Berlin, Germany

If it's a holiday weekend, you'd better bet we are gonna be going somewhere!

This time, Berlin!  Todd had been to Berlin back in 1993, right after the fall of the wall, but the rest of us have never been.  So we picked the kids up a bit early from school and caught a train out of Vilseck.

And here we are once again on a train!

We got in late and had some issues finding our AirBnB (mostly our fault) so we pretty much went right to bed.  In the morning, we were checking out the owners sweet record collection and we stumbled upon THIS!  Hitler's Greatest Hits! What the heck?!?

But we got up bright and early on Saturday (ok ok, maybe not BRIGHT and early...) and began our tour of Berlin at the iconic Brandenburg Gate.  It's called so because it was the gate between the city of Berlin and the road that led to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.  It was actually constructed in the late 1700s, and even Napoleon passed through the gate in the early 1800s, but of course, all who didn't know about it certainly learned about it in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell (which actually stood in front of it by a hundred feet or so). 

ALL the Waldos peddling through the Brandenburg Gate.  Stag party, perhaps?  This was only the beginning of our adventures in bizarre Berlin!

Most of us remember this scene in November 1989.  You can tell from these two pictures that there has been some restoration and sprucing up of the gate since the late 80s.

The famous Ampelmännchen of Berlin. Sorry the picture is blurry.  I don't know why that happened!  This was the traffic walk signal in East Germany, and one of the few reminders of Communism  that still stand since the fall of the wall.  These guys are so popular, they sell little knick knacks of them all over the city!

Interestingly in the above picture, you can see the normal, West German/West Berlin walking man signal across the street.  The wall had been in between them.

On the same block as the Brandenburg Gate, there is a small memorial to only a few of the people who died trying to escape East Germany (and of course, East Berlin).  Unfortunately, one young man died in May 1989, only a few months before he would have legally had his freedom.

Our next stop, although it was brief, was the Reichstag. We inquired about going to the top of the dome (which you can barely see at the top), but they recommended we return the following day for Open Day.  Normally, it's required to register and provide photo ID to go to the top, but one day of the year, it's all open to the public for free and without ID.

Instead, a man trying to earn money for a trip to Australia was blowing massive bubbles on the lawn in front of the Reichstag and you would have thought he was giving out hundred dollar bills the way my kids went cuckoo for this!

All the bubbles and the cutest little boy.

Across the street from the Reichstag is the "Washing Machine."  This is the German Chancellery, where Chancellor Angela Merkel works.  All of the glass is symbolic of transparency.

One more shot of the Reichstag.  The four pillars at the top symbolize the original four kingdoms of the Germany Empire:  Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg.

Sitting unassumingly in front of the pre-fab visitor's center is a memorial to the murdered members of the Reichstag who died opposing the National Socialists (Nazi's). Most of them were sent to concentration camps.

Two cuties in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

If you were tooling around Berlin, you might not even know that this simple dual brick line marks the spot where the Berlin Wall used to stand.

We decided to do a Hop on Hop Off bus tour.  We were going to do the Rick Steves walking tour, which we always find to be incredibly interesting and informative (one might even say evocative!) but then we learned that Berlin is 892 square kilometers and is fifth largest by size in the EU, so we opted for the bus tour! All the feets were happy with this decision!

This is the Carillon in the Berlin Tiergarten.  It has 68 bells!

The Victory Column is in the Tiergarten as well.  It's a monument to the victory of the Prussians over the Danish in 1864. The Nazi's moved it to it's present location as it originally stood in the Königsplatz.  You can go to the top, but after my experience at the Columbus Monument in Barcelona, no thank you!

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was built in 1890, only to be heavily damaged during World War II in 1943.  The most interesting thing is that it's almost a shell of what it used to be, yet they are still trying to work on it.  It doesn't appear to be even close to its original stature though. You can still see the cracks in the mosaic ceiling (and a lost balloon!) but it's really quite pretty within what is left of the inside.

Before and after.  Interestingly, there isn't even this much of the church left.  Much of it had to be torn down.

And here is what we have left of the church.

Jesus used to be pointing his arm up, almost in a manner of blessing.  But that was damaged in the war.

So right next door (and I mean literally, as I took this picture from the doorway of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church), they built a new, incredibly-ugly-from-the-outside church. 

 But you MUST go inside!  It's so beautiful! There are 21,292 glass inlays forming the (mostly blue) stained glass that surrounds the church.  I love that the representation of Jesus near the alter does not include a crucifix, but instead, Jesus himself represents the cross with his arms out wide.  Holes are present in his hands and feet, indicating he is dead or at least dying.  This is not a younger representation of Jesus.

Now we are off the bus and roaming around Potsdamer Platz.  We didn't want to linger long, since there had been some protests the day before that were expected to continue into this day.  Pepper spray had been involved, and we wanted no part of that!

There is a great Berlin Wall Memorial and exhibition just north of the river, but we didn't have time to go there on this trip.  It's DEFINITELY on my list.  We did catch a few glimpses here and there, however, of the original pieces of the wall (in this instance, they are in their original location).  They've been so littered with gum though, it's really gross.

 Straddling the one time boundary of Communism.

Not too far from Potsdamer Platz is the Holocaust Memorial. There are 2,711 concrete slabs of varying height (all other angles are the same however) and the land beneath slopes so that the slabs grow taller or shorter as you walk around.  A lot of people didn't (and still don't) like the design of this memorial, but I didn't think it was too bad.  I like art (and music) that allows you to interpret things any way you want to.

The ground looks like waves, and Natalie liked the shadowing of the concrete pillars so she made me take this picture.

Bwahahahahahahahaha!  It's a floating Grant head! 

You can see the height of the blocks gets shorter as you head toward this particular side of the memorial.

We love the funny little cars of Berlin!

One thing that the German's DO NOT talk about is Hitler.  They don't have any memorials or tourist attractions related to him except this one (and others that had meaning before or after him, not because of him).  This was the Bunker where he and his wife Eva killed themselves on April 30, 1945.  They do not want to put up memorials for people to remember him, but I guess they were ok with a little sign (because that is ALL there is.  It's just a parking lot otherwise) talking about the best thing to happen to Germany... his death!

Grant walking all over the ground above where the bunker once was.  Joseph Goebbels, his wife and their 6 kids also committed suicide here.  There were 30 rooms in all, with concrete 13 feet thick walls surrounding them. With the Soviets closing in fast, Hitler shot himself and his wife took cyanide.  The bodies were then taken to the gardens of the Reich Chancellery and burned.  (There are many conspiracy theorists who say they were still alive!)

Checkpoint Charlie.  Sponsored by: VISA!  (Thankfully, I was able to cut out the KFC and McDonalds that are also on this block).

Across the street from Checkpoint Charlie is a little museum of sorts.  Even Grant passed my test when I asked him, "How can you tell the difference between the East Berlin side of the wall and the West Berlin side of the wall?"  Because one (West Berlin) is covered in graffiti and the other isn't!

Pardon the blurriness of my crappy iPhone. But this was interesting given how Germany wants to sweep Hitler under the rug like it never happened!  Not that they don't remember.  They just want nothing to do with him!  As I mentioned above, his death was the best part, so they do mention (or give information) about this occasionally.

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

I was 13 years old and in the 8th grade when the wall fell.  I remember watching it all evening long on the 13" television in my bedroom in Florida.  It was unbelievable to me, even at the time!

Don't laugh at me. We bought this magnet!  (We collect magnets and shot glasses from our trips ha ha).  You are entering the American sector.  Carrying weapons off duty forbidden.  Obey traffic rules."  After WWII, Berlin was divided into 4 sectors:  The Soviet sector (in the east, obviously), the British sector (to the west), the French sector (to the north) and the American sector (to the south).

It's kind of sad now that you have to pay a couple of actors to get a funny picture at the checkpoint (which we did NOT do.  It just seems disrespectful!)  You can see those guys on the right. 

The Soviet soldier is keeping a watchful eye on the American sector.

The kids were highly entertained by the funny tiny cars driving around in parades.  The bus driver on our Hop on Hop Off tour said you could rent these for the day, spend a lot of money and really pollute the air!

The French Cathedral in the late afternoon. On the same platz, there is a German Cathedral and a concert hall between the two churches.

Why yes.  Those people are wearing felt traffic cones on their heads.

You pretty much know when you reach East Berlin.  It's so functional and depressing. 

Socialist realism was state-sanctioned art.  If it didn't further or support the cause, you weren't allowed to paint it or sculpt it.  This one is located in the Alexanderplatz and was designed by Walter Womacka. 

Our last stop of the day was the giant Berlin TV Tower.  By no means beautiful, it fulfills my love for superlatives as it is the tallest structure in Germany and second tallest structure in all of the European Union. The Riga (Latvia) Radio and TV tower is taller by half a meter.  (Must. Get. To. Riga).  There are taller structures in the Ukraine and Russia, but they aren't a part of the EU.

Crocodiles spitting water at the Neptune Fountain in Berlin.  Todd tried to tell me a joke that I didn't laugh at that went something like this:

Todd:  "That is an alligator.  Do you know how you tell the difference?"

Me:  "Yes, it has to do with their jaw structure and teeth."

Todd: "Nope."

Me: "Then how?"

Todd: "Because an alligator says see you later, and a crocodile says after while.

Seriously.  We've seen some weird stuff around Berlin. This one might be the icing on the cake.  No, it's not a weave.  It's an actual braid that apparently someone cut off.  Locks of Love could have used this!

What's taller than Todd?  Hmmm.  The Berlin TV Tower!

Formerly Communist East Berlin and it's awful concrete block structures.

I'm obsessed with windmill fields. It reminds me of the structure they built in the movie Contact, which is one of my favorite movies!

Sun starting to set over the Reichstag and it's dome.  The green area you see is the Tiergarten (sort of Berlin's Central Park, although not nearly as big!)

I like churches, but I can't get my family to go to very many (or any) of them. This is the Berlin Cathedral from the TV Tower.  It was consecrated in 1454 as a Catholic Church, but currently serves as the head of the Protestant church in Berlin.  (Stop me if you've heard this one before!) It was torn down at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and a larger church and dome were rebuilt by 1905. Like almost everything else in Berlin, it was heavily damaged in WWII.  It finally reopened in 1993 after the fall of the GDR.

The Brandenburg Gate with my ultra zoom lens!  The building to the left of the gate (the lighter colored one) is the U.S. Embassy.

The Sony Center in Berlin is designed to look like Mount Fuji in Japan.  Super cool!

Another view of the Brandenburg Gate to the left and the Reichstag to the right.

The elevator to the top of the Berlin TV Tower is fast (fast enough to make your ears pop as you fall from the 679 foot viewing platform).  You also get to actually watch the elevator in action through the ceiling. 

These posters are up all over Germany (we even have them in our little farm town!).  The kids think they are hilarious.  (!!)  "Mommy, why is he putting ice on his privates?"  Gee, thanks Liebes Leben!

Stolpersteine on Karl Marx Str. in Berlin.  These always tug at my heart.

On day two, the U bahn dropped us off at the Brandenburg Gate again.  He's strong folks.  It was drizzling a bit so we decided to do more indoor activities!

Walking to the Reichstag... Berlin has pretty manhole covers, too!

Wait, what?  (We would later find out that you could follow a particular color arrow and get to A, B or C locations within the Bundestag or the Reichstag).  We started the tour at the Paul Loeb Building of the Bundestag, which is kind of akin to our U.S. House of Representatives.  It was the 13th Open Day in the history of the government, and we really had fun!  There were games for the kids to play (although they were in German), tours that were given, plenty of exhibitions and lots of cool things to see and do.  And they were giving away swag.  Can't beat it!

We totally won some cool swag at this place.  I got a coffee mug and the kids got a cool Berlin puzzle!  It was a EU geography quiz.  That's totally my jam!

The inside of the rarely-open-to-the-public (other than pre-scheduled guided tours) Paul Loeb Haus.  I immediately thought it looked like a prison, but I won't read too deep into that!  For entrance into all of the buildings of the Bundestag/Reichstag, you normally need advanced reservations and pay an entrance fee.  But not today!

The modern but cool looking Marie Elisabeth Luders Haus.  That's the Spree River in between the buildings (not loving THIS poor floodplain management!)

Wir Sind Ein Volk.  We are one people.  There was some information and art in the underground hallway between the Loeb building and the Reichstag that was pretty neat.

The Reichstag was (naturally) heavily damaged during WWII.  Not much was left, and it wasn't rebuilt until the 1960s.  But they did try to salvage as much history as they could, including the autographs and graffiti left over from the Soviet soldiers in the final battle for Berlin in April and May 1945 (right around the time Hitler committed suicide).  Most of the writings are just the names of soldiers, as anything vulgar has been removed. 

The debating chamber of the German Parliament.  So cool we got to go in here!

Natalie and Grant, dreaming of meeting Angela Merkel on the Parliament floor.

I *almost* convinced Todd to hop on a C2 Rower and try to crush all of the German's in their funny rowing competition!  USA!  USA!  USA!  (I kid, I kid... he didn't want to get too sweaty trying to break the records!)

Oh hello there, Brandenburg Gate!  As seen from the top of the Reichstag roof.  Eirene, the goddess of peace is being driven in a chariot drawn by four horses.

Me and Natalie in the mirrored reflection of the dome. This cone of mirrors reflects natural light into the debating chamber below. 

The entire dome is actually open air, but with tons of glass windows.  It allows for fresh air circulation (or as some say, the escape of all of the "hot air" from down below in the debating chamber!)

You can faintly see the chairs in the chamber below.

This large shield actually blocks the direct sunlight from blinding everyone!  It rotates as the sun moves across the sky.

Bailey selfie in the mirrored cone of the Reichstag dome.

Lunch time!  This child makes the FUNNIEST faces!

The kids were dying to do something fun and Berlin has an awesome Madame Tussauds... so of course, we went.  Natalie is trying to channel her inner Elliot here and be very, very afraid of flying on a bicycle with an alien.

Photo of a photo of our family at Madame Tussauds!

Grant, just chipping away at the Berlin Wall.  Good job, buddy!

Me and JFK.  You know.  Just hanging out. Ich bin ein Berliner!  Interesting story about this quote... for a long time, I believed (due to urban legend) that Kennedy had, in fact called himself a jelly donut.  A Berliner is a donut that looks similar to a Boston Crème but is usually filled with jelly and covered with powdered sugar.  But to say "Ich bin Berliner" would imply that he had actually been born in Berlin so instead, he used the indefinite article "ein."  Using "ein" CAN certainly imply that he was saying he was a jelly donut! However, if one is talking about being a Berliner hypothetically (in spirit), then he actually used the correct phrase, "Ich bin ein Berliner." So that phrase actually has two meanings. While technically he did call himself a jelly donut, one must always consider the context.

Natalie couldn't believe Anne Frank was here.  She's actually currently reading the Diary of Anne Frank!

No, no... "nobody has the intention of building a wall." 

Todd likes that he was taller than Gorbachev.

Natalie decided that she thought President Obama needed a hug.  (Also, this recreation is CLEARLY from very early on his presidency!)

Then she decided Ronald Reagan needed a hug as well.

Grant giving a speech about why he enjoys Angela Merkel's foreign policy. 

Todd is PJPII's personal body guard.  Interesting that with the hat, he seems MUCH taller!

Todd and Einstein could practically be twins.

Natalie, as Shakespeare's muse.

Et tu, Brute!?

Natalie and Marilyn, oooo la la!

TOTALLY.

 Madame Tussaud's is right up our alley.  Too bad you are already seeing ALL of our Christmas card photos for this year. 

So I have a little crush on Manuel Neuer, the goalie for Bayern Munchen (and the German national team).  He looks a little sweaty here!

Now you listen here, Steffi Graf!

Natalie was really excited to get a wax figure of her hand!  That wax was hot though!

"Wait, wait. I need a picture of me schooling Dirk."

This little girl was about as happy as it comes.  They were playing T-Swizzle songs and you could "play" the instruments with her and sing into the microphone like you were on a real stage!  She could have spent all day here!

Meanwhile.... I'm all like Animal on the drums!

The two newest members of One Direction!

Oh I came in like a wrecking ball, all right!

When DJ Calvin Harris needs some assistance, he calls upon Grant Bailey to provide the sickest beats.

Dang, this one looked super real of Rey! (Or Daisy Ridley, if we're getting technical).  Love the kids faces here.  Oh Grant!!!!

That time Darth Vader tried to cut my head off with a light saber (and the Storm Troopers were all photobombing in the background).

Todd thought they did a really good job with Han Solo.  He's very pleased with himself for being taller than Harrison Ford!

The kids favorite Star Wars characters! 

Todd goes, "Wow.  That one actually looks real!"  Ha ha!

We were kind of obsessed with the Star Wars room ha ha!

We came out of the U after our Madame Tussaud's adventures, and we saw this place.  We initially thought it was a church, so I took this picture.  Later, on our way back to the train station to head home on Monday, our cab driver said it used to be a train station (Anhalter Bahnhof)... one where they deported Jews to concentration camps.   

It started raining (pouring, really!) so we decided to go to the Checkpoint Charlie museum.  I really, really wish I could come to places like this without the kids.  I try to do as much reading as I can about things (and admittedly, as cool as this museum was, there is a TON of reading), but sometimes I just have to skip things to keep it moving along so the kids don't get bored and freak out.  This VW Beetle was used to smuggle people across the border between East and West Berlin.

This story was pretty fascinating.  This guy smuggled his East German girlfriend across the border by cutting out the inside of the passenger seat of his car, putting her in there, and then covering it back up.  She escaped!

If Grant had to escape East Berlin, this is totally how he would have done it.  By making his own airplane!

Well that's one way to do it.  This ladder type device folded up to fit in a bag.  It took a few minutes to set up, but then collapsed to hide the evidence!

This makes me claustrophobic just looking at it.  It also makes my hips and back hurt. 

Craig Finn of The Hold Steady likes my tweet!!!!  I took this picture on the way to the HBF as we were heading home on Monday.  We had a blast in Berlin, but naturally didn't get to see everything we wanted to!  Until next time, Berlin!