We had a slower start this morning, and I realised I had developed a blood blister on the little toe of my right foot. I cure one thing, and another pops up!
We set out this morning for the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station, as Sophie had an inkling (I had no idea why) to go to Checkpoint Charlie. Our breakfast café was a branch of Einstein Kaffee, not far from the famous landmark. We joined commuters and office workers in the café and ordered our drinks and breakfast. I'd spotted a lovely-looking cake, but ended up with a muffin with a smear of lemon icing on the top!
We sat outside and watched the comings and goings of people on their way to work or just passing by. As we got up to leave, a camera crew arrived, and I swear I was in the background of one of the shots! We walked to Checkpoint Charlie, and Sophie was distinctly underwhelmed, as I guessed she'd be. Keith and I had visited it on our first ever visit to Berlin and had paid to go into the museum, but we didn't fancy doing this today, so we browsed in the shop and took photos along with the other tourists.
In the shop, we resisted buying chunks of the Berlin Wall, and I treated Keith to a new bottle opener and Mike to a lighter with a picture of the TV Tower on it, as he collects lighters and has hundreds!
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| A chunk of the Berlin Wall |
Weird art!
We then walked to a nearby bus stop to catch a bus to the Berlinische Galerie, a gallery for modern art between 1880 and 1980. The gallery was situated in a quiet residential area, and we were able to stow my bag in a locker and start looking around.
The first gallery was displaying the art of Monira Al Qadiri, and consisted of a huge mural on one wall of a tanker. Models of tankers were suspended from the ceiling, all with different names.
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| Bulbous bow |
At the far end of the large gallery was a small room with a video playing. We sat down, and we were both mesmerised by the images on screen of a drone flying over a coastal region littered with decommissioned oil tankers, in various stages of decay. The music was eerie, and a man was reciting a poem which droned on over the images.
Tiny figures of men were employed in the breaking up of the tankers, and it was a completely engrossing video. We later found out that the area of coastline was in Bangladesh.
"Hero" by Monira Al Qadiri - this can explain the reasons behind the exhibition much better than I can!
Next up was Marc Brandenburg - "20th Century Debris" - and there was a warning as we went in that some images were not suitable for children. They were, frankly, pornographic! After wandering around the first gallery, we entered a darkened gallery with ultraviolet light. This was the weirdest experience as our nail varnish appeared white and the light picked up anything which was white, including my bra!
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| My (blue) top, and you can see my bra underneath! |
There was a disturbing video of a clown running through the streets on an endless loop, and it was a very unsettling experience! Before the next gallery was a huge picture of a man reclining in just his underpants and covered in tattoos...
The next gallery was a series of wooden panels with paint slashed on them by Emilio Vedova, entitled "Absurd Berlin Diary '64". We didn't think much of this at all!
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| What's this all about? |
Lastly, on the ground floor, were sculptures by Brigitte Meier-Denninghoff. One sculpture reminded us of Dali and his elephants:
Other sculptures were quite beautiful:
The artist designed a huge sculpture called "Broken Chain", and you can see it near the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church.
We took the lift up to the first floor and enjoyed wandering around the older art exhibits. I loved this picture of the old Berliner Schloss, now the Humboldt Forum, and formerly the old East German Government building that was being taken down when Keith and I first visited:
From the upper level, we had a clear view of the oil tanker:
By now, my feet were very sore, so we decided to have a drink on the outside terrace in the sun. It was a beautiful day, and we ordered an Aperol Spritz each. It was bliss to sit and soak up the rays, and I applied some sun tan lotion (Ha! The security stewards at the concert didn't find this yesterday buried at the bottom of my bag!).
A lovely lunch and a lovely waiter!
We sat for quite a while and then ordered an Uber to take us to Potsdamer Platz for lunch. We had yet another mad Uber driver who Sophie said was texting while he drove... not good! He dropped us off at Potsdamer Platz, and it was a short walk to an area of restaurants that we had seen on a YouTube video of a walking tour.
We chose Lindenbräu for lunch, and it was great to sit outside and relax. Sophie chose currywurst for lunch, served with chips, while I opted for a salad and turkey strips. Sophie asked for a recommendation of a dark beer, and we were given the brewery's own version. Our waiter was great and very friendly. He complimented me on my German accent!
The food was delicious, and my salad was huge! There was a lovely ambience in the restaurant and the wider area, which had fountains and other bars and places to eat.
We lingered over lunch and did a fair amount of people watching, but there was nobody as interesting as yesterday, with mainly tourists like us eating and drinking.
We paid the bill and made our way to the U-Bahn station, getting confused in a lift on the way, and ending up in an underground car park. Sophie said we could have used a taxi to get back to the hotel, but I was adamant I wanted to use the U2 line.
We eventually found the U-Bahn station and waited for the next train to take us to Spittelmarkt. We wanted to see what was happening to the Wall Street Plaza Hotel on the way back to our room.
It didn't take us long to get to Spittelmarkt, and Sophie spotted a small shop where we treated ourselves to an ice cream each. We ate these as we wandered the short distance to our hotel, noticing that there seemed to be work going on at the Wall Street Plaza. It was a beautiful afternoon and warm in the sunshine.
Asian Fusion
Back in the room, we had a nap before getting ready to go out in the evening. We had decided to have a drink at Zille-Destille first before our booking at Moon Exquisite. It was a gorgeous evening, and lovely to stroll along to the bar opposite the river. We took a seat under an umbrella and ordered a Persico Spritz each.
As we were sitting with our drinks, a group of Brits arrived, and one of the men was clearly uncomfortable about sitting in the full glare of the sun. He kept moving about to find some shade, and in the end, I offered him the use of our small bottle of sun cream. He gratefully accepted and applied a good dollop to his bald head! Good deed of the day done!
Sophie and I finished our Persico Spritzes and ordered a glass of wine each. The time was getting on, though, so we couldn't linger! As we asked to pay the bill, our waiter said his card machine wasn't working, so we were forced to pay cash again, completely wiping us out! We had 90c left!
Moon Exquisite was a short walk away, and we opted to sit inside, the only diners who had chosen to do so! We sat by the window so that at least we could look out at the river and people passing by. We had been salivating about the chicken schnitzel ever since seeing it on the menu, but we discovered that it was "off". Hmmm! In the end, we chose starters to share of edamame beans and a delicate concoction of salmon and avocado balanced on a crispy cracker. For our main course, we both picked duck leg served with mashed potatoes, pak choi and red cabbage. We drank a glass of Pinot Noir rosé apiece.
The food was, as the name of the restaurant suggests, exquisite and had a beautiful balance of spices. We had a short rest before ordering dessert - the chocolate fondant for me (of course!) and tiramisu for Sophie. I had seen a Banyuls sweet wine on the menu, so we both had a glass of that to round off the meal.
Just as we were finishing our meal, we saw a rat run amongst the tables outside! We weren't surprised as we were right by the river, but it was a bit disconcerting, nonetheless! We're just glad it didn't come in through the open door!
We paid the bill (132 euros, the highest of the four-day break) and strolled slowly back to the hotel. It was a beautiful night and still light. Back in the room, we shared the last small bottle of fizz, and I played Sophie the song "War Baby" on my phone. We both agreed that this was the song that would remind us of this particular visit!
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