Cameron was feeling much better today.
We left the apartment at 9:30am and went directly to Museumsinsel (museum island) and to the Neues Museum. I love this museum, they have some amazing Egyptian artefacts. I could lose myself there. The most awesome piece is the famous bust of Nefertiti. She is absolutely gorgeous, perfect nose, beautiful lips and graceful neck. I could have studied her for ages. Unfortunately, I had some impatient males to deal with.
Travel Tip: If there is a place that you are really looking forward to seeing, do it first thing because then you have done it before the rest of your party have put time limits on your viewing.
The picture that I’ve attached is another sculpture of Nefertiti and Akhenaton’s faces. There are no pictures allowed of her famous bust.
The Egyptians have tried to get this priceless treasure back from Germany but to no avail.
We moved on to the Altes museum which displayed ancient sculptures. The highlight for the boys was the room themed with ancient love that highlighted numerous sculptures of the male member. Next we were on to the Altes National Gallery which mostly had 19th century paintings. My favourites were the Monets but there was also a painting in the gallery by Karl Buchholz….I wonder if he was some distant relative.
Everyone was getting tired so it was off to lunch. True to my word, I didn’t eat my main lunch at McDonalds (I had a street sausage hotdog), but the boys did eat there. Yuck….ok, I did have an ice cream there.
The weather was really, really hot. We decided to be lazy and have a boat tour. We were early getting on the boat so we had a choice of seats. Hubby chose carefully. Five minutes before we leave, a family of Russian tourists get on and take the seats in front of us. As the boat leaves the Russian guy opens a big umbrella for shade, blocking the view. Hubby was not happy and mumbling under his breath, moved somewhere else.
Despite the heat and bright sun, the tour was enjoyable. The commentating was in both German and English. It went something like this:
German: Das einfahrt, yadda yadda, Wetzenfahrt, unt das liederhausen, ein prosit, yah, yah, abfahrt, yadda yadda…….. this commentary would last about three or four minutes.
English translation: Over on the left is a house.
Ok, so I exaggerate a bit, but you get my drift.
We were all thoroughly hot and exhausted once we finished the tour so we went back to our apartment by underground and napped for a couple hours then had supper.
At 7:00pm we walked over to one of the longest stretches remaining of the Berlin wall. It is all painted now, almost like a street art gallery.
On our way back down Karl Marx Allee, some police on motor bikes passed, followed by a van blasting music then literally a few blocks worth of people of all ages on roller blades. Very cool.
When we first arrived from Egypt, hubby gave the boys a challenge. He offered the first person to spot a dead camel or cow floating in the river $20.00. So far no one has claimed the prize.
There are a lot of bicyclists in Berlin probably because it is so bike friendly here.
I really like Berlin. It is a gorgeous city.
Camels and cows would be hard to find in Berlin, would they not? Clever hubby!
Have a safe journey home!
Sheila
love the photos.
jennifer