Day 4: Berlin

The day started with the usual hotel breakfast, then off to stand in line for the Reichstag. A few years ago, they put this glass dome with a Guggenheim-style spiraling walkway on top of the old government building. You have to wait in a long line and go through security, but it was worth it for the view and the pictures.

Pumped up by the experience, we decided to walk to our next destination, the Pergamonmuseum on Museumsinsel (an island full of museums). Wow. If you like ancient cultures, you'll die for this place. They've partially reconstructed the Greek temple of Pergamon, with a ridiculously huge and intricate frieze depicting the battle between the gods and giants. They also have the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and hundreds of other stunning pieces. We spent a long time in this museum.

Upon leaving, my dad got his daily wurst, and we walked to the Alexanderplatz area, where we admired the Berliner Dom (a cathedral), the TV Tower (tallest thing in Berlin--think space needle), and other related sights.

After yet another quick S-Bahn trip, we were at the Hamburger Bahnhof/Museum fur Gegenwart, a former train station turned into a modern art museum with a vast collection of Warhols, Lichtensteins, and so on. The space is gorgeous, with that arched train shed feel in the main hall, and the pieces on display were quite nice.

One more S-Bahn ride took us to the Neue Nationalgalerie, another modern art museum (and you wondered why I came here). The building itself was designed by Mies van der Rohe, and houses a horde of early- to mid-20th century modern art. I was happy to see works by some of my favorites--Brancusi, Mondrian, Barnett Newman--and discovered new appreciation for a few others.

Famished by this point of our day of museums, we walked to Potsdamerplatz and had dinner at an Australian restaurant. I relished my fish and chips with malt vinegar and a splash of lime, while my dad feasted on ribs and wings, and we both had "fruity pancakes with ice cream" for dessert. Nice.

Before heading to the hotel for the night, we stopped by the Galeries Lafayette, a schmancy French department store with some interesting architecture, but they pretty much only had high fashion stuff, so after a few pictures, we were off. Now we're back in our upside-down room, footsore and full of fruity pancakes. Lessons from today: museums hate tripods, don't mess with Greek deities, and Germans like Andy Warhol.