Teil zwei

Alright, we're back....

Tuesday night in Berlin: after thawing out in the apartment and resting our legs and our bellies, we headed out to find some dinner. I was done with the metro and exploring for the day, (I probably could have done more and wanted to do more but my two tiny travel companions were done!) so we headed down the street in search for something to eat. At the Strausberger Platz we discovered our options: Italian or Chinese. Not being super excited for either, we walked back in search of some quick take out. By this time however, our feet are cold and we can no longer feel our noses, so I took some cold sad ladies home and Brian ordered us some Vietnamese Thai fusion takeout. Quite the Berlin night, eh?

(Celia in search for some food...have I mentioned before how much she LOVES to eat snow? Get this lady a glass of milk and she's set for dinner!)

Moving on, we wake on Wednesday for some toy shopping and Christmas Markets. Brian

headed off for his Berlin Tour, (we divided and conquered on this trip...although the ladies would probably be great on the tour, it was way to cold to drag them around. So B went first on Wednesday while the ladies and I went shopping!) and we headed out for the Ka Di Wi Department Store. We made it to the 5th floor and discover a floor dedicated to doudous! It was awesome! Every kind of doudou you can imagine was stuffed and on display, ready for small hands to grab and play with! The ladies went NUTS checking out all the fun toys and after 35 minutes of debate were able to select our German Doudou: a dinosaur for Elise and a small cat for Celia!

We left the Ka Di Wi in great spirits: we were warm, we had new doudous, and the fun was only beginning. Walking towards the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche, (which turned out to be completely covered in scafolding while they do some reconstruction), we came across an awesome Christmas Market! It was a perfect time to stop and enjoy a pretzel, a carousel ride, and a few spins on the merry go round before our feet freeze and it's time to return home!

Can you find Elise?

Wednesday dinner was a much bigger success than Tuesday. Germany has a very large Turkish population and during our Berlin trip we made it a priority to head down to Kreuzburg and taste some authentic turkish grub. We found Doyum Grillhause online and headed down there for an incredible dinner. We all shared some fabulous red lentil soup, lamb kabobs in garlic eggplant yogurt sauce, spiced kabob, salad, and turkish pizza. The dinner was outstanding!

Finally it's Thursday and it's my turn for a Berlin tour before we all head off to the airport. I met my group at 9:00 in front of the Brandenburg Gate and our tour guide Sam, a fine englishman who is working towards a masters in German history, took us off to explore some of the amazing sites and secrets of Berlin. Although it was freezing cold and I eventually lost all feeling in my limbs, the tour was fascinating. After talking about the Brandenburg Gate and the Pariser Platz, we went on to the Holocaust Memorial. Every part of the tour was a learning experience. We stood on the grounds of the bunker where Hitler took his life. Now a parking lot, the German government made a decision to not memorialize the location in any way. There is little acknowledgment or remembrance for the Nazi Army in fear that any memorial will turn into a place of hatred. Instead there is a small sign at the entrance of the parking lot asking you not to bother the residence of the surrounding apartment buildings about the location. Sam informed us that although most of the bunker has been destroyed, there are still some remains of the 4 meter walls that surrounded the structure.

The tour continued with a stop at the former SS Headquarters and along the Berlin Wall. We stopped off at Checkpoint Charlie and learned about some fabulous escape attempts. It was really an amazing experience to go through the city and learn about all the history. From the Huguenots migration to the book burnings of the past, I feel like my tour was just a small taste of what all happened in this amazing city.

As we were finishing our tour, I was quite amazed at the number of tour buses and other walking tours that were taking place around us. So many people flock to Berlin to learn about the past and experience it's history. And I just can't help but wonder what it must feel like as a Berliner to live in a place of such history: for both the beauty and the evil. This city once housed one of the most evil humans of all time and I imagine that must affect at least some part of your life. At just about every moment of the day in Berlin there is a guide discussing some aspect of that evil past. But then again, they are also pointing out incredible museums, beautiful monuments, churches, and buildings. It's quite the dichotomy that must make living and experiencing Berlin an amazing experience! One that I'm glad to have taken part in!