Alcohol. Harmless and relaxing when consumed on a breezy Berlin evening. But the consequences are soreness and de-motivation the following sunny Berlin morn.
So we just kinda walked. Found ourselves at the memorial for those who were killed by Eastern guards while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. A guardtower stands behind the wall here, showing us what it was like back then. Right beside is a Church of Reconciliation, built on the former location of a Church that was demolished by the East Berlin authorities who saw it as too potent a symbol – a Church separated from its parishioners by only a few hundred metres and a huge wall.
Coffee and juice. And some food. Ah, that’s better. Tez chose to relax back home, and do a little shopping. I walked to Potsdamer Platz, which is not really too essential a destination, but the Sony Centre was an impressive building with fancy glass elevators that provide you with a giddy vertigo as you ascend and descend.
In here is the German Film & TV Museum, which was fantastic and makes me embarrassed that I spoke so highly of the Film Museum in Munich! Well laid out over 3 stories with lots of film clips to watch and an excellent audio guide, the museum featured entire rooms dedicated to Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl. I was very familiar with the former two, but Dietrich was mostly new to me and I hadn’t appreciated just how impressive Riefenstahl’s propoganda films could be – they only showed the 1936 Olympic Games doco she made, perhaps the other work were seen as too controversial for the museum – but it was hugely impressive as a work of cinema! The post-WWII stuff was less interesting, but still a worthwhile undertaking.
Tired. Weather is meant to be bad tomorrow, so we’ll stay in museums. Tonight we’re gonna stay in and watch Sherlock. And I won’t lie, we’ve spent much time watching good & bad TV shows this trip. Because we love it. Honeymooners out.
Elias Rambles 