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Berlin Day 3
Jun. 6th, 2008 11:42 pmAhaahahaha oh gawd today was outstandingly awesome even by my recent standards. So I was walking west to pick up about where I'd left off yesterday just past Museum Island, and I saw a couple of fairly big birds hopping around the dirtpath back way I'd found through one block, and they were kind of pretty, and then one of them took off and I swear the first thing I thought was "hey, that bird has Nightwing markings!" Which, alright yes, DORK, but they WERE a big V-mark across the chest with highlights on wings and tail.
I went past a booksale at Humboldt Uni, through a good bit of fun historical Berlin, and ended up at the Reichstag Building. Which, holy SHIT, guys, the Bundestag gets to do their Parliament thing in the best building in the world period. It is an ancient stone legislative building, rebuilt from the inside in modernist style. The effect is a massively impressive classical building shell with a glass and fantastically modern core. Its dome is glass. That's the main bit free to the public.
So I went up onto the roof, and up into the dome, and up up up the ramp into the cupola, which has 360 deg view and open-air roof. And a circular bench in the middle designed, I swear to god, for taking naps. I didn't but I came PRETTY CLOSE. And I wandered back down, realized I wasn't half done admiring the awesomeness of the entire structure - there's a cone of 360 huge mirrors in the middle of this dome, base at the cupola, tapering downwards. They reduce glare and reflect light into the main parliament chamber. They are also beautiful.
So I wandered my butt right back up, and sat down to write.
An hour later the sun was setting and I sat up, looked around, and promptly reread the complete first draft of that Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo allegory essay I have been promising myself I would write for MONTHS. It is done, I will type it up, I am so proud. Thank you, Berlin, for enabling this level of TOTAL GEEK.
And then I drifted back downstairs for a long, leisurely walk through the Tiergarten. Which is beyond gorgeous, by the way, particularly during a two-hour sunset, and also has bunnies.
On the way to the Tiergarten two Americans were talking about a pretty bird hopping around the Bundestag lawn. The man said "Ah, but that's a magpie, they're trouble." Realizing suddenly I would need to know what a magpie actually LOOKS like in order to write one as a supervillain, I looked over.
And there was the bird with Nightwing markings.
/o/ THAT'S IT. THE WORLD WINS. I LOVE THE WORLD.
ps After dinner on the other side of the Tiergarten I got lost. My map didn't go that far out. I stuck to bigger streets, found a bus station, looked at the map, and made my way over to the Hauptbahnhof- and realized halfway there that I could have just turned on Data Roaming and had the iPhone display me a Google Map at any time. Ahaha. Still! It is supernice to know that I can navigate an unhelpful neighborhood of a foreign city, in the dark, with no map. Even if it is a German city. And besides I am generally pretty leery of pulling out my Mug Me, I'm An American Tourist! device under anything like suspicious circumstances. Which totally include a poorly lit area with a graffiti'd church and a huge, old, strong building with the kind of watchtower-and-barbed-wire-studded wall indicative of a penitentiary, or Arkham Asylum.
Yep. Awesome day all around.
I went past a booksale at Humboldt Uni, through a good bit of fun historical Berlin, and ended up at the Reichstag Building. Which, holy SHIT, guys, the Bundestag gets to do their Parliament thing in the best building in the world period. It is an ancient stone legislative building, rebuilt from the inside in modernist style. The effect is a massively impressive classical building shell with a glass and fantastically modern core. Its dome is glass. That's the main bit free to the public.
So I went up onto the roof, and up into the dome, and up up up the ramp into the cupola, which has 360 deg view and open-air roof. And a circular bench in the middle designed, I swear to god, for taking naps. I didn't but I came PRETTY CLOSE. And I wandered back down, realized I wasn't half done admiring the awesomeness of the entire structure - there's a cone of 360 huge mirrors in the middle of this dome, base at the cupola, tapering downwards. They reduce glare and reflect light into the main parliament chamber. They are also beautiful.
So I wandered my butt right back up, and sat down to write.
An hour later the sun was setting and I sat up, looked around, and promptly reread the complete first draft of that Teen Titans: Trouble In Tokyo allegory essay I have been promising myself I would write for MONTHS. It is done, I will type it up, I am so proud. Thank you, Berlin, for enabling this level of TOTAL GEEK.
And then I drifted back downstairs for a long, leisurely walk through the Tiergarten. Which is beyond gorgeous, by the way, particularly during a two-hour sunset, and also has bunnies.
On the way to the Tiergarten two Americans were talking about a pretty bird hopping around the Bundestag lawn. The man said "Ah, but that's a magpie, they're trouble." Realizing suddenly I would need to know what a magpie actually LOOKS like in order to write one as a supervillain, I looked over.
And there was the bird with Nightwing markings.
/o/ THAT'S IT. THE WORLD WINS. I LOVE THE WORLD.
ps After dinner on the other side of the Tiergarten I got lost. My map didn't go that far out. I stuck to bigger streets, found a bus station, looked at the map, and made my way over to the Hauptbahnhof- and realized halfway there that I could have just turned on Data Roaming and had the iPhone display me a Google Map at any time. Ahaha. Still! It is supernice to know that I can navigate an unhelpful neighborhood of a foreign city, in the dark, with no map. Even if it is a German city. And besides I am generally pretty leery of pulling out my Mug Me, I'm An American Tourist! device under anything like suspicious circumstances. Which totally include a poorly lit area with a graffiti'd church and a huge, old, strong building with the kind of watchtower-and-barbed-wire-studded wall indicative of a penitentiary, or Arkham Asylum.
Yep. Awesome day all around.
