Sonntag ins Berlin

We had plans, ah, how we had plans. On Sundays, the ever-faithful Lonely Planet informed us, the Musikinstrumenten-Museum had a chamber music concert at 11am, where they played music on the original instruments it was composed for, not their modern equivalents. We also were informed that the 1846 St Matthäus Kirche (translate site), right across the Kulturforum had an English language church service at 12:30pm. Perfect! We waited for a long time in a line of about 30 people at the Musical Instrument museum, wondering whey they weren't selling tickets. It turned out this was because, though we'd arrived half an hour before the performance, the auditorium (of only 96 seats) was nearly all full. A few more seats were found, and the line in front of us thinned. Finally, five more tickets were available, and we stood fifth and sixth in line? “Did we want one ticket?” we were asked. It was sold to the woman behind us. Transpires this was the absolute last ticket. Sold out! announced in German — line dissipates. Turns out in any case we didn't have sufficient cash on us and they don't accept kreditcarten. Relieved to have not made a scene I guess... Visited the museum instead. One, well, sort of piano/organ thing had over 200 keys. Phew! Strangest instrument was a genetically-modified combination of violin and trumpet. Just wrong.

Missing the concert meant we were in plenty of time for the service at St Mattäus... except there was no service! Climbed the bell tower for a view over the Kulturforum, Potsdamer Platz, and out to the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate. Walked to the gate via Potsdamer Platz in chilly temperatures under a uniformly cloud-coated sky. Photos there quickly, knowing we'd be back again another day. Plans for the day hadn't gone entirely smoothly, but we rushed to the Märkisches Museum, hoping that there we would find the expected weekly demonstration of a range of automated musical instruments. Finally, there, our plans worked out, and we were treated to a surprising array of autosonic stimulation, from electrical organ grinders to pianolas.

From there, completed our institution-crawl with a visit to the Jüdisches Museum. This is not a holocaust museum but rather tracks the long history of Jewish involvement in German society. The architecture of this building cleverly demonstrates the continuity of Jewish life and the way exile and holocaust have cut across this. Two remarkable art installations likewise were evocative and unforgettable.

Out for dinner in Charlottenburg, were we found ordering Italian in German is easy — after all, Quattro Stagioni is practically an English word now, innit? (In fact, I had Pizza Speciale this time, but only because it still had artischocke on it.) Bronwyn noted every couple in the restaurant had boy:pizza, girl:pasta. She had Spaghetti Bolognaise.