Berlin, Germany

A view of the world, from my room window

So I'm away for a few days: Bush wins and Arafat dies. Jesus. Can't I turn my back on you people for one minute, without you fucking everything up?

Silence, queueing and my torn soul (sole)

Did you know that the word "queueing" has the longest string of vowels in the English language? I know this, but cannot change a tire.

This morning was sunny. The first time I'd seen the sun in Germany - looked pretty much the same as it did back home.

Today, I wanted to go back and visit some of the places that I saw on the walking tour. First up: Brandenburg Gate. So...it was just this. There's some history behind it and if I were a more conscientious student, I'd probably know what that history was, but for now, it's just a gate.

In the open area before me, there was a guy dressed in white, who stood still until someone dropped coins into his bucket. Across from him was a guy with a music box and crank, but get this: no monkey! How the hell can you expect to make money without a monkey? Even Michael Jackson needed Bubbles.

I was about to make my way to the Reichstag, when I remembered something from my guide book. There's a room of silence around here somewhere. I'm not quite sure what a room of silence entails and the details in the guide book were sketchy at best, so I set my mind on finding out.

Turns out the room is right next to the gate. What luck.

Upon entering the room, I saw why there were so few details about this room. It consisted of a small square room which held about 15 chairs on one side and a brown rug, mounted on the opposite wall.

The sides of the room were curtained and glowed fuzzily from the sunlight outside. With me in the room were three other people. One younger chick, who looked bored out of her skull, a middle-aged man who had his eyes closed and his palms up (I'm sure if it wasn't for the chair, he'd be in the full lotus-position) and finally, an older lady, sitting in the back.

I took my place beside the lotus guy, because he was the funniest, and stared at the rug before me. For the first 30 seconds, I was suppressing the urge to cough or smack the guy beside me, because silence can be uncomfortable and awkward.

But then the childishness passes and you settle down inside. The silence is no longer roaring in your ears like so many angry lions, and all you want is for the serenity to never end.

I must have spent an hour in there, and all the time, lotus man was sitting beside me, unmoving...that is, until I stood up and knocked over the chair beside me.

It took me a little over an hour of standing in line, in the cold to get into the Reichstag.

The ride to the top was quick and there's a huge glass dome that you can climb, via a spiralling ramp that hugs the inner surface of the dome. Once at the top, the view is magnificent.

I suppose the TV tower would have been just as nice, if not better, had it been sunny on the day I went, but I just wanted to sit at the top and let a good chunk of the day pass.

On the way down, a fat woman in front of me stopped suddenly to take a photo. I had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid knocking her down the ramp. Unfortunately, I stepped funny and the whole bottom of my shoe came off. I had been putting a lot of strain on my boots lately, I suppose these boots just weren't made for walking.

Megalomania

Found this rather interesting billboard near the Reichstag. It's a model that the Nazis made of some grand hall they were planning to build.

The building I've highlighted in red is the Reichstag. Hitler must have had a small dick.

Tiergarten

Right beside the Reichstag is Tiergarten. Being a crisp autumn day, I felt that a walk through the park was in order. This thing is just massive. On par with Central Park in New York City and Yoyogi Park / Ueno Park in Tokyo.

Saw some people in lederhosen walk by.

I guess you'd see this end of a tank a lot, if you lived in a communist country

A little into my walk, I saw a huge looming figure in the background. As i walked toward it, I saw that it was wearing what appeared to be a cape. Now, it's not every day that one sees a statue of a superhero (unless you lived beside this statue, that is), so I picked up the pace a little to get a closer look.

Turns out the caped figure, was in fact, not Batman, rather it was a Soviet soldier. It was the Soviet memorial. More guys in lederhosen were standing around. I didn't stay to find out why.

Berlin bear

A short walk on Unter den Linden again bore this: a tacky bear. The same way we had those crappy moose statues and Chicago has their cows, Berlin has bears.

Misery enjoys company.

Zoo Station

Ted has a cousin here, and after weeks of badgering both before and after I got here, he finally got me her contact info. I called her and we arranged to meet tomorrow at Zoo Station, so I came here to get my bearings, since I didn't want to get lost.

So this is what U2 was singing about. Zoo station. It's not even called Zoo station. It's called Zoologischer Garten. Did I wait 12 years and fly 9 hours to see a row of plastic chairs? Maybe Bono was singing about what's outside the station.

Anyway, I have to get a gift for Ted's cousin, on behalf of his family, and something also for her daughter from me. One of the guys at reception recommended that I go to Les Galeries LaFayette (on Fredreich Strasse) to get a fancy gift basket. Plus I have to buy new boots.

Guess I will get to do some shopping here after all.