Neues Museum Revisited

I and Rik Mayda of mayda3000 blogspot fame went back a year later to see the final walk through of the rebuilt Neues Museum, the last of the 5 museums in the center of Berlin to be rebuilt from WWII damage. Now the exhibits will be installed over the next 200 days, but make no mistake, the building itself has become art in its own right through the clever architectural work of David Chipperfield. The final museum will house antiquities from Roman,Egyptian, Macydonian and other cultures, including the world famous Nefertiti bust.

New U-Bahn Station

I (and 35 other engineers) recently had a chance to tour the new Brandenburg Gate U-Bahn station that is currently in construction. The tunnel away from this location towards the main train station is completed. The other direction toward Alexander Platz under Unten den Linden Street will be dug over the next ten years, so this station will be the end terminus of this line for a decade or so. This station will be finished in a year, with the train only running "pendulum style" through one of the two tunnels for the first few years to the Main Station, 5 minutes away.
Interesting to note is that the ground in Berlin is a sandy swamp, difficult and wet. To make it all easier for construction they actually injected refrigerator pipes here and froze the land so they could excavate it like an ice block! A first for Germany.

Berlin's "Festival of Lights"

Berlin had it's "Festival of Lights, a two week lighting of over 50 famous buildings and landmarks using lights, strobes, searchlights, lasers, projections and fireworks. Rik (Mayda3000.blogspot.com) and I had a look at the festivities.

Neues Museum

Rik Mayda (of RikMayda3000) and I had a preview of the reconstruction of the Neues Museum on Museum Island.

Tom, Hey! Hope you are doing well! Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for a fantastic tour of Berlin!! Had it not been for you Becky and I would have wandered around lost and missed all of the beauty and history that Berlin has to offer. We look back at our day with you in Berlin as one of our favorites out of a long trip. On the train ride out of Germany the two of us sat and tried to write everything down that we could remember from your tour. The list is pretty long (and accurate I hope), but only a small fraction of the great information you provided! Not to mention, we really miss that chocolate shop! Thanks you, and maybe one day we will meet again!

Above: Reflections at the Paul Lobe Haus

Below: Neue Wache Monument

Two pics from Peter and Mihali, May 6, 2007

I just love my job! They were doing a photo shoot of people bouncing on a trampoline in front of the Reichstag, and I got a chance! The classic Brandenburg Gate shot (below)

Short history of Potsdamer Platz

A quickly spoken history of Potsdamer Platz.

Debbie, Gail and Cheryl enjoying their tour with me on March 30.