Dahlem and Berlin

After we enjoyed an overwhelming best-yet hotel breakfast buffet, Rob went off to the morning math talks and I discovered the Dahlem Museum complex across the street from the hotel.  The Museum of Asian Art and Ethnographic Museum showcase Berlin's considerable collections of Indian, American Indian, Australian and Pacific Island, South American, and other ethnic groups. The Indian collection, for example, is considered one of the best in the world outside India.  I certainly didn't make it through all the galleries in my 2 hours, and plan to return tomorrow morning.


The American Indian collection is outstanding.  I was surprised to see items collected by explorer Maximilian zu Wied and the painter Karl Bodmer who accompanied him on his travels up the Missouri in the 1830s.  We had discovered him while viewing an exhibition in Pierre, SD two years ago.  Tomorrow I will take the camera with me.

The Reichstag.  We'll see it another day.

There were no afternoon math talks so Rob and I, after a minimal lunch in our room, took the train into Berlin intending to tour the Reichstag.  We disembarked in Potsdamer Platz and noticed several pieces of the Wall with information on plans to turn the few remaining Wall areas into commemorative reminders of the years when the city was split.  We walked to the Reichstag, passing the Holocaust Memorial, and upon arriving discovered that without having secured timed tickets online, we would have a considerable wait to enter the building.  So we'll leave that until our next visit.

Another motorcycle museum!

We decided to save our legs and backs, and took a bus down the Unter den Linden--the classic street of Berlin--to Alexanderplatz where we discovered a Motorcycle Museum featuring GDR bikes.  We  didn't recognize any of the makes--mainly MZ and Simson--but enjoyed seeing what East Germany had provided as an inexpensive 2-wheel alternative to the Trabant.


The rain started as we left the museum so we perked ourselves up at a nearby McDonalds and headed back to Potsdamer Platz, managing to complete that distance as our pants and shoes got thoroughly wet, despite our umbrellas. We arrived back in Dahlem at 7 and I decided to dry out while Rob headed off to the math banquet.