Today's weather was amazingly good today and I was feeling chipper, despite three hours of sleep. (I. Hate. Jetlag.)
I set off determined to get into the Reichstag Dome today, and after a 45 minute wait managed to do so. Security pulled me out of line when they detected a wrench and screwdriver in my backpack. (I'd used them earlier to adjust Ute's bike and forgot they were in there.) After explaining that I was just another stupid American and I had the passport to prove it, I was allowed into the dome.
Wow! I mean WOW! The view was absolutely beautiful. Reichstag is interesting because it is a vital political location, yet it is open to the public. In the States you can barely get into the Capital building since Sept. 11, but here there's a cafe with an amazing view right on the roof.
I visited the Berlin Aquarium next. I was hoping for a repeat of the London Aquarium, one of the high-points of my UK trip, but was slightly disappointed. The aquarium was much smaller than it was hyped for, but still very interesting. There were some fantastic jellyfish and plenty of coral. Jellyfish are vampires. You can't photograph them.
Next I went inside Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedaechtnis-Kirche. The old building's murals were beautiful but badly damaged. The new building was intact, but lacked the creativity of the old building. However, the blue light was like visual incense and very beautiful. I didn't care for the statue of Jesus much though, as it looked both dead and angry.
I spent a long time trying to find KaDeWe. With Ute it was easy, but alone it's like trying to find a particular tree in the forest. The whole district is nothing but shopping! I paused my weary quest to enjoy my first German beer: a half-liter of dark Franyiskaner Hefeweiyen. Oh wow. By far the best beer I'd had in many moons. I'm here to tell you though: under no circumstances should you drink German beer on an empty stomach and then try to decipher a map of Berlin. Resuming my search for KaDeWe I was completely confused and wound up in front of a row of strange Turkish shoppes. So I gave up my search and ate a cheap Turkish dinner: Döner Kebap with Becks beer.
I was pretty tired, but I decided to go to Museumsinsel, a cluster of museums near the middle of Berlin. It took me so long to get out of the shopping district though, that I gave up and went to Humboldt University instead. The place where Hitler burned the University library is marked by a window into the old library, now full of nothing but empty shelves. It was very touching.
Museumsinsel am Morgen! As before, more photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132166&l=96e87&id=6226307
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