To Berlin!

The road to Berlin was long, but it flew by at mind-boggling speed as we zipped across the German countryside. John definitely loves driving, and what a place to do so! We only got held up for a while during some construction, but otherwise it was an uneventful drive. Once we got close to Berlin, however, John asked me, "So, you wrote down the name and address of our hotel right?" To which, I blanched and slowly turned to him to reply, "Uhh... no? I thought you did that..." Fortunately, we remembered the street that the hotel was on, and so, the hunt for our mystery hotel began!

We stopped at the first hotel we came upon, and I ran in to ask if our names were on the reservation list, praying that the receptionist spoke english. And wouldn't you know it, by some stroke of SHEER luck, we'd found our hotel on our first guess! What are the odds?! We weren't up for doing much but having dinner, so we crashed early.

Jason, smacking himself for forgetting to write down the name of the hotel.

Amber, clowning around at dinner.

Some butter I accidentally dropped into the candle when trying to soften it.

We set out early the next morning, hoping to squeeze as many activities into our day as possible. We fairly quickly figured out the subway system, and mapped out a few key sites that Amber had done some research on and figured would be worth checking out while we were in town. Obviously we could spend WEEKS in Berlin and still not besatisfied, so we decided that just a select few would be good enough for now, and give us an excuse to come back again someday!

Bear Hug!

We wandered along the river towards the Reichstag, or Parlaiment Building. The Brandenburger Tor was beautiful, in a square near where a section of the Berlin wall once stood. We meandered over towards Parlaiment, and decided it might be cool to go inside and head to the top, where there's an amazing view out of the dome. Plus, parlaiment was currently in session, and that could be interesting as well. But apparently, everyone else had this idea as well, and after about 45 minutes of waiting in line, we gave up and headed for our next destination.v

The Parlaiment Building overlooking the river.

What a bunch a' troublemakers!

Some of Berlin's beautiful architecture.

Ditto.

The Brandenburger Tor

When lost, we consulted this sewer drain cover for directions.

The Parlaiment Building

These were some extremely creepy performers, all controlling a very large marionette-esque doll that would walk around and dance with people. VERY strange.

John figured that, if the view from Parlaiment was out, what better way to get a nice glimpse of Berlin than from the "TV Tower," Berlin's tallest building, which has a rotating restaurant at the very peak. So, we got ourselves an audiotour, and ate lunch while learning some about the history of the area around the Tower. Berlin's not a very *tall* city, so from the top of the tower, we were able to see for countless miles in every direction, and it was quite breathtaking!

The TV Tower

Lunch in the Clouds!

One of a hundred beautiful views from the top of the tower.

The Berliner Dom, a church.

Chillin'. Ohhhh yeah.

A face only a mother could love.

Unfortunately, our next stop was just as much of a bust as the Parlaiment building, because the Berlin Guggenheim Museum was apparently closed for renovations. So, we decided to head to a different gallery, the New National Gallery, which was a treat. It had on display many beautiful and reknowned paintings, including some masterpieces of some of the more famous artists of the Impressionist, Neo-Impressionist, Modernist, and many other artistic movements. I could tell Amber really wanted to spend a lot of time in there, but it was a modestly sized gallery, and we were able to see most of the works before we'd gotten hungry and decided to continue on our way.

We wandered around the city for a while, enjoying some Bratwurst and other local cuisine, before heading back to the hotel and turning in.

John nearly jumped out of his skin when this sign next to him scrolled suddenly.

We saw some awesome cars on display at the Bentley dealership in a Car Mall. Yes, a shopping mall, full of car dealerships.

Another zippy ride.

"I want that."

The New National Gallery

John dwarfed by a Lego Giraffe at the Lego Learning Center

The Sony Center, a plaza completely covered by a very cool roof.

"Nothing satisfies my thirst like an ice cold Shwip Schwap! Ahhhh!"

I could not pronounce this street name in the morning, by night, I think I could have managed. It's funny what you pick up after only a day!

The next day, Amber and I were really interested in seeing the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, in central West-Berlin. This church was mostly destroyed during World War II, and a new church was erected around its ruins, symbolizing Berlin's resolve to rebuild after all the horrible destruction. It was really a sight to see, and we really appreciated the contrast between the archaic and the modern.

While we were in the area, Amber was really anxious to explore the Breitscheidplatz, which is apparently one of the hottest shopping spots in Berlin. It was very posh, but we had fun wandering along the streets and observing all of the different european fashions.

A cool statue near the Kaiser Wilhelm Church.

The old Kaiser Wilhelm Church.

The New Kaiser Wilhelm Church.

Knowing that we have a million things we'd like to do on this vacation, we didn't plan on spending too much time in Berlin. I'd love to come back here sometime and truly explore all of the museums and art galleries with Amber, but for now, our overview served to give us a tempting taste of the Berlin culture and history.

It's been a long couple of days, but also an amazing experience. Now it's time to rest up for a day or two before our next adventure. We might go to visit Neuschwanstein, or explore the Rheine countryside, as our next excursion, but we want to be back in K'town for the 4th of July, not only because there will be a big celebration at John's base, but because we want to see Transformers: The Movie :) I know. Geeeeeks!

Stay tuned!