Day 25: Berlin

Today has been a long day. It started early for us, which I am ashamed to say was only 7:30. We grabbed some fruit and a pastry from a local bakery, then headed for a subway station with the final destination the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building.

This building has a storied history. When the Nazi's took power in 1933, the building was mysteriously burned down and it was further damaged when the Soviets took Berlin at the end of WWII. It was not used until 1999, when it was rebuilt and became the seat of parliament for a unified East and West Germany. The building today includes an enormous glass dome on top which acts to both reflect light into the political chambers but also allows citizens and tourists 'transparency' into their government. Due to recent terror threats, you now need to request an invite weeks in advance to go into the dome. Fortunately for me, Jackie was on the ball and requested an invitation two months ago.

We arrived at the building the requested 15min early, went through a security screening and queued up for the elevator. When we got to the top, we read some plaques about the history of the building, walked to the top of the dome, and enjoyed the views of Berlin. Jackie took some of our best photos yet!

After coming down from the dome, we went through the Brandenburg Gate (a former city gate and one of the most recognizable landmarks of Berlin) and into the DZ Bank building which was designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry (the guy who also designed the Stata Center building at MIT). The city limited what the facade could look like in an attempt to force the building to fit into the square. Gehry complied and instead put his usual flare into a sculpture inside the building.

Frank Gehry's 'Fish'

From here we went to the German History Museum, detailing the history of Germany from its first barbaric settlements through the Holy Roman Empire to the Nazi uprising and finally the reunification following the end of the Cold War.

The museum also had a photography exhibition, housed in a structure that was re-designed by I. M. Pei, the Chinese architect who studied at MIT (and also designed many of MIT's buildings).

*GQ Portfolio Pic #4

By now we were getting tired of walking around all day for the second straight day so we hit the grocery store on the way home, made ourselves dinner, and called it a night.

*Fish, sweet potatoes, and broccoli prepared by myself (topped off with a local beer)