Berlin - the sun and the rain!

Day 22 - Exploring Berlin

Our goal of the day was to see some of the most important sights in Berlin. After another hearty German hotel breakfast, we bought a transit pass and enjoyed the double-decker buses. Of course we were always on the top!

Our first stop was the Reichstag building. We had 10am reservations to enter the building and take elevators to the rooftop terrace. The dome was closed due to cleaning. Bad timing! We had to make advanced reservations and bring passports to enter because of security. It's sort of like visiting the US Capitol or the White House. The views were great!


We meandered further on foot to the very moving Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe. It almost felt wrong to take pictures. We did our best to explain the history to the kids but to this day, I still have trouble grasping the enormity of WWII.

We continued to Brandenburg Gate. Probably the single most identifiable symbol in Berlin.

We took the bus further and took great pictures around Berlin. We especially liked the stoplights with the famous ampelmann.

Poor DD#2 got one of her infamous bloody noses. It was a such a hot day!

We sampled chocolate from a famous chocolate shop (Fassbender & Rausch) with impressive chocolate art. Little did we know that this would be our 2nd favorite chocolate event of the day!

These bears are all over Berlin:

DD#2 and I climbed to the top of the French Cathedral while the other half found some curry wurst. Check out all those cranes! Loads of construction going on in Berlin.

We took a short subway ride to the touristy Checkpoint Charlie. They hire actors to portray American soldiers. We spent about 10 minutes here but at least we can say we were there.

We continued on to the Ritter-Sport Chocolate Museum and Store. Possibly our favorite stop of the day! We bought a ton of chocolate at great prices, the kids made their own custom chocolate bars, and we had ice cream. Chocolate heaven!

We were tired so we headed back to the hotel for a break. DH was so hot and our humble pension did not have AC or even a fan to borrow. He trekked down to a department store and bought a fan so we could circulate some air around our hot room. We kept it easy and found a nearby beer garden along the Spree River for dinner. Berlin is great but like most big cities, they are exhausting!

Day 23 - Splitting up and Exploring Berlin, Part 2!

Kids were become restless and cranky. We decided to divide and conquer! DH and DD#1 took off for the Berlin Wall Memorial while DD#2 and I opted to shop, walk, and climb another tower.
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church:

Parts of the Berlin Wall:

The Victory Tower in Tiergarten Park:

Berlin's famous Curry Wurst for lunch:

Despite the rain, we decided to check out one of Berlin's public pools for a swim.

We continued on subway to a new neighborhood in East Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg for dinner. First we had apps at Prater Biergarten and dinner at Metzer Eck. I'm a big fan of Berliner Weiss. The choices were having it red or green. I opted for red both times. I think they throw in some berry syrup. All I know it that it's delicious!