Family Travelogue: Berlin, Germany Day 2 East Side Gallery and Museum Island 22 December 2019

Saturday 7 November 2020

Berlin, Germany Day 2 East Side Gallery and Museum Island 22 December 2019

The second day of our tour, second and last day in Berlin. We were off to Nuremberg at 3pm by ICE train. I and our eldest woke up early to avoid the crowd at the East Side Gallery to have a good capture (with me of course!) of the famous and controversial graffiti painting on the Berlin Wall , the Socialist Fraternal Kiss by Dmitri Vrubel’s.

Christmas fast approaching! Christmas markets are soon to be opened. I am compelled to share our experience last year.

The group ticket we had purchased yesterday has already expired. We bought two day ticket at the Central Station. We took the first Sbahn arrived that could take us to the East Side of Berlin. We alighted at Warschauer Str. and walked to the start of the Wall Gallery. It was a walk for 1.3km on the banks of the Spree River. The open air gallery on the East Side of Berlin are collections of paintings made on the preserved part of the Berlin Wall by at least 118 artists from at least 21 countries after the fell of the 12 ft high tall Berlin Walll in November 1989 that had divided the country of Germany between the communist East Side and the capitalist West Side since 1961 (almost 3 decades)..

The first artworks we had passed. Colorful, interesting, intriguing, subversive... Check out more photos below. I am afraid cannot post all. I am planning to upload the video I have taken while viewing this very long open-air gallery..

Jim Avignon - Doin It Cool For The Eastside

Birgit Kinder - Test The Rest

Christine Kühn - Touch The Wall

Schamil Gimajev - Worlds People

The most visited in the gallery is the Fraternal Kiss painted by Dmitri Vrubel. It depicts Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing. The Russian words at the top says "God! help me stay alive"; and the one at the bottom "Among this deadly love."

Oberbaumbrücke or the Oberbaum bridge is one of the Berlin's landmark. Not only does symbolize the reunification of the East and West, photo opportunity with the bridge tower. It is a two level bridge crossing the Spree River. The U-Bahn trains (U1 and U3) cross the Oberbaum Bridge on the second level. The bridge links the two boroughs that were once divided by the Berlin Wall: Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg

The lower level of the bridge is partly a pedestrian (the one under the second deck) and partly a roadway that connects Oberbaum Straße to the south of the river with Warschauer Straße to the north. From sunset, the neon installed by Thorsten Goldberg along the bridge tower that are like the popular game Stone, paper, scissors would be visible. Apparently, we did not have time to see.

Berlin Central Station

We went back to central and met my hub and youngest in the central station. I have post more photos inside. check it out

Behind the hostel we had stayed in Berlin.

We still have time, I dragged my hubby to further wander. The girls opted to stay in the hostel and rest. My hubby used the day ticket used by our eldest.. We were at the historic centre of Berlin viewing the beautiful buildings on the Museum Island.

Zeughaus, Berlin, Germany

The pale pink building is the Zeughaus, once an artillery arsenal for display of cannon in the 15th century, converted to Military Museum in 1875 and at present houses the Deutsches Historisches (German History) Museum.

It was in this museum a suicide bombing happened in an attempt to assasinate Adolf Hitler by Rudolf von Gersdorff in March 1943.

Humboldt Forum Museum

Former Berlin Royal Palace is now being reconstructed after reunification and decades of debates. It would house the Humboldt Forum Museum. It is scheduled to open in 2020.

Schlossbrücke

Schlossbrücke or the Schloss bridge. The bridge is surrounded by mythological inspired statues, mostly of Athena's and of Nike's and Iris'.

Neue Wache (New Guarhouse), Berlin, Germany

Neue Wache (New Guarhouse) building was once the Guardhouse to the Royal Palace. From 1993 it houses the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny

Berlin Cathedral

Altes Museum

Altes Museum (Old Museum), a German neoclassical architecture presently home to Antikensammlung and parts of the Münzkabinett (Collection of Classical Antiquities)