Bike day

My friend Johanna invited me to lunch today at the Reichstag (parliament) canteen (she works there). I was all excited. She even promised me a behind the scenes tour and said - "but don't forget your passport, or they won't let you in".

So - off I went on my bike today and was pleasantly surprised to notice how central we live. When you take the underground to places, you never realise the real distances and geographical context of a city, which is such a shame. Today, I cycled to Potsdamer Platz in 10 minutes, then saw the Brandenburg Gate around the corner, and was at the Reichstag in no time.

Locked up my bike, saw the security at the door and thought - SHIT - no passport. What a dummy I am. There was no chance I was getting in, so we went to a nice Sushi place nearby which was one of these big, packed, buzzing places, with a queue outfront and long tables you share with strangers. I will have to come back for the canteen I guess.


Then had a coffee on a bench on Pariser Platz, with view onto the Brandenburg gate (see blip). This is taken from the old "East" side of the gate, the wall used to run just about 50 yards away on the other (West) side. I will always remember how my dad took me there one evening in the winter of 1989, just after the wall came down, and told me to go and have a look. There were lots of people on it and somebody pulled me up. Being an impressionable teenager, and it being a memorable time, made that this moment will always be part of me. Standing there, looking at the gate, and the big avenue behind, and thinking, wow, that's all coming back together now. And today, almost 20 years later, I am sitting on the Eastern side, drinking Starbucks coffee with a friend, and everything is full of American and Asian tourists. Weird.