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Our Berlin hotel was in the eastern part of
the city, and this eastward look from the Berlin Cathedral shows some
landmarks near Alexanderplatz. The Red City Hall (because of the
brick) and the twin towers of the Church of St. Nicholas date from
around 1300. Actually, the church was rebuilt in 1987; it
was a victim of war damage.
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The Berlin Cathedral is a lot younger than
the Nikolaikirche. It was completed in 1905, and its post-war
reconstruction, completed in 1993, took 40 years. It is a huge,
baroque space, with an incredible number of stairs taking you up to the
dome.
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Back to Alexanderplatz, we see the Neo
Baroque (1895) Neptune Fountain, with four figures symbolizing four of
Germany's most important rivers. The Marienkirche is in the
background.
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Adjacent to Alexander Plaza, we have the
Marx Engels Forum. These statues were completed in 1986. while
the DDR stilled ruled this ground.
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One of the symbols of the two Berlins is
Check Point Charlie. This place played a huge role in the spy
novels of both John LeCarre and Len Deighton. The adjacent
private museum is sort of eerie.
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The line in this picture marks the
footprint of the Berlin Wall, passing immediately to the west of the
Brandenburg Gate. Sorry about the rain.
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Now the Brandenburg Gate is open,
connecting Unter den Linden with Strasse des 17 Juni, which runs
through the Tiergarten. The open gate is being used here by
runners in a city marathon. The runners from Kenya passed here a
few minutes earlier.
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The Reichstag has a short and hectic
history. It was completed in 1894, destroyed by arson in 1933,
further damaged by bombing during WW2, and its reconstruction was not
started until it was clear that the parliament of a reunited Germany
would meet in Berlin. The famous dome was completed in 1999.
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One of the features of the dome is this
arrangement of mirrors and windows that illuminate and ventilate the
Plenary Hall, where the parliament has met since April, 1999.
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One piece of war damage that has been
retained is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, in the western city
center, near the Zoo railroad station. Rather than razing the
remaining bits of the church, a new church was built beside it between
1957 and 1963. This shot shows the new bell tower.
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When we were in Turkey, we visited the
town of Pergamon. Among the things missing was the altar to Zeus,
dating to about 160 BC. This is it,
here in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
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Also in the Pergamon, we see the very
impressive Ishtar Gate. This was built in Babylon during the 6th
century BC during the reign of King Nebuchadnezar. The Pergamon
Museum is an amazing place, and I guess it was more amazing before the
Soviets took some of the goodies to Russia.
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