The kids and Don had a week off in February, so we decided to take a trip to Berlin. It's less than a 4 hour drive (on the autobahn!!) and we loved the city. Learning more about the history of the city was really interesting and we snuck in some fun too.
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| Don cruisin' on the autobahn (this picture was taken during the split second where I didn't have my hands over my eyes) |
Our first stop upon arrival was Checkpoint Charlie (one of three places that people could cross between East and West Berlin). It was pretty cheesy with actors dressed like American soldiers posing for pictures, but you know we can't pass up on a photo op, so...
Time to explore the city, so we were off to the metro station to try out the U.
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| Getting ready to ride the U! |
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| Success! |
Feeling a little brave, we signed up for a 2.5 hour walking tour of Berlin. It was just a little above freezing and although 4 year-olds aren't exactly their target clientele, we decided to press our luck. Believe it or not, the kids were little troopers. We made it through the entire tour with only a few shoulder rides and one donut stop :)
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| Checking out the Bradenburger Tor |
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| The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (aka: the Holocaust Memorial), it contains 2711 concrete slabs |
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| A section of the Berlin Wall |
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| Under this parking lot was the bunker where Hitler killed himself. |
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| A memorial to the burning of books in Bebelplatz Square, you can't see from this picture, but there are empty bookcases below with a spot for every title that was burned. |
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| The TV Tower, which reflects a cross when the sun shines on it... it is known as the "Pope's Revenge" as the tower was built at a time when crosses were not permitted in Berlin, yet a giant cross could be seen from anywhere in the city. |
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| Here's that donut stop I mentioned :) |
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| Another piece of the wall |
At night we were really fortunate to have the chance to tour the Reichstag Building, which is a beautiful government building where the German Parliament meets. We got to go all the way to the top of the dome and saw really beautiful views of the city. Unfortunately the glass really reflected, so there weren't any good pictures of the outside, but we got some good ones inside.
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| Inside the dome |
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| Walking up the dome |
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| Looking down from above to see the room where Parliament meets |
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| Bradenburger Tor at night |
Waiting for a bus with my buddies |
Definitely one of the highlights of Berlin was the food... we LOVED German food!!
We really liked our hotel and the kids really liked this weird bear standing on his head outside of our hotel...
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| Let's swim! |
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| One night at about 11pm a fire alarm went off. We quickly through the kids into warm clothes and had to exit the hotel until we got the all clear |
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| Don explaining what a fire drill is... I'm not sure they got it. |
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| Moved into the lobby - a little warmer. |
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| Firefighters hard at work :) |
After a lot of sightseeing, we decided it was time to do something for the kids, so we were off to the Sony Center to check out Legoland.
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| Family photo at the Sony Center |
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| Sony Center |
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| LEGOLAND!!! |
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| It's an ice-lolly break! |
Our mini-vacation to Berlin ended up being an interesting and fun trip. Maybe we'll go back when it's just a little warmer...
