the Grand Tour blog

Schinkel at Charlottenburg

Returning from the splendour of the Neues Palais I changed trains at Westkreutz to a clockwise ring S41 to Westend, and just caught an M45 bus for a couple of stops to the east end of Schloss Charlottenburg, to visit the modest Schinkel Pavillon. There were building works here when I came last year, but it now looks superb, even in the dull weather. 

Friedrich Wilhelm III preferred to live in the compact Neue Pavillon – as it was then called – which was designed for him by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1824, rather than in the huge Schloss Charlottenburg next door. It has been beautifully restored, the ground floor rooms being decorated in Schinkel's restrained and elegant style, and containing a few items of original furniture. 

Upstairs there are displays and comments on Schinkel's architecture, furniture design and painting – I'd seen him as an architect until now, although he actually started as a painter – as well as paintings by his contemporaries Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Blechen, and the architectural painter Eduard Gaertner. A super place – one of the highlights of the trip. 

I thought about eating early in an Italian restaurant over the road from Schloss Charlottenburg, but decided to go home first. So an M42 bus back to Westend, S41 to Gesundbrunnen and S1 down to Nordbahnhof. Out later by M12 tram towards Schwedter Straße, where I ate last Wednesday. I'd seen several other restaurants in the main road, Kastanien Allee, and chose yet another Italian (apparently with no name). It turned out to be pretty good, and I lingered over my final Berlin meal before heading home to pack and organise for the homeward journey tomorrow.

Today in Parliament

I was at the Reichstag – home of the Bundestag, the German parliament – soon after 10:30, to be ready for my booked visit and talk. It has suddenly turned quite cold and very windy, despite the forecast being for solid sun all day; I very nearly turned back from the Nordbahnhof to get a jacket, and am now starting to regret not doing so – I remember how cold it was at the top of the Reichstag last July! 

I wandered around the worn-out grass of Platz der Republik and took a couple of photos of the Reichstag under the grey sky, but was glad when the time reached 11:00 and I could get into the warm check-in building. After the usual security checks about 12 of us are led into the Reichstag, and since it's still only 11:15 we are allowed up to Norman Foster’s dome for 30 minutes. 

With the adjustable mirrors on the centre column, designed to reflect light down into the Plenary Chamber below, there are lots of interesting photo opportunities, though I'm very conscious of the time and can't hang about for ever waiting for colourful people to appear in my shots. I walked up the ramp to the top and down again, taking many photos, including some with the Nikon 12-24mm lens. The weather is brightening slightly. 

Down in time for the 12:00 talk; after all the tight security earlier the waiting area is heaving with people and there seems to be no organisation at all. Going into the gallery of the Plenary Chamber the English talk has swelled to a hundred or more people, and I only recognise three or four from the little group that came in with me at 11:00. Weird. 

The 30 minute talk is by someone who has worked in the Bundestag for many years, and is very interesting. There's an overview of the quite complex German parliamentary system, in which much power is held in the regions and which operates on a very rigid timetable, plus information about the dramatic history of the Reichstag building itself. 

We came out past some preserved parts of the original building, including the Russian soldiers' graffiti from 1945, and then had the regular opportunity (after the talks) to go up to the dome again – something I hadn't expected as I thought I'd used my dome slot – and I ended up staying until 14:30 taking more photos and enjoying a Reichstag cappuccino.

The Stone Age and Dalí

I have to get a new 3-day Berlin Welcome card as #2 runs out this evening. So out at 09:15 to walk down to Torstraße to catch a 142 bus to the Hauptbahnhof; it's only a short journey, and I had to wait 9 minutes, but it saves my feet from the slog along Inviladenstraße – even worse at the moment with long-running roadworks causing disruption. 

Bought the Welcome Card at the Hbf Tourist Information and some stamps in a nearby card shop. Then up a couple of floors for the S-bahn to Hackescher Markt, arriving at 10:00. A short walk to Museumsinsel, where I queued briefly at the outside ticket office for my free (with Museumsinsel Welcome card #2) timed ticket for the Neues Museum. I was inside by 10:20. 

I started in the Stone Age and Bronze Age on the top floor and worked down to the Romans. It's not a subject I know about and I found it all very interesting, especially the early times. There were many beautiful artefacts on display. Had some thoughts about the gradual development of communities for the benefit of all, and the subsequent emergence of rulers which has not always been to everyone's benefit. Took a tea break in the good and quiet café part way though, and emerged with a few photos after three hours at 13:15. 

A 200 bus from Lustgarten – the green square outside the Berliner Dom and Altes Museum – to Leipziger Platz, for the Dalí Museum. I stayed for two hours. There are none of Dalí’s familiar paintings, nor anything about his life, which was disappointing. Instead it's a gallery of perhaps 200 or so illustrations (lithographs and some engravings) dating from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s, 20+ years later than the paintings. I really enjoyed them.

All are in series: Don Quichotte de la Mancha (1956/57), Le Tricorne (1959), Tristan and Isolde (1970), Faust (1968/69), Suite Mythologique Nouvelle (1971), Les Amours Jaunes (1974), Carmen (20 lithographs from 1970 that I liked a lot), Dix Recettes d'Imortalite (1973), Knights of the Round Table (1977), Pater Noster (1966), La Divine Comédie (1960).

Out of the Dalí Museum at 16:30 and home by 17:00 to rest my feet and write some postcards. Out again at 18:15 towards Savigny Platz in search of another restaurant from my list.

Art in the Alte Nationalgalerie

Down to Brandenburger Tor at 09:00, which was clear for a change, and almost straight round to the nearby Holocaust Memorial, which I always find has a rather strong effect on me. I took about 35 photos – to continue a photographic project I started last time I was in Berlin – but I moved on earlier than planned when l sensed that one of the security men was starting to follow me around; maybe not, but I felt uncomfortable. 

A 200 bus along to Museumsinsel, a few photos outside there, and then into the Alte Nationalgalerie at 10:10 for the images of Friedrich der Große by Adolph Menzel (1815-1905), which he created after much research to illustrate Franz Kugler’s 1842 book ‘History of Frederick the Great’. Some big paintings (including the well-known 'The Flute Concert'), which were then, of course, engraved for the book. 

I liked Menzel’s style and his precise hand; and his preparatory sketches are wonderful – he even did a full floor plan for 'The Flute Concert'. And a detailed drawing of a carriage step, for example, to be sure it was right in a painting. I messed up my early photos by leaving the camera on f/13 and wondering why the light seemed so dim. 

Out of there at 11:30 and into the permanent collection, which is all 18th century – Graff, Schinkel, Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Blechen, Feuerbach, Arnold Böcklin, Max Liebermann, some nice scenic Monets, and lots of Hans von Marées. Also Wilhelm Leibl, who had a sad picture called 'A Woman of Dachau with a Child', 1874, long before that name gained such terrible significance. 

Staggered out at 12:15 to the little café in the basement which is part of the bookshop, for a cappuccino and chocolate cake. Saw a sign for the Schinkel Museum in Friederichswerdersche Kirche, which I hadn't heard of but is on the map just the other side of Unter den Linden.

Catching up on German History

Back into the Deutsches Historisches Museum at 16:00 for the permanent collection, to try to understand something about German history. It starts around 500AD, but moves quickly to 1700. There is a huge amount of information, very well presented, but in the time available I couldn't do more than get an overview. 

I made a long list of the dates of the various Emperors, but then couldn't fit them in with other people that I know like Frederick the Great. The first floor continues until 1918, and I spent only a short time in the modern history section in the ground floor as I was rather flagging by then, and anyway we were approaching closing time. But I did come away with quite a good potted history.

After nearly two hours in the museum I walked down Unter den Linden for some photos of Frederick the Great's statue, by Christian Daniel Rauch, returned here in 1980. The light was really on the wrong side, and it's very difficult to stand back far enough, especially as Frederick and his horse are so high up above the other decoration. There are building works on the north side of the road. Then to Franzözische Straße U-bahn and home. 

Old Fritz and the Konzerthaus

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.