London's Calling!

I arrived in London today, but no pictures yet. Instead, I will post up some pictures from my last day in Berlin.

Yesterday as my museum day, and I could not have lucked into a better day for it. Berlin must have been sad that I was leaving (ha) because it rained and rained. The first museum that I visited was the Pergamon Museum. Berlin doesn't mess around with their museums. Have a larger than life monument? Build it inside the museum! Here I am on the steps of the Pergamon Alter.


How about the Market Gates of Miletus? They are so tall and awesome. This museum is definitely worth checking out.


Finally, this one goes out to fellow Assyria playtesters. Here, my friends, is the Istar Gate!


I purchased a day pass to most of the museums on Museum Island, the main area for museums in Berlin, so after spending about 4 or 5 hours in the Pergamon Museum I headed to the Altes Museum. This one is much much smaller, and I was tired at that point, so I just did a quick pass through the museum. Here I am at the steps of the building, which again, is a work of art in itself.


I'll tell you, one of the many difficult things with traveling alone is trying to get your picture taken at these great places. I have pictures of the locations without myself in them, but it's not how I want to remember my trip. The first series of pictures were taken by a nice man with his family. After he took my picture at the different locations, I would then take his families picture! The last picture was taken by a girl from Lebanon who was happy to find someone who spoke English. She came up to me and asked if I could take her picture on the steps. I said "Sure! But I'll ask you the same thing once!"

Stepping back to the Pergamon Alter, here is my favorite scene:


The alter depicts an gigantic battle between the gods on Olympus and giants on Earth. I like this scene (and others as well), because it clearly shows the dispassionate way that the god on the left is battling the mortal giant. You can see the pain and fury on his face, but the god's face is expressionless.

And for my final picture, this is this cool woodcarving shop near Alexanderplatz. As I mentioned before, it was raining out. And Pinocchio would have gotten wet if he didn't have his poncho!

Anyhow, I arrived in London, purchased my 7 day public transportation pass and will head out to help Paul with some chores shortly. Then, it is off to London On Board Gaming. It wasn't hard to talk with people in Berlin, but it is so nice to be understood again!