Much as I love museums, eventually I become “museumed out”. After several days of art, history, and enough cultural enrichment to last a month, I decided to spend today at the Berlin Botanical Garden. The weather wholeheartedly approved of my plan: warm temperatures, a cloudless blue sky, and just enough breeze to make being outdoors delightful. I did have a … Read More

I spent the better part of today at Berlin’s New National Gallery. The building is as much a work of art as the collections inside. Designed by famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1968, it was his final major project. The soaring steel and glass structure feels open and elegant. Matt and I started with the … Read More

Teufelsberg, Devil’s Mountain, was on my list of must see sites in Berlin. It is located in the middle of the vast Grunewald forest. I went there thinking the main attraction would be the street art. While the street art is extraordinary, the history proved just as compelling. Teufelsberg was built from the rubble left behind after WWII. It was … Read More

Today we visited the Brücke Museum, which had come highly recommended by one of Matt’s colleagues. It is devoted to the German Expressionist group Die Brücke. Nestled in a wooded area near Grunewald, the museum is pleasant enough, light-filled and modern. But the visit was disappointing. The current exhibition is about the handcrafts of this art movement, including metal, wood, … Read More

I first saw the Reichstag Building shortly after the Wall came down. At the time it stood scarred and grimy, its stone walls pocked with bullet holes from the Battle of Berlin in 1945. It felt less like a government building than a wounded monument. At the time, the government was operating in Bonn. Later I returned after its dramatic … Read More

After many visits to Berlin over the decades, beginning about a year after the wall came down, I have returned to this fascinating city. I thought I’d seen a lot of Berlin, but I’m staying in a neighborhood entirely new to me, the Grunewald district. It’s a very green area, dotted with artificial lakes and very expensive mansions. My nephew … Read More