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shannon_aMy plan this morning was to meet a few folks from Chaosium. This was to include Rick and Neil who I both know of old from RQ-Con, Convulsion, and other convention. Alas, it did not come together. Instead I ended up having a nice walk along the Spree, tried out the "U"nderground, and saw a bit more of the city (and connected up a bit more of the city in my head).
Afterward I headed out to Museum Island, which was the main point of the day.
The Alte Nationalgallery was OK. There were a lot of portraits and a lot of "German Realism" which weren't that memorable. There was a nice Impressionist room, with works by most of the masters, but it only had 20 or so paintings total. Still, there were some great pieces, include cityscapes by Monet and Van Gogh that I particularly admired. (There's apparently a bigger impressionism museum in Berlin, but it would have taken a couple of hours to get there and back.) I had to get up to the third floor to find most of the really cool stuff, including lots of landscapes, some castles and other D&D-like locations, a painting of the street right by our hotel, and a painting of Snow White, which seemed like a very German subject matter that I wouldn't see in American portrait galleries.
Chris was able to join me after I'd been through the National Gallery, so I quickly took him back through the highlights and then we moved on.
The Pergamonmuseum was amazing in large part due to two huge rebuilt structures from the Ancient World: the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and the Market Gate of Miletus. They were both huge, soaring, awe-inspiring glimpses of what the ancient world really looked like. Totally cool. (And the Ishtar Gate was the graphical inspiration for the design of the Mayfair edition of Tigris & Euphrates.) There were also quite a lot of nice Assyrian artifacts at the museum, plus some Muslim artifacts that didn't touch me in the same way. Sadly, about two-thirds of the museum is closed for reconstruction, a constant trope in Berlin, and that included the huge Pergamon Altar that gives the museum its name.
(But we were never going to get through all of Museum Island in a single day, in any case.)
The Neues Museum was mainly a mixture of Egyptian and Roman artifacts. Much of it was quite interesting, but I'd also seen some similar stuff over in Boston a few weeks ago (and elsewhere). The biggest exhibits were clearly the world-renown Bust of Nefertiti, which was pretty cool to see, and a bronze age "Golden Hat", which is a huge wizard-like hat. I actually think I liked all the bronze age metalwork the best! Oh and a video showing how Berlin had evolved. And various Egyptian stonework fulll of hieroglyphs.
So, yeah, some thorough looting of ancient lands that ended up in Berlin. Nice to have it preserved though?
(Not seen: the Altes Museum oder the Bode Museum.)
And finally, our day's plans ended with a visit to a game cafe, the Spielwiese. This was a nice space with a humongous collection of games. Sadly, the locals usually came into the cafe already grouped up for playing, so we didn't get anyone to teach us any great German games, but Chris and I played a few on our own, and he taught a German group of students how to play Saboteur.
(I'm planning to write more about gaming in Berlin in Mechanics & Meeples.)
Afterward, Chris found us a great Middle-eastern restaurant (suggested by the kind café owner). I had a delicious falafel salad with sesame-seed falafels which tasted half like a falafel and half like a hushpuppy. Oh, it was tasty! And (obviously) the menu wasn't all beef and fish! And the service was quick!
When we got back to the hotel, I was pleased to see several of my Blockstream pals at the bar. I stopped in to say hi and bye, and now it's back to my room. I need to be packing and showering as I have to leave early for the airport.
Afterward I headed out to Museum Island, which was the main point of the day.
The Alte Nationalgallery was OK. There were a lot of portraits and a lot of "German Realism" which weren't that memorable. There was a nice Impressionist room, with works by most of the masters, but it only had 20 or so paintings total. Still, there were some great pieces, include cityscapes by Monet and Van Gogh that I particularly admired. (There's apparently a bigger impressionism museum in Berlin, but it would have taken a couple of hours to get there and back.) I had to get up to the third floor to find most of the really cool stuff, including lots of landscapes, some castles and other D&D-like locations, a painting of the street right by our hotel, and a painting of Snow White, which seemed like a very German subject matter that I wouldn't see in American portrait galleries.
Chris was able to join me after I'd been through the National Gallery, so I quickly took him back through the highlights and then we moved on.
The Pergamonmuseum was amazing in large part due to two huge rebuilt structures from the Ancient World: the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and the Market Gate of Miletus. They were both huge, soaring, awe-inspiring glimpses of what the ancient world really looked like. Totally cool. (And the Ishtar Gate was the graphical inspiration for the design of the Mayfair edition of Tigris & Euphrates.) There were also quite a lot of nice Assyrian artifacts at the museum, plus some Muslim artifacts that didn't touch me in the same way. Sadly, about two-thirds of the museum is closed for reconstruction, a constant trope in Berlin, and that included the huge Pergamon Altar that gives the museum its name.
(But we were never going to get through all of Museum Island in a single day, in any case.)
The Neues Museum was mainly a mixture of Egyptian and Roman artifacts. Much of it was quite interesting, but I'd also seen some similar stuff over in Boston a few weeks ago (and elsewhere). The biggest exhibits were clearly the world-renown Bust of Nefertiti, which was pretty cool to see, and a bronze age "Golden Hat", which is a huge wizard-like hat. I actually think I liked all the bronze age metalwork the best! Oh and a video showing how Berlin had evolved. And various Egyptian stonework fulll of hieroglyphs.
So, yeah, some thorough looting of ancient lands that ended up in Berlin. Nice to have it preserved though?
(Not seen: the Altes Museum oder the Bode Museum.)
And finally, our day's plans ended with a visit to a game cafe, the Spielwiese. This was a nice space with a humongous collection of games. Sadly, the locals usually came into the cafe already grouped up for playing, so we didn't get anyone to teach us any great German games, but Chris and I played a few on our own, and he taught a German group of students how to play Saboteur.
(I'm planning to write more about gaming in Berlin in Mechanics & Meeples.)
Afterward, Chris found us a great Middle-eastern restaurant (suggested by the kind café owner). I had a delicious falafel salad with sesame-seed falafels which tasted half like a falafel and half like a hushpuppy. Oh, it was tasty! And (obviously) the menu wasn't all beef and fish! And the service was quick!
When we got back to the hotel, I was pleased to see several of my Blockstream pals at the bar. I stopped in to say hi and bye, and now it's back to my room. I need to be packing and showering as I have to leave early for the airport.