The Reichstag

We went to a museum about living in East Berlin. It wasn’t a great place to live and most people would have liked to leave. The most interesting part was the Trabant, a car made in the DDR. It was not what you would call luxurious – Keith’s favorite part was the fact that it lacked many features that were standard on cars elsewhere during that time (such as a fuel gage) because “if it doesn’t have it, it can’t break.” There was a 16 year waiting list to get one, and people took VERY good care of them, because there was a 16 year waiting list to get another one. We “tried on” some fashions of the day and that was a lot of fun. I thought the child’s worksheets were pretty interesting (and scary) and the wooden grenades (instead of balls, for throwing) were startling.

We took a sightseeing cruise down the Spree River, through central Berlin. We learned A LOT more after we found an audio guide in English to listen to.

We went to the Futurium, to see ideas about the future. Mostly it was a great view from the top floor. I couldn’t go in, because I had a backpack. I waited for Keith to check it out and watched the security guard yell at people with backpacks – and even more sinister – people with bottles of water! It was pretty amusing.

We were able to climb the double helix walkway up to the top of the Reichstag. The front of the building maintains its original facade, as pictured in the POTD, but inside and on top are all new and cool. The audio guide pointed out lots of things we could see all over Berlin and it was really interesting.

We ended the evening with an incredible meal with the group. We started with a delicious mushroom soup, followed by chicken and asparagus on a bed of amazing risotto, then the classic apple strudel and holy cow good ice cream. I am so full.

Some of the band members have been trying to get out of Paris all day and should be landing about now. Keith is coming down with a cold, so fingers crossed it isn’t anything worse and that he can play tomorrow.

Oh. And the hotel breakfast was amazing. Weight has already been gained and we haven’t even started eating chocolate yet.