Hello, Blogonauts.

So today we're talking hoity-toity culture. I happen to like hoity-toity culture. I particularly like typing the word "hoity-toity" and finding that my word-processor does not spasmodically freak out and warn me that I have misspelled a word.

But back to the subject at hand: Berlin, via its odd collection of architecture, is itself a museum of sorts. After all, this city first arose as a composite of villages, had an off-and-on relationship with democracy, and recently spent nearly half a century divied up between two countries, cleaved in twain by the metaphoric iron curtain and its real-life incarnation, the Berlin Wall. Berlin has variety born of strain.

But some of the world’s great museums are in Berlin. Splat in the center of the city (and of the Spree River) lies Museum Island, which the UN has declared a World Heritage Site. The island holds half-a-dozen large museums that in turn contain countless art and antiquities. I allowed myself a mere two full days in this city, so choosing among the hoity cornucopia of toity was a challenge.

After Friday’s walking tour, I started by spending a few hours exploring the Pergamon Museum, which is named for the massive Pergamon Altar, which is in turn named for its hometown, the ancient Greek city of Pergamon. The reconstructed portico for the temple to Zeus & Athena stands just inside the museum’s entrance, and this religious, bellicose artifact is indeed impressive. But even more eye-popping is the Ishtar Gate to the city of Babylon that has been restored within the museum’s walls. Its blue bricks and inlaid lions and cattle provide an imposing yet beautiful passageway and edifice. It suggests power without displaying carnage.

On Saturday morning I returned to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe to tour its subterranean interpretation center. There the curators describe (and document through a gaggle of languages) the Nazi oppression and attempted extermination of the Jews throughout the Continent. The word “murdered” is pervasive, which makes the litany of deaths more grippingly sad.

Then I meandered back toward Museum Island and the German History Museum. Even though I was there for over 3 hours, that was not sufficient time to finish exploring the interplay of politics, religion, economics, and personalities as they affected German identity and relationships. It was a relief to remember that Germany also produced Frederick the Great and Goethe (pronounced in German, "GUR-tuh"), in addition to Hitler and the Nazis.

Then for icing on my cultural cake, I took in an extraordinary performance of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (The Creation). This choreographed (yes, choreographed) production is being staged nightly in the Berlin Cathedral for literally weeks. The panoply of talent, beyond a symphony orchestra and full choir, includes a ballet troupe, urban break dancers, and several twinkle-toed children.

One of my fondest memories is singing Haydn’s work with my college choir. But adding choreography has made the work even more engaging. For example, at the beginning of “Die Himmel erzählen” (“The heavens are telling”), the dancers tossed six enormous white balloons, nearly a meter in diameter, into the audience as the walls glimmered with globes of light. The audience obligingly batted them repeatedly into the cathedral’s vast airspace, thereby helping the balloons to become stars and planets in the heavens, and we, too, danced along with the music.

Included in the staging was also a randy gorilla who attempted to seduce each of the soloists during one trio. And when Adam and Eve danced in the garden, they were joined by a live serpent, a boa constrictor that wound its 2-meter length around each of them in turn. Additionally, there were computer generated projections onto screens and onto walls and columns of the cathedral itself, turning the space first into a star-infused universe, then an undersea world of jelly fish and dolphins, and ultimately, into a fantasy Garden of Eden.

Whew!

You can expect a few more impressions of Berlin in another blog. But I have to admit, culturally, it has proved itself to be first rate.