A Day in Berlin

I spent today walking around central Berlin and visiting various sites. I started by walking through Tiergarten, which is the main central city park. It is huge, and the green spaces are very well maintained... walking trails, open grassy areas, wooded areas, flower beds, ponds, etc. I would probably spend a lot of time there if I lived in Berlin.

From there I went to the "Philharmonie", which is another word for the Symphony Hall. I bought tickets for a concert in the Chamber Music Hall, and also tickets for tomorrow to see the main symphony. The concert tonight was a small group (about 9 musicians), featuring a famous German trumpet player.... it was all Baroque music, and was EXTREMELY cool. Tomorrow's concert is Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which is one of my favorite pieces.

Connected to the Symphony hall is a Musical Instrument museum, full of all kinds of weird instruments that nobody plays anymore (as well as the standard instruments that we all know and love). Old baroque trumpets, early trumpets with valves, the original flute crated by Boehm... all kinds of cool stuff. I spent several hous in here looking around and taking pictures.

There is a big touristy place called the Sony Center, which is kind of like the Sony Metreon in San Francisco only mostly outdoors. Here I had dinner, which was Bratwurst and a baked potato at the Hofbrau house. German food seems to be fairly simple, mostly boiled meats and various cabbages or potato dishes. It was quite good.

Check out the Pictures of my day.