run forrest run!

i left here in plenty of time this morning to walk to the reistag but decided because the weather was super shitty to take the train...and i took a short cut. or so i thought and by the time i got myself un-lost and back on track and to the train i had twenty minutes to make it there. they tell you to be there at least a half hour before your scheduled time and i was thinking i could be fucked.

i made it off the train and started in the direction of the building, i saw it up ahead and in my haste actually went to the wrong building. not only did i go to the wrong building, i went in the wrong building and went through their security check. and when i got my shit together on the other side of the security check the guy at the counter was wondering who i was and why i was there. so i showed him my letter of admittance. that's when he looked at me and got up out of his seat and came out from behind his glass and pointed me in the direction of the correct building.

now, let me point out....if you know the building i was to go in, if you have been here and do that/this...you know it'd pretty hard to make the screw-up. the building next to the reistag looks nothing like the reistag. at all. i was so hellbent on making it there on time and saw the dome and then looked down and followed a few other folks who looked like tourists into the other building....duh...

 so out i went and over to the right reception area just outside the actual reistag building and in i went, with three minutes to go. now having actually been there i think if one was a few minutes late it would be ok...

 

 

so now i'm having that kind of hot sweat - i had out on my top layer of long underwear because it was so cold out this morning -  the kind of sweating where you don't know if you can ever feel right again and that everyone else around you looks perfectly fine and every hair's in place and you're a mess....like when you're on a subway in london or new york in august. like that. i was like that. and i just had to wait while other assembled, because they take you in groups to the main building. i couldn't wait until the walk outside to the main building. finally it came and by the time we got there, a few hundred yards, i was almost back to normal.
and we were in.

 

 

now the reistag - where the parliament meet, is an impressive building on it's own but the dome on top is amazing. it rises, i believe, 50 metres or so and once inside you walk along a circular walkway to the top while wearing a headset that tells you all about the building and stops you and gets you to look in certain directions to see sites in the city of interest.

and once you've reached the top you come back down a separate walkway that parallels the other walkway. or runs directly underneath...whatever you wanna call that.

it was worth the rain today to see the dome. sure, the view sucked. but that's ok. as my last official duty as a tourist i was happy to have seen it. you should too if you come here. just don't forget about registering in advance as you can't just show-up and go in like a carnival ride. (thanks to my friend paul t. brooks for letting me know that ...)
ok. now i need some down time. my feet will thank me.
i may or may not go and see if i can get into lambchop tonight...we'll see. i may just need to watch the bbc and relaxo. i leave tomorrow morning so a decent sleep should be in order.

have fun.

g. xo



ps.... i went for a walk after going to the post office and did some exploring in an area not far from my hotel - oh, note....my hotel is right on the diving line or tourisy and locals...the locals area is great. tons of shops, coffee places, post office, grocery stores and lots of places to eat....i found a taco joint run by tow guys from the states, well, one is an aussie who lived in philly. pretty good stuff. i may go back for dinner...their logo is funny. it's a woman who looks more japanese than mexican...