Berlin in a Day!

Day 7 - Today we would work HARD to pack as much of Berlin in as possible!  WW2, Cold War, Berlin Wall, Museums....let's do it ALL!

We started our morning off with an AMAZING breakfast at a place called Einsteins - not like the ones in America.  We had a pretty American breakfast which was a great start to our day.  We took off on our adventure to see as much as possible in the city.  First stop was to find the Fuhrer Bunker.  Now, this isn't actually a thing any more so we were looking for a parking lot with a sign to show you that you found it.  This is the location of Hitler's bunker where he and Ava Brown committed suicide at the end of WW2.  The city of Berlin decided long ago to demolish the bunker and to NOT make it a site to be seen.  We read about the location and what happened there and then moved along to our next stop.  As horrible as the history is it really is amazing to be standing in the places where so much history was made. 

Off we went to Checkpoint Charlie!  This was the US run checkpoint that marked the border between East and West Berlin.  The checkpoint itself is a small building with a few American flags and lots of tourists.  Around the area there is an outdoor museum that walks through the events of the Cold War and through the years of the Berlin Wall.  I really enjoyed reading about the history especially since it really is such recent history that our parents even experienced. 

After we took in Checkpoint Charlie we were wondering around a bit seeing some of the city when I realized I had lost our Berlin Welcome Card tickets.....Yep....those expensive tickets that Bryce didn't think we should buy in the first place?  Those.  #sigh.  I quietly told Anne then went to meet my maker and told Bryce.  She quietly told JD and we continued on our walk, quietly.  JD talked quietly to Bryce and I talked quietly to Anne.  I'm telling you the four of us are the BEST travel partners ever - we can pull each other through even the hardest of times - effortlessly :)

Anyway....of we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial - a must see for our group.  Here we were able to see one of the deadliest areas where so many people tried to pass across and failed.  Big parts of the wall were still up for the memorial and they had the memorial situated so that you could get a perspective for how that area looked when the wall was functional and in place.  There was a memorial for those who tried to cross and failed - it was heartbreaking to see old, young and even children that died trying to cross to the other side.  It really gives you perspective about a lot of the wall conversations happening today in our own country!  After taking in the memorial we had lunch at a small café right outside of the memorial. 

From there we would make our way to Museum Island.  Fun fact....2 of the 4 museums on the island (called an island because it is between two rivers) are closed on Monday...the day we were there.  Now...we found this out AFTER buying those damn Berlin Welcome Cards so we were scared to tell the guys because that was part of our justification for them being worth it.  We hadn't told the guys this just yet :).  When we got there we were super thankful there were still some museums open....we made our way to the line for the Pergamon Museum - lots of amazing artifacts from the middle east especially the reconstructed Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. 

After the Museum we walked down by the Berlin Cathedral and did pass backs on Anne and JD's Welcome Cards (yep....we learned something in college) to go in and look around.  During our wait we enjoyed some sunshine out in the park while a street band played, ate ice cream and relaxed.  It was pretty much perfect! 

After all of these destinations there was only one thing to do....grab a table by the river, have some beers and take in all the people watching reminiscing on our day!  It was an absolutely beautiful evening and the perfect cap to our tourist destinations.  After a couple beers we headed back towards the hotel - on the way we passed a place that had a used book sale.  I had heard about this place so I was glad we stumbled upon it!  Bryce found a book on St. Louis written in English but by a German author!  Cool find! 

Moving towards our hotel we freshened up quickly and headed to the concierge for help with dinner reservations.  We were in the mood for sushi!  He recommended a great local favorite so we hopped in a taxi and made our way there.  The sushi was VERY good and we were really enjoying ourselves.....until I was almost robbed.  Well....that sounds a little dramatic.  We were sitting at a bench style table with someone sitting with their back to mine.  I kept feeling him rustling around and did feel like my purse kept getting bumped.  I went all Midwest nice and gave him the benefit of the doubt - we must just be sitting too close!  Well...a VERY nice waitress saw what he was doing (trying to rummage through my purse) and came to stand in between us - she asked me to quickly make sure I wasn't missing anything while they chased the guy off.  Unfortunately this kind of thing happens a lot in the city - just because we weren't in a touristy destination doesn't mean we shouldn't have been on guard!  Lesson learned!  Luckily he didn't get anything, we had more sushi and another drink and saved the night!  On the way back home we stopped in an honest to god Salsa Bar where they were all dancing the Salsa - it looked straight out of Dirty Dancing!  We didn't stay....but it was a cool find!

Like most nights we closed our night with a few bourbons at the hotel bar.  This particular night JD thought he ordered Johnny Blue....but it wasn't. We all got a good laugh out of that.  Tomorrow we would be heading south for Munich!  Car.  Day!!

Deutschland! East Berlin/West Berlin....wait, what side are we on?

Day 6 - Travel day to Berlin

Our plane was set to leave from Stavenger at 10am.  Everything went great and we saw yet another perfectly clean airport in Norway - I swear this entire country was pristine!!  We had another layover in Amsterdam - we would be in that airport twice on this trip - and finally arrived around 2:30 ish in Berlin.  Our first stop was to pick up our car (this would probably be the first logistical mistake in Germany....stay tuned). 

Now....renting a car - seems like a fairly straight forward part of the planning process right?  Well...this was a VERY important step for the boys that included lots of research and decision making.  One word....Autobahn.  Next words....no speed limit.  Apparently this means that you need to get the MOST badass car possible for 4 people, 4 roller suitcases and 4 book bags.  So after much research the boys landed on a Mercedes S Class...230.  Now.  I know NOTHING about Mercedes but DAMN....S Class?  This was the nicest 4 door car I've been in.  The car basically drove itself but it also spoke German when we were introduced so that was the first order of business.  30 min later and a quick tutorial from the technician and she was speaking English :)  Anne and I had some sweet captains chairs in the back that were pure luxury.  The boys got to work on getting us to our hotel - in the middle of Berlin.  The trip was actually pretty straightforward and we were there before we knew it.  Right next to the same kind of rental car company - bahahaha!  So after we drove it into the city and paid to park for 2 nights we could have picked a car up right by our hotel - O well....you live you learn. 

Moving on, we were staying at the Hotel Adlon which is a historic hotel right next to the Brandenburg Gate!  Check that off the list!  Very cool area with lots of tourists and people watching :)  As we checked into the hotel it was clear this would be the most luxurious of all our hotels.  With the closet, WC, Bathroom, it was like a 4 room suite!  We would do our best to fit in drinking fancy bourbon at the bar. 

We headed out to check out some sights after getting to the hotel around 4pm.  We walked past the Holocaust Memorial which were a bunch of rectangle cement structures that represented all that died during that horrible time. 

From there we caught a cab to the Monkey Bar!  This was a bar on the top floor of a hotel right next to the Berlin Zoo - a very hip place to have a drink!  360 degrees view of the city and you can look down on the monkey cages!  Even at 5pm it was crazy busy.  We had a few great drinks and a snack just to ease everyone's anxiety of being in a new place we had to get the hang of.  From there we ate outside along the street at a restaurant called Brauhaus and had our first German dinner.  We had a great waiter who spoke 4 languages and entertained us while we were there.  On the way back we saw the Wilhelm - a bombed out church that the city left as was after war to show the devastation that the city saw.  You can still see places where buildings were hit with shrapnel all over the city but for the most part everything is built up like you would never know.  This church though represented what it was like just after the war - pretty cool to see. 

On our way home we bought Berlin Welcome Cards at the Subway station that would get us into museums and give us our transportation tickets.  The boys were not bought in but Anne and I were CERTAIN these were the best way to go.  We were bound and determined to make it worth our money....stay tuned for more on that tomorrow. 

Back to the hotel and a few before bed drinks would close out our first night in Berlin!