinkel's 1830 Altes Museum, below) before going in at the 10:00 opening time. No photos allowed inside unfortunately.
A well presented exhibition, with a good audio guide, showing how Friedrich was portrayed (and portrayed himself) in his lifetime, came to be idolised as a military commander and tactician, was later considered a warmonger, and was misused by the Nazis as a token of nationalist enthusiasm. Out at 12:10, after checking I could get back in today on the same ticket to see the permanent exhibition.
Walked across Bebelplatz to Gendarmenmarkt and sat under the trees out of the sun in one of the cafés. Bought a ticket for the 13:00 tour of the Konzerthaus – the ticket office is part of their café underneath the building in the right hand side – which was a bit of a mistake really as although it was interesting to see around the inside, the professor of music leading the tour spoke a lot of fast German and I didn't stand a chance.
A few photos, although for the tour the lighting in the main concert hall is by bright mercury lights inside the chandeliers so the colour balance is terrible, compounded by some incandescent lighting at ground level – the worst kind of mixed lighting! The tour ended at 14:30.
Had a break for my main meal of the day at ‘Chipps’ in Jaegerstraße. The design is nice – one of their features – with its dark stone floors, heavy wooden tables, industrial-style lights, a lot of black (especially in the loos) and good jazz playing in the background. A pretty good menu, and prices OK, but much was off today because it's the weekend.
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