30. / 31. July 2006

If you were to look on lonelyplanet.com or frommers.com or whatnot for a list of things to do in Berlin, the chances are, I've done 90% of them. I counted it up once, and I've spent about a month and a half here, all told. So shopping, main sights, museums, whatnot, I've been there, done that. Needless to say, when someone asks me what I want to do in Berlin, I don't know what to say.

But I love museums. The good thing about a city this large is you can always find some museum or another. So after a luxerious breakfast we headed to the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Múseum) which featured, not unsurprisingly, the history of Europe. I never quite figured out how one is supposed to view the exhibition, so the chronological aspects of the display were completely lost on me and I viewed the exhibition kamikazee-style like a 4-year-old with ADD. RomansNapoleonSecondWorldWarReformationCeltsRomanEmpirePostWWI. 'Twas fun. And I had a (real) Bretzel (pretzle) in the cafe.



And I went swimming. It's funny, Germans are so particular about dress. Here in Berlin, I've noticed a certain amount of flip flops, sneakers, and other such informal footwear, but you would never see someone walking casually down a street in running clothes, or (gasp!) grocery shopping in pajamas (guilty as charged). Shorts are generally not worn by women, shorter pants aren't even worn by some women. There are Standards. One does not leave one's house while sloppily dressed.

These Standards, curiously enough, do not apply to bathing. FKK (FreiKoerperKultur or nude beaches) are alive and well. At the Schlachtensee, the lake where we went swimming, there were more than a couple young women (and a few young men) drying off after skinny dipping. They have no compunctions whatsoever. Americans, to extrapolate, are sloppy and prude and inconsistant, not caring if someone looks a mess or wears tiny shorts yet can't handle nudity.

And otehrwise we saw Syriana in an open air cinema, which was great fun. I bought red polka dot high heels and insisted on wearing them, so that was fun :).

Public transportation: +
FKK: ;)
Mosquitos: --
Swimming: ++