Museum Magic

My first two days in Berlin I had difficulty getting in to the museums I wanted to visit, leaving me frustrated and with a very ambitious wishlist for my last day in town. Fortunately, my stars aligned on Saturday, and I had a wonderful day visiting museums. The first was the Neues Museum on the Museum Island (five superb state museums at one place!) in the former East Berlin. The Neues ["new"] was seriously damaged during the second world war and only recently reopened after extensive reconstruction. The work left as much of the former structure intact as possible, complementing the exhibitions and even showing evidence of gunfire. The museum is known for its Egyptian collection and particularly its bust of Nerfititi:
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-47834.html (no photos allowed)

Then I went to the Jewish Museum, where the contemporary architecture was also used to reinforce the museum's message. The architect left several voids or empty spaces that extend from the lowest level to the top of the building. These represent lost individuals, as well as aspects of Jewish history that can never be shown in a museum. The lowest level is designed to induce disorientation in the visitor. (The slightly tilting floors did it for me.) One of my colleagues at Reinwardt Academy had worked at this museum and was responsible for the installation of the permanent collection. You can read more about the building:
http://www.jmberlin.de/main/EN/04-About-The-Museum/01-Architecture/01-libeskind-Building.php

Finally, I returned to the area between Potsdammer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate to see the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It's about five acres of uneven ground covered with rows of concrete slabs of various heights. You need to walk through them to find the entrance to the underground "Place of Information" that documents all of the lost lives, making many of them vividly personal and unforgettable. It was a powerful experience.

I exited about 5pm and needed once again to negotiate my way through the monument field, this time in the dark and biting cold. I met up with friends at a nearby Christmas market. We stayed only long enough to do a bit of shopping/sightseeing and get brats and hot mulled wine. Even that wasn't enough to warm us, so we hurried back to the hostel to pack for our morning departures.