Our time in Berlin is closing in on us, so Paul and I have begun the desperate scramble to do everything that folks are going to ask us if we did before our return to the states. The newly designed Reichstag has been on my list of things to see for the past five years. A glass dome, designed by architect Norman Foster, sits atop the building and visitors can look down on Parliament meetings in sessions. I’ve wanted to check it out since my “postmodern culture and politics” class talked about the building in relation to ideas about transparency and government back in college (oh, so many years ago...). The building was originally built in 1894 and housed the Reichstag (German parliament) until the fire in 1933 that led to the Nazi’s suspending most civil liberties. In 1991, after reunification, a slim majority voted for Parliament’s return to Berlin from Bonn.

We’ve stopped by at least a dozen times in the past 9 months but have been thwarted by inclement weather, long lines or schedules every time. Yesterday we set off on bicycles with heffeweisen beer and plums in our bags intending to play soccer in the Tiergarten. We got lost (what else is new), but it worked out in our favor. It was the shortest line for the Reichstag we’d ever seen! Plans for soccer were abandoned, beers were cracked and the waiting began.

After approximately 30 minutes we were stripped of our soccer ball, packed in an elevator and whisked to the top of the building. It was cooler than all the pictures I’d seen. Because the soil is sandy, Berlin is a sprawling, low lying city. In other words, sunsets are hard to come by.

The trip was an architect lover’s dream! Not only could you peek into Parliament in session, you could see all of the city’s major attractions from the dome.