06.08.2011 – 06.08.2011  25 °C

Another early start as I had already booked myself in to see the Neuss Museum (New Museum). The Neuss Museum is another antiquity museum that houses Germany’s Egyptian Collection (amongst other things). I donned my audio guide (I love it here in Germany they are included in the price… I guess it is cheaper than offering free guided tours!) and started my way around the Neuss Museum.

I was not disappointed. The Neuss is home to the Nefertiti Bust as well as countless mummy cases, sarcophaguses, marble, wood and stone statues as well as whole wall friezes from tombs excavated out of Egypt. It’s actually a little disappointing that all of these artefacts are here in Germany and aren’t in Egypt!

On top of the Egyptian section there is a whole section on Troy and the excavation of what they believe are the ruins of Troy as well as a Roman excavation section! I’ve got to say that if you want to see antiquities there are more than enough to satisfy you in Berlin (both between the Pergamon, the Neuss and the Artes – which I didn’t even go into!)

From the Neuss I travelled downtown to see the Topography of Terror (ToT) exhibition about the SS reign of terror during the time of the Nazis. The ToT is housed in a building that is on the site of the SS HQ during the Third Reich. The building itself is directly above the torture chambers (which are thankfully no more). The museum is really an account of the events of the Third Reich as well the rise of the SS. Thousands of people were brought to this location for “discussions”… its probably not that surprising but directly across the street is another museum this time the Stasi Musuem.. that’s right, the East Germany Secret Police (the Stasi) were located in almost the same location….

From downtime I decided to catch the subway out to Scholss Charlottenburg which was a castle built by King Fredrich III for his wife Sophie Charlotte. I arrived too late to go into the castle but that was ok as I really only felt like wandering around the beautiful grounds of the estate. One thing I’ve definitely worked out about European royalty is the amount of cash these guys had… Every castle you enter seems to have a good sized park attached to it with complete landscape gardens… And man did they do the landscaping well!

Finished off the day with a subway ride back to my digs. Early to bed as I’m up early to pick up my car for my journey around Germany.