Berlin 2

OK, I know in the whole scheme of the world, the East/West Berlin setup shouldn't seem so crazy to me. You've got a few large powers dividing up a major city at the end of a war; it turns out said powers don't all get along so well, and the city becomes literally divided. But then you've got West Berlin, walled-in, just sitting in the middle of East Germany during the Cold War...crazy.


Another great thing about Berlin is the museums. Scores of the! Plus, on certain nights after 6PM, many of the museums are free. So I had myself a little after-dark romp through the Egyptian museum and the Pergamon museum. Yep, wild and crazy times in Berlin.

Nefertiti: the original "look"













21st Century A.D. woman inspects 14th Century B.C. woman















The New Synagogue, from behind a tree.

The Reichstag with German flags and Germans. (And tourists)









The Reichstag is Germany's Parliment building. The German Republic was proclaimed here in 1918. It almost burned down in 1933. The Nazis blamed it on Communist conspirators, but there seems to be some skepticism about that one...
The Nazis made their last stand here in April 1945, when it fell to the Allies.
The building didn't see much action until 1995, when it was wrapped in silver cloth for its 101st birthday (I bet that felt nice). Then it was rebuilt to be back in action. You can actually walk all the way up the glass dome at the top (very cool view). From the dome, you can look down into the legislative chamber and watch the government at work. Nice touch.

All together now: the Brandenburg Gate