On the night of Thursday, July 23rd, we took a night train from Florence to Berlin where I was scheduled to study the Combe Capelle specimen on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, in typical Italian style, the train ended up breaking down in the middle of the Austrian Alps for about 3 hours. Consequently, we didn't arrive in Berlin until around 6 pm, so I had to call the Museum and reschedule my visit for Monday morning. This "forced" us to spend the whole weekend in Berlin. We spent Saturday at the Schloss Charlottenburg complex, the huge palace complex that houses the the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum for Pre- and Early History) where the Combe Capelle cranium is curated. Most of the palace complex has had to be completely reconstucted after being severely damaged by WWII bombings. Interestingly, they have restored different rooms to reflect different time periods, so some rooms are styled in their original 1600's style, while other rooms are restored to their early 1900's appearance.
On Sunday, we walked around some of Berlin's most famous attractions such as the The Reichstag (German Parliament), the Brandenburger Tor, and Potzdamer Platz (where some of the original Berlin Wall still stands). We also visited the Gemaldegalerie, one of Europe's best Art museums, which houses Caravaggio's
Amor Vincit Omnia, one of Tressa's favorite peices.
Personally, I prefered the museum's extensive collection of Dutch paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Steen and Van Dyke.
Finally, on Monday, we went back to Charlottenburg and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte to study the
Combe Capelle cranium. This cranium was lost after WWII and only recently rediscovered, so not a lot of current researchers have had the opportunity to work with the original specimen. Unfortunately, since Tressa and I had to catch a noon train to Vienna, I only got to spend a couple of hours with the specimen before having to leave for the train station.
On the night of Thursday, July 23rd, we took a night train from Florence to Berlin where I was scheduled to study the Combe Capelle specimen on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, in typical Italian style, the train ended up breaking down in the middle of the Austrian Alps for about 3 hours. Consequently, we didn't arrive in Berlin until around 6 pm, so I had to call the Museum and reschedule my visit for Monday morning. This "forced" us to spend the whole weekend in Berlin. We spent Saturday at the Schloss Charlottenburg complex, the huge palace complex that houses the the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum for Pre- and Early History) where the Combe Capelle cranium is curated. Most of the palace complex has had to be completely reconstucted after being severely damaged by WWII bombings. Interestingly, they have restored different rooms to reflect different time periods, so some rooms are styled in their original 1600's style, while other rooms are restored to their early 1900's appearance.
On Sunday, we walked around some of Berlin's most famous attractions such as the The Reichstag (German Parliament), the Brandenburger Tor, and Potzdamer Platz (where some of the original Berlin Wall still stands). We also visited the Gemaldegalerie, one of Europe's best Art museums, which houses Caravaggio's Amor Vincit Omnia, one of Tressa's favorite peices. 
Finally, on Monday, we went back to Charlottenburg and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte to study the Combe Capelle cranium. This cranium was lost after WWII and only recently rediscovered, so not a lot of current researchers have had the opportunity to work with the original specimen. Unfortunately, since Tressa and I had to catch a noon train to Vienna, I only got to spend a couple of hours with the specimen before having to leave for the train station.
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