Berlin's mighty Pergamon Museum

Someone has described this museum as 'a lifesize picture of antiquity'. Berlin's most popular museum, it draws around 2000 visitors a day. The museum's name comes from the reconstructed Pergamon Altar (Asia Minor, 170 BC) that has pride of place here. Photo above and left is a sample of the marble frieze that surrounds it. The gateway to the market at Miletus (120 AD, Asia Minor) is the second treasure: my photo (last one, below) shows a piece of it, looking up. Fragments from both made their way to Berlin late in the 19th c. and early 20th, all very legal. The middle photos give an idea of the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, 6th c. BC, with its blue enamelled bricks, and the Processional Way that led to it. About 1/10th of the bricks are original. Can you see which are ? Ceremonial processions used this route into the city on New Year's Day, during the time of Nebuchadnezzar II.

Dresden . . . alive and well, 63 years later

About two hours south of Berlin, Dresden makes for a splendid weekend trip, even in November. Much of the city is in fine shape, after long years of reconstruction following the firebombs of 1945, but it still looks like a construction site in many places. We walked along the Elbe, both sides, and spent a half day at the Zwinger art gallery, a real treasure house. Just walking around the city is fun, especially when you come upon surprises like this one. The top photo is a look inside the restored baroque church in the center of the city, the Frauenkirche, perhaps the city's proudest accomplishment. We were there on a sunny morning with light streaming in from the high windows.

Saying Good-bye, with feeling, to Tempelhof Airport

This poster is everywhere in Berlin right now, expressing a heartfelt good-bye (and thanks) to their oldest airport before it closes down for good. It features a 'Rosinenbomber' (literally, 'raisin bomber'), one of the Allied planes that kept the city supplied with food and fuel and other things during the Soviet blockage in 1948-9. The American name is 'Candy Bomber', its nickname after the crews started dropping chocolate and gum (and something with raisins, I guess) as they flew over the city and started to land. Kids used to wait after school for the planes to arrive, and the candy would come down in small packages with mini-parachutes attached. One of our prouder moments in history.