Back to the Pergamon

Berlin
Sunny in the morning then drizzly later – 3 degrees
  
Got up at around 8.00  Woke up a a couple of times in the night with the body adjusting to the new time zone. However, felt refreshed and ready for our first full day in Berlin.
 
We went to café Berio for a full continental breakfast of cold meats, salmon, fruits, cheeses and breads whilst listening to Kylie (who seems to follow us around the world), Dianna Ross, Barry White and others. Waited for Raz, whose plans, little to our knowledge, were being thwarted by the modern torment of failing technology (both his alarms did not adhere to their primary function).
 
After breakfast, we bought our tickets for the ever efficient Berlin rail system and were whisked off towards Potsdammer Platz, transferred on to a bus to Friedreckstrasse then on towards museum island.
 
Winter is reconstruction time or maybe that’s the whole time in Berlin, as in certain places, cranes still litter the skyline in their continuing readjustment to reunification. This has been a constant for all my trips to Berlin. The entrance to the Pergamon was also under construction which allowed us to walk around the island and view some of the sculptures in the gardens in the shadow of the Berliner Dome.
 
Once inside the Pergamon Museum, I was reminded of the ritual disrobing ceremony that you undertake in a cold country. We were then escorted upstairs to reveal…the walls of Babylon. Wait. That’s not how I remember it. Oh that’s right, the renovations. Now, there is nothing wrong with the walls of Babylon. In fact, it is a an awesome sight in its own right. But, the Pergamon must come first. So we quickly walked back through the gates trying not to look at the magnificence of the towers and walls and whisked our way to where the glory of the Pergamon stands rising up out of the centre of the room whilst grandly flanked by the friezes that would’ve originally surrounded the building.
 
Although this is my 3rd time here, I am still astounded by its grandeur and how the museum has cleverly an thoughtfully reconstructed the temple as it formerly stood. It is a must see for any visit to Berlin.
 
After absorbing the Pergamon for 30 minutes we crossed over to the Market Gate from Miletus which is just as impressive in its stature and antiquity. As you pass through the main entrance you are astounded by the size of the towers that stand at the front of the great walls of Babylon, one of the wonders of the ancient world. You parade down the corridor and you are surrounded by the tiled lions designed to place fear in the heart of the cities enemies. It is like a walk through time. Except it’s not hot and sandy and you don’t feel that your life could be taken from you at any moment, but it’s almost the same.
 
Other highlights include the Goddess of Athena, the excavated remains of the Assyrian Palace and the Façade of the Mshatta Palace. No wonder we spent hours here and used up all of the battery life on my video camera.
 
Feeling in need of some fine German Weinnacht Markt wares, we weaved ourselves back into clothes and proceeded down Unter der Linden to the market at Alexanderplatz. We inhaled our first wurst and supped on Gluhwein whilst watching the citizens of Berlin stroll through the Christmas stalls.  As the afternoon light started to fade, do did we. So we caught the S bahn back to Nollendorf (we went the long way home, but so what), went to a nice Vietnamese restaurant for dinner (recommended by Raz) and headed to the apartment to refresh for the next day and a new adventure. What next does this marvelous, world city have to offer?