Germany is an interesting place if you are American. Historically and physically. I mean, the Allies bombed the shit out of the country in World War II and then there was the whole East Germany vs. West Germany until the late 80’s. Actually the wall started to come down on November 9th, 1989. Funny enough, the Germans celebrate on October 3rd. As you may know, we were in Berlin on October 3rd. What a party. The town was alive and the day was sunny and beautiful and there were concerts and the whole town was a party. Here is a picture of me at the Brandenburger Tor (Brandburg Gate to you and me). This was the demarcation of the east and west during the cold war. Now it is on of the biggest tourist attractions on Berlin. At the base of the gate, the city had set up a big concert stage and many of Germany’s biggest rock acts performed all day. Because we had the Farty Pants twins and the in-laws with us, we decided to bypass the festivities at the gate and moved on to other sites around the capital. Regardless, it was awesome to just see the gate. I have to confess, this picture was taken On October 4th, the day after the party. We couldn’t get anywhere near this gate on October 3rd. Where I am standing was the backstage area on that day. But on October 3rd we did go here. This is the whole family at Alexanderplatz. This place is dreary and ugly. And this is 20 years after the wall came down. This was the main square of the Capital of East Berlin. The center of the communist state. The clock we are standing in front of is what replaced a beautiful statue that was once on this site. They melted it down to make weapons. Now this clock is here to remind everyone of the worldliness of the East. We a standing in front of the San Francisco part of the clock. It was 2AM in San Francisco. But the clock does not take into account daylight savings time, so it was actually 3AM in SF when we took this picture. After that, we went to the Holocaust memorial. Amazing! We went to the Sony Center. Awesome. And we went to Bundestag. This is equivalent to the Capitol in Washington DC. This is where the laws are made and the big decisions are handed down. The new heart of German politics. I am actually standing in front of it with the Farty Pants Twins. You can see how nice and sunny it was at 5PM.  Right in front of me is the German version of the “White House” where the Chancellor works.

So those are some of the pictures from Berlin. We had a nice time and the weather held out for us so we really had nothing to complain about. The girls were great. They jumped on and off subways, buses and maneuvered through crowds like pros. Real world travelers at 2 1/2 years old.

If you have time to visit Berlin. I would suggest you add it to your itinerary. It is the new Capital of Germany and a pretty happening place. The transportation system is efficient and the people were pleasant. No complaints here.

 

Oh and Congratulations to Melissa for guessing the correct location and name of the guess the photo I posted the other day. To view her correct answer, go to the comments section of the photo I posted.

 

 

 

 

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