Berlin

Aug 5, 6

Well, we've decided German-speaking countries are a win!! Between Dusseldorf, Vienna, and Berlin, we're impressed! We loved our two days in Berlin (and not just because we got upgraded to a 5-star hotel--Marriott Berlin, though this had no negative bearing on our judgement, either ;) ) Though I miss speaking Russian, Berlin has been fabulous!

I slept on the most comfortable pillow I have ever experienced in my life! I almost didn't want to get out of bed--but Berlin called, so go I did. The first day was fairly laid back. We started out with an American breakfast at Play Off because I was craving eggs. The pancakes were an added bonus! We had a great server named Steffan who was oh-so-helpful! Another potential future brother-in-law as he is perfect for Amy. I am determined to have a German brother-in-law yet! He was very nice and spoke English really well.

After the breakfast, we headed off to find a laundromat. Our dirty clothes were piling up--we hadn't washed them since Moscow, and we only packed so many clothes. We got directions from the front desk at the Marriott and took off for the metro. I love subway systems! They are so convenient, and generally self-explanitory, though Moscow admittedly has the best system I've ever experienced.

Right across from the laundromat we found a shwarma place! But they are called Dumu or something here. Being way to full from breakfast, we made a mental note to come back if we found the time (which we did the next day during our hop on/hop off bus tour). A nice woman helped me get the German instructions to the washer figured out, and we started our loads. A German man helped show us which settings were best, and recommended a spinning machine (called an extractor, apparently--according to mom. She also says we have these in the States) that turned out to be great--we only needed about half the time on drying thanks to him. By the way, this was the first dryer I'd seen in 3 months--it's a festivus miracle (that's for you Amy, and any other Seinfeld lovers out there). We took the metro back to our hotel so we wouldn't have to haul our clothes around all day. Remembering how comfy the beds were led to a little nap.

When we woke up, we decided to walk around to some of the sights near us. We went to a holocaust memorial and then down to the Brandenburger Tor (gate). The Berlin wall ran right in front of this gate, and the gate now stands as a symbol of freedom. We also walked through the Tiergarten Park by our hotel. So beautiful! We found out that 1/3 of Berlin is covered by green space (as they said) and water.

After ordering up a scoop of Carmel Biscuit Creme Ice Cream and a Macadamia Nut Ice Cream from Haagen Das, we were able to use their free internet. We'd also had a yummy strawberry tart and chocolate with nuts (we hadn't eaten since breakfast because we were so full, but made room for late afternoon desserts!). We finally got all of our Russia pictures up, as well as Vienna and hope to catch up on Prague and Berlin soon.

Day two in Berlin--Aug 6, was spent on a hop-on/off tour of the city. This was the best way to see the city (except for maybe a biking tour which would have been really interesting and fun). Even though it was a hop on/off, we ended up with the same tour guide every time. He was really funny and remembered us, saying, "Our ladies have returned!"

I should also add how good we were today--no sugar, and we did crunches! And we've decided to ration out our sugar days for the rest of the Europe trip--getting ready for swimsuit-ing it up at Lake Powell in 1 1/2 weeks!

But back to Berlin--our favorite sight was Checkpoint Charlie where the American sector met up with the Soviet sector. They had large panels put together telling the story of the lead up to the Berlin wall. We spent about an hour in this one spot alone. We are fascinated with all of the history in this one city and the thought that it happened in our life times! (Some of it more my mom's life time than my own, but still). I was really surprised to see that the wall really wasn't all that high--especially when considering it separated two completely different worlds, ideologies, and political freedoms. It is hard to imagine these two worlds coming right up against each other. It really hit me how families were literally divided by this wall. Pictures on display showed two mothers holding their children up to the wall as they reached out to one other. I bought a postcard of a picture that took third place in a competition called, 'Overcoming the wall through pictures,' or something like that. It is a picture of a hand breaking through a wall, reaching out to help those on the other side. We also found what would have been our favorite souvenirs if we could have afforded them--on display in one shop were various compasses, globes, etc. that had come from museums across Europe. I want to say they were meant to represent the world coming together. Near this same area, and throughout the city, they have laid out bricks denoting where the wall once stood.

As I said, we love Berlin and were really sad to leave. We were impressed with how many people speak English, and by how helpful everyone was. Mom insists that I add here--Berlin is a very modern city because so much of it was bombed out during World War II.