Walk Through Berlin

Last night we went for a walk around our hotel, which couldn't be in a more ideal location. One of the sites we stumbled across was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe which was interesting to walk through. We had sped by it once before on a tour a couple years ago and wished that we had time to stop. Back then, our tour guide said it was supposed to represent the holocaust; from the outside, things looked fairly normal until you started going through it and it became more and more bizarre. The concrete slabs are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. Some of the pillars were huge.
Well, it certainly provided the confusing atmosphere. I took off on Ryan thinking I'd be able to find him easily enough. Turns out it's harder than I had thought. I went to the perimeter after about 5 minutes to see Ryan getting ready to continue the walk without me.

Right next to the memorial is Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag Building. On top of the Reichstag Building there is a dome you can climb up but in order to avoid the crowds you need to go before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. We are not into lineups at the best of times. When we got there last night there was a huge stream of people waiting, including a church choir on a tour that were singing (verly loudly) KUM BYE YA in eight part harmony. Neat.
Today, we're going on a bike tour. Should be a good time. We did one in Paris and had a lot of fun. It would have been GREAT if we had brought a long sleeved shirt or a jacket. Berlin is windy and cool which is not something we did not account for when packing with 'Turkey in summer' on our minds. After that, we're not sure what we'll do. Ryan is wanting to go for tea in the hotel (pinkies up!) and there is shopping close by so we'll see.