Germany--Frankfurt, Berlin, Trier
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:09 pm
Been a while since I was in Krautland, so lots of new things to see. Frankfurt continues to grow. The new terminal at the airport was efficient and uncrowded. The skyline has as many highrises now as any city in US outside of NY or Chicago. The new European Central Bank is an attractive glass trapezoid. Interesting in that it is not in what we would call the traditional business center. Was told that this is part of the planning. They want to avoid what is a usual American style downtown of office towers that is dead after hours. So the plan is that there will not be towers on every block or even every other block. From a distance this makes the skyline look like a sprawling city but at street level just the opposite. The main shopping street, the Ziel, is pedestrian only. There is a huge mall on it "My Ziel." The whole thing is covered by a glass curtain wall in sort of a doughnut configuration. The glass wall in the center descends into the mall in a tornado like vortex. The is an escalator to the top level that is billed as the longest escalator in Europe. The odd thing that it is only an up escalator. To get down you must take floor to floor escalators of which none are aligned so you end up walking past every shop in the place. Went to a place up in the Taunus that is a refuge for threatened and unwanted medieval buildings from all over Hessen. They are moved there and arranged in groupings from different regions of the province. You can see how half timber and wattle and daub structures are constructed. There is a medieval crafts village. We in the states all know that European cities are very old compared to ours, but Europe cities did not become largely populous until about the same time as here. Frankfurt did not surpass 100,000 until 1870.
Took the fast train to Berlin. In the slow trains in the states I invariably get motion sickness. This high speed train was so smooth that unless I was looking at the view I did not even feel like I was moving. The new Berlin train station is an architectural marvel. It is both an intercity transport hub and a shopping mall. The entire center of the station is an open court so that all the train levels, shops and functions are visible and comprehensible at a glance. Because Berlin sits in sandy soil the station is elevated and when you step outside the historic center unfolds to view. Stayed in the wierdly named Hotel California on the Kurfurstendam, just a few blocks from the iconic left-in-ruins Kaiser Wilhelm church. Was somewhat disappointed in the Sony Center, expected something more of a high tech marvel. Highlight of trip to me was Nues Museum. The Pergamum Altar was an entire greek temple inside the museum. Better than the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. Its like they stole not only the sculptures, but the Parthenon also. The Ishtar Gate from Babylon was impressive. Most moving was Nefertiti. Aside from the Tut mask in Cairo, this is probably the most recognized Egyptian art. The bust is the only thing in the room and the lighting casts a shadow from her eyelids so that you hardly notice the missing pupil in one eye. The rebuilt Reichstag with its new Norman Foster dome was impressive. How this was rebuilt from a swiss cheese shell is a marvel. The block large holocaust memorial was moving, but maybe just as moving was the tiny gay holocaust memorial across the street that seemed as if it was quarantined that even the tortured jews rejected it.
Took a little side trip to Trier almost on the French and Luxembourg border. For a small city was very attractive. Set along the Mosel valley carved into a volcanic plateau it was the capitol of ancient Roman Gaul. It has the largest collection of Roman ruins north of the alps, including a basilica that is second only to the Pantheon as a roman building with still a roof. The city gate, the porta nigra was monumentally impressive. Ate lunch at a place that has meals taken out of a roman cookbook.
Coming home the states seemed trashy, broken down and not modern. They are light years ahead in transportation infrastructure. How is it that it is so difficult for us to save and adapt a single historic building(e.g., Union Station) while they are able to not only maintain hundreds of them but also rebuild hundreds of them from shattered fragments of bombed out ruins? I was also struck by the change in over a decade of my friends' neighborhood. Previously blond teutonic now largely Turkish. There is a lot of tension between the two. Since my ancestry is half German,half Mediterranean, both groups could be unfriendly towards me until they realized I was American.
Took the fast train to Berlin. In the slow trains in the states I invariably get motion sickness. This high speed train was so smooth that unless I was looking at the view I did not even feel like I was moving. The new Berlin train station is an architectural marvel. It is both an intercity transport hub and a shopping mall. The entire center of the station is an open court so that all the train levels, shops and functions are visible and comprehensible at a glance. Because Berlin sits in sandy soil the station is elevated and when you step outside the historic center unfolds to view. Stayed in the wierdly named Hotel California on the Kurfurstendam, just a few blocks from the iconic left-in-ruins Kaiser Wilhelm church. Was somewhat disappointed in the Sony Center, expected something more of a high tech marvel. Highlight of trip to me was Nues Museum. The Pergamum Altar was an entire greek temple inside the museum. Better than the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. Its like they stole not only the sculptures, but the Parthenon also. The Ishtar Gate from Babylon was impressive. Most moving was Nefertiti. Aside from the Tut mask in Cairo, this is probably the most recognized Egyptian art. The bust is the only thing in the room and the lighting casts a shadow from her eyelids so that you hardly notice the missing pupil in one eye. The rebuilt Reichstag with its new Norman Foster dome was impressive. How this was rebuilt from a swiss cheese shell is a marvel. The block large holocaust memorial was moving, but maybe just as moving was the tiny gay holocaust memorial across the street that seemed as if it was quarantined that even the tortured jews rejected it.
Took a little side trip to Trier almost on the French and Luxembourg border. For a small city was very attractive. Set along the Mosel valley carved into a volcanic plateau it was the capitol of ancient Roman Gaul. It has the largest collection of Roman ruins north of the alps, including a basilica that is second only to the Pantheon as a roman building with still a roof. The city gate, the porta nigra was monumentally impressive. Ate lunch at a place that has meals taken out of a roman cookbook.
Coming home the states seemed trashy, broken down and not modern. They are light years ahead in transportation infrastructure. How is it that it is so difficult for us to save and adapt a single historic building(e.g., Union Station) while they are able to not only maintain hundreds of them but also rebuild hundreds of them from shattered fragments of bombed out ruins? I was also struck by the change in over a decade of my friends' neighborhood. Previously blond teutonic now largely Turkish. There is a lot of tension between the two. Since my ancestry is half German,half Mediterranean, both groups could be unfriendly towards me until they realized I was American.
