The travels of Tim and Megan: Berlin, Germany

Sunday

On Sunday we had to get going early as we wanted to go to the Reichstag, the German parliament building. We had heard during our walking tour that there is always a long queue to get inside the Reichstag and that the best times to go are early morning or late at night. Unfortunately it was a wet and gloomy day in Berlin, which didn't make queuing outdoors very pleasant. We arrived around 9am and queued for almost an hour, which wasn't too bad really.

The Reichstag building was constructed to house the Reichstag, the first parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire supposedly set by a Dutch communist, who was later beheaded for the crime. That verdict has been a subject of controversy over the years, with many believing that the Nazi party set the fire themselves and used it as its reason for beginning a purge of "traitors" in Berlin and for banning the German Communist Party. The building, having never been fully repaired since the fire, was further damaged by air raids during World War II.

The building was reconstructed between 1961 and 1964, but until 1990, it was used only for occasional representative meetings and for one-off events such as concerts. The official German reunification ceremony was held at the Reichstag on 3 October 1990 and the building again became the seat of the German parliament in 1999.

The Reichstag has a huge glass dome on top, from which you have 360 degree stunning views of Berlin...except when it is grey, raining and miserable, in which case you cannot see much at all. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from the cupola, and natural light from above radiates down to the parliament floor, meaning that no electricity is used to light the debating hall. More remarkably, the building traps and stores cold air from outside during winter and uses it for air conditioning during the summer months and, likewise, stores warm air during summer to be used for heating during winter.

Although the view at the top was not very good, we enjoyed seeing inside the massive building and checking out the massive mirrored structure that reflects light down into the debating hall (see photo below).

After a hot chocolate at Starbucks to shelter from the weather for a while, we carried on to the Jewish Museum. The Jewish Museum opened its doors in 2001 and its massive permanent collection and exhibitions make it one of the leading museums in Europe. The building itself is an architectural masterpiece. The design has been dubbed "Between the Lines", reflecting the tensions of German and Jewish history. The building consists of two lines, one straight and the other zig-zagged, intersecting with the straight line in several spots, and also creating several voids or empty spaces that cut through the entire museum.

We were very impressed with the quality of the museum, it really is a must-see when in Berlin. The permanent collection covers two millenia of German-Jewish history, split into 13 historical periods. We spent a good two hours there but could have spent a lot longer if our stomachs weren't insisting that we find some lunch. We braved the heavy rain and found a Turkish restaurant where we had an excellent lunch...doner kebabs are O for awesome.

After lunch we were tossing up between a number of museums and art galleries but in the end we decided to stick with the Jewish theme and visit the New Synagogue to fill in the afternoon. While the building was very nice, we were a little disappointed. We had assumed that it was still a working synagogue, but it is actually more like a small museum with some photographs and remnants from when the synagogue was in use. We were charged an entry fee, despite there being not much to see inside, and then we were told that we had to leave our bags at the baggage desk, which we were charged for...even though there did not seem to be any reason for not allowing bags inside. There was plenty of room, not many people and nothing that could be knocked over or broken - just a money maker!

After that we checked out a few shops, including the Ampel Mann shop. In Berlin the little red and green men for pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights are different from the red and green men on traffic lights in the rest of the world. They have little hats and are more animated - the green man looks like he is charging! They have become icons of Berlin and they have stores - the Ampel Mann stores - where you can buy almost anything with little red and green men on them. Megan bought some fridge magnets to add to her growing collection as well as an ice tray that makes ice cubes in the shapes of the red and green men! Very fun.

Our legs were very tired after another day of lots of walking, so we headed back to the hotel for a drink and then back to our favourite street for dinner, trying our fourth different restaurant in the area in four days. It was once again very good and cheap.

Monday

Monday in Berlin dawned a lot brighter and after our final breakfast at Hotel Agon and then dropping our luggage at a central train station, we set off walking through central Berlin once again. We wandered along Unter den linden again before hitting the shops of Friedrichstrasse.

Tim bought himself a souvenir German beer mug with a lid, although the real highlight of the morning was visiting a huge chocolate shop with several massive models of famous Berlin landmarks made entirely of chocolate (see photo below of Megan beside the chocolate Reichstag). They also had a giant chocolate teddy bear and a chocolate volcano that was erupting liquid chocolate!

After a few hours of shops it was time to pick up our luggage and head for the airport. The Berlin trip was pretty huge for milestones - Megan hit the quarter century, while Tim (and Bear) both notched their 20th country visited. The 50 countries club is in sight...