Berlin...22nd July..

An essential morning of 'admin', reading and looking at the rain falling and deciding when to leave the apartment situated in the leafy Karlshorst district in the south-east part of the city. 

Finally after lunch, the rain stopped and taking the 'S' bahn (S3 line) into the centre, I decided to plan for tomorrow by booking tickets for the Neues Galleries and access into the Bundestag and to amble through the centre from east to west starting at Alexanderplatz and finishing at the Bundestag.

I wanted to travel up the Berliner Fernsehturm (television tower) but the waiting time was nearly two hours and worried that once I did the weather would limit the view i decided not to. Completed in 1967,at a height of 368m with a viewing gallery at 203m, it is the highest structure in Berlin and Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin

St Marienkirche with the television tower behind. 

 Walking on across the Spree onto the island, the old city of Koln.. Colln.. the twin city with Altberlin, only formally joined in 1710 to become the capital of Prussia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B6lln


The history of the site of the Berlin Schloss reflects the story of Berlin including the political changes since the end of the war. Severely damaged, including a devastating fire that gutted the interiors, the site was boarded up and finally demolished following the decision of the SED to create a new plaza, the Marx-Engels Platz with a large grandstand, which was used for enormous displays expounding the merits of the GDR. A 'Palace of the Republic' was constructed on one side. 

The steel structure was covered with sprayed asbestos, which at the time concerned those that had to work in the building. With the unification, the question of what should happen to the plaza and the building became a theme of how to absorb both cultures into the unified state. The building was closed, the interiors gutted to remove all the asbestos and finally a decision was made to demolish the building and to construct a building reflecting the historic site. This became the Humboldt Forum a new state museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Forum

The cost of the Forum has been covered by the state while the costs of the facades is being covered by private finance.

https://berliner-schloss.de/en/palace-history/short-architectural-history/


When I was last in Berlin in 2016, the building was already well underway with the concrete facades ready to receive the facade finishes. Behind the traditional looking facade, it's all concrete. The design of the facades, with the contemporary facade looking towards the Spree, has been particularly contentious. The original building was a collection of buildings constructed over the previous 300 years. The decision to mimic the original facades is mainly a response to the view from the Unter den Linden/Bundesstrasse where road kinks to enable two sides of the building to be visible.

On the opposite side of the Bundesstrasse is the Berliner Dom. This church was inaugurated in 1905 as part of the re-organisation of the Island. Again, severely damaged during the war, the building was repaired, piecemeal between after 1945 with the nave re-inaugurated in 1993. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Cathedral

Two buildings I walked past along the Bundesstrasse before leaving the avenue to visit the Museum Island were the Neue Wache (War Remembrance Building) and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Berlin State Opera Building.

The Neue Wache is a building designed by Schinkel and Sachs..formally a guard house, now the memorial for the victims of war and dictatorship.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Wache

The Berlin State Opera building; the Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Looking down the Unter den Linden towards the Brandenburg Gates

Walking away from the Unter den Linden to the Museum Island area to buy a ticket for tomorrow. It was too late today to see all the museums I was interested in. 

Alte National Galerie

In particular, I wanted to look around the finally completed new entrance to the galleries named the James Simon Gallerie, designed by David Chipperfield more tomorrow.

Translucent stone used on the James Simon Galerie. The marble stone is cut to approximately 6mm thick and applied (laminated) into the glass unit ..... The translucent stone for Project 2020 will be much better...

I bought the ticket for tomorrow. There were no queues but it was late in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be completely different.

Ticket.. large enough not to confuse this with a cark parking ticket......

I popped into a Mercedes showroom on Unter Den Linden to see this Mercedes 280 SE 3.5 'Cabriolet'.. beautiful.

Reaching the wet Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor..).
The symbolic site of the division between East and West Germany and subsequently the symbol of unity and peace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate

Finally to the Reichstag, home of the Bundestag to queue up on the Scheidemannstrasse with my drivers licence to book a time slot to visit the glass dome tomorrow. 
It is free to visit, but you need to give proof of identity first which I assume is checked before you enter the following day or when you decide to visit. 

Finally I walked back to the Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse to catch the S3 back to the apartment. 
Tomorrow will be sunny....