The Museum of all Museums

We visited the museum that would be interesting even for those who don't like museums - the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island (yes a whole island devoted to museums) in the heart of Berlin. We began by visiting the Asisi exhibit (a tall round building) where you could see a 360 degree Panorama view of what Pergamon, Turkey looked like a couple of thousand years ago. Then we visited the main attraction the Pergamon Altar which had been moved brick by brick to Berlin a hundred years ago. There aren't too many museum exhibits that you can sit on. Other highlights were the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, countless Islamic exhibits, artifacts from Nebuchadnezzar's throne room, and tons more (literally tons because this building was filled with reassembled temples with pillars that went up to the ceiling as well as endless collections of statues). We planned on two hours or so and stayed for over five. Next was a very sombre visit to the Holocaust Museum below the Memorial. The exhibits are very haunting and unforgettable. A quick visit to the Reichstag where they have built a new 'ball' on top of it (you need to book weeks in advance to get in to see it) and then we ended our day by hanging around our favourite square, Alexanderplatz, before heading home on the subway. The subway system here is phenomenal with a S-Bahn and a U-Bahn whooshing you from one end of the city to another. Once you get the hang of it, you can see why people don't need cars in the city (although there are also bikes everywhere especially on the sidewalks).