Berlin

Sorry that I've been putting off posting for a while.  I was kind of procrastinating due to an excessive number of pictures.

Last weekend, we went to Berlin.  The trip started with a tour of the Reichstag (the German parliament building).  This was quite familiar, as I did the same tour the last time I was in Germany.

The tour guide told us about how the building went through major changes as a result of the fire in 1933 (which was used by Hitler to attack the communists), some misguided renovations in the 60s, and some recent renovations after it was decided to move the new reunified parliament back to the building.  To document the history of the building, they even left some of the graffiti from Russian soldiers who had visited after capturing Berlin.

After the tour, we got to go in the glass dome (which has a huge mirror array to reduce light needs) and look at the view of Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate

(In case you were wondering, I have over 100 pictures from the Reichstag)

Afterwards we went on a bus tour of Berlin.

Art installation on the Berlin Wall

Victory column

Presidential palace

On Saturday, I joined a fairly large group that went to a game between Hertha (the team from Berlin) and Schalke at the former Olympic stadium.  It was very large and very full.

I have to say, I was amused by the very energetic fans, who sang through pretty much the entire game.  The game ended in a 2-2 tie, which I suppose was good for Hertha because Schalke is normally a much better team (or so I've heard).

On Sunday, I went with a few others to the Ritter Sport store.  In related news, thanks to that visit and multiple sales, I currently have an excessive amount of chocolate in my room.  It's getting kind of bad.  After that, I planned to go to the Pergamon (a really famous museum), but the line was long enough that I didn't think it was worth it to wait (since I had about 2 hours left).  However, I found that the German History Museum was nearby and relatively cheap, so I went there.  My visit was not optimal because I entered through the special exhibit part and didn't find the main section until I had less than an hour, but it was still good.