Spring 2009 European Tour:  Berlin, Part IV
May 9th
By: John B. Holbrook, II
 

Saturday morning arrived - my final day in Berlin and the last full day of my Spring 2009 European tour.  But I still had much to see so I ate an early breakfast and headed out to my first stop - the famous Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island.  Here is a shot of the side of the Pergamon - the exterior is under heavy renovation at this time:       

 

 

The entrance:

 

The Pergamon houses original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar.

 

 

 

 

My visit to Europe was only a couple of weeks after news of the outbreak of H1N1 "Swine Flu" but it seems the only ones who were really concerned about it were the Asians I saw:

 

As you can see, the Pergamon has an incredible collection of Greek & Roman artifacts:

 

 

 

 

 

I thought Karen would really appreciate this piece: 

 

After the Pergamon, I went to the "Gendarmenmarkt" - a square in Berlin, and the site of the "Konzerthaus" (a concert hall) and the French and German Cathedrals.

 

The concert hall which is between the twin cathedrals - one is Protestant, the other Catholic.

 

 

 

 

 

By then it was noon - time for a lunch break!  I found a nice Italian cafe right across from the Gendarmenmarkt:

 

After lunch I headed down to the "Postdamer Platz" for a meeting with a group of Rolex watch enthusiasts who live in Berlin.  Besides owning and running WATCH TALK FORUMS, I lend a hand as Moderator of the English Speaking Rolex Forum on the German Rolex Forum www.r-l-x.de

 

From left to right we have Axel, Ralf, and Nico.  Nico and I had met previously when I came to Dresden last year.  Nico was also kind enough to allow me to use some of his photos below (it's kind of difficult to be both in front of AND behind the camera folks).  :)

 

The first order of the day was to sit down do what all Rolex nuts do - fondle our watches and take pictures of food.  :)

 

Ralf is a vintage Rolex enthusiast and dealer - he brought along this vintage GMT Master.  I of course had my newer model on, and my Daytona which can be seen on the table in the above photo.  Here's Ralf's watch:

 

 

We then went to a local mall that had some classic Mercedes motorcars on display:

 

 

Afterward we did a little exploring - Nico got this shot of me in front of the Brandenburg Gate looking like quite the tourist with my backpack, camera and Los Angeles T-shirt::

 

Here's the back of the gate:

 

Here's the American consulate in Berlin:

 

The German Parliament:

 

Nico says this is the only hotel in Berlin that's better than the Hotel De Rome where I was staying - Hotel Adlon Kempinski:

  

We covered a lot of ground together, so took a break and got some drinks at another cafe. 

 

Ralf and I wearing our Rolex GMT's.

 

I had a GREAT afternoon and it is always awesome to meet up face to face with other Rolex collectors around the world.  Nico, Ralf, and Axel - thanks a TON for taking the time to hang out and keeping me full of Coke Lites!  :)  After our GTG I walked around a bit more, then went to the below cafe Nico recommended and ate my final dinner of the trip:

 

I decided to have a traditional German dinner of  Wiener Schnitzel - breaded veal.

 

I finished off with a triple play of different varieties of Crème Brûlée.

 

With that I headed back to my hotel and got to bed early for my flight to the US.  Overall my week long Spring European Tour was very enjoyable and very productive and certainly one of the best trips to Europe I've ever enjoyed.