Thoughts on Museums and Train Stations

Well, I just got home. I went to buy my ticket for the Long Night of the Museums--the best night of the year, in this nerd's opinion. For one night most of the museums in Berlin throw open their doors from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Tickets cost 8 Euro and the trains, subways and buses run most of the night. They even have special bus routes that just run between museums. Many places have music and special events, and most of the churches have concerts. In 2002 I visited the Berliner Dom, the Zoo aquarium, and the Film Museum, and then I got food poisoning and threw up the rest of the night. Hopefully tomorrow night will go better. Even though there will no doubt be lines, I think my first stop will be the Rembrandt exhibit at the Gemäldegalerie, and then maybe the Martin Gropius Bau's exhibit of "Egypt's Sunken Treasures." Beyond that, I still need to decide.
After picking up my ticket I walked around the Reichstag/Brandenburger Tor/Unter den Linden area. I went to a bookstore and picked up a city map, and then walked back down Unter den Linden. There was some kind of fancy event at the Russian embassy (remind me to post later about the embassies), with lights, balloons (in the shapes of the Russian and German flags), sports cars, and plenty of people in fancy dress. I walked through the Brandenburger Tor and to the Reichstag. I briefly considered going up on the roof, but the line was too long (45 mins. to an hour) and it looked like rain, so I kept walking to the train station. I was almost there when the heavens opened up and it POURED. I wonder what happened to the line of people in tuxedos and ball gowns waiting to enter the Russian Embassy. It almost would have been worth going back to see, but it was getting dark and I was already getting wet, even though I had my umbrella.
I took shelter in Hauptbahnhof and ran a few errands. I LOVE living so close to a big train station (THE big station, really; it's one of the busiest in Europe), because it's the only place you can find shops open "late." Everywhere else stores close at 8:00 p.m., and I love it that I could go to the grocery store and the drug store at the decadent hour of 8:30. I made it to the bus that stops around the corner from my apartment just as it was pulling up. Ten minutes later I was home, dripping wet in spite of the umbrella, but in possession of the magical key to open all the museums in town for a night.
I promise to post tomorrow to let you know about Lange Nacht der Museen.