Christmas Adventure Part 3: Berlin

We stayed with a family in Berlin and they were the nicest people ever and fed us amazing German food constantly… we barely wanted to leave the house (thanks, Elisa! Glockenspiel be damned, I’m really glad we went to Berlin over Munich. The whole East/West division was absolutely incredible. We stayed with a family that had lived (well, actually, still lives) in East Berlin and the father told us all about it on our way in from the airport. My only complaint is we brought them the tastiest cake in Vienna (stupidly not buying any for ourselves) and they didn’t eat it (nor share…) while we were there… another reason to go back to Vienna. We spent like three or four hours at the Berlin Wall historical museum which was incredibly well done and had all this historical information and personal stories and artifacts of things people used to get across the wall (like retrofitted cars, hot-air balloons, scuba diving equipment, etc.). Phenomenal.

Museum.
Posing with the East German soldier at Checkpoint Charlie. Awkward/tactless/amazing Rachel moment: Jessie was getting her passport stamped at the checkpoint and the guy was like, "Fischer (her last name).... hmmmm...." and Rachel blurts out, "Jeeeeeeeeew." The amazingly German guy turns to her, blankly staring for a couple of awkward seconds--it seemed like he was either going to scream at us for ratial/historical insensitivity or be really depressed for the rest of the day--but then lets out this huge, boisterous laugh... it kind of weird actually, but hilarious evidence that 50 years later, Germans can still appreciate a self-deprecating Nazi joke. (Note for the sake of a tad of PC-ness: Rachel is Jewish)

The one thing we didn’t take advantage of were the antiquity museums that are supposed to be fantastic. Sigh. Other than that, we did a whole bunch of incredible sight-seeing that you can see from the pictures, tried to find this really awesome club, got lost and settled on this really awkward but fun bar.
City hall.
Now don't go all McCarthy on me...

Looking at the church from the antiquity museum.
Reichtag!!! Seriously one of my favorite buildings in Europe. Neither the French nor the English built such a state-image projecting center.



and the new modern additions. Apparently the mirrors are so that the legislators in the chaimber below can look up and see the people they work to serve (and also the whole symbolism of people above the government, yada, yada). anyway, way cool
Brandenburg Gate.