Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Our Trip to Berlin


OK, now that it has been a month, I feel like I shouldn't delay telling about my trip to Berlin anymore. (Besides that Jessica has done hers now. :)

While Jessica was here, she wanted to go see Berlin, so I invited myself and the boys to go with her. :) Steve had used up all his time off with our previous activities so Jess and I headed off without him. It is quite a ways away but we finally got there. On the first day we got ourselves a subway pass and went to see the things on Jessica's list. First we went to see the Memorial for the Murdered Jews. It was very interesting. They have over 2000 stone rectangles that are all the same size around, but vary greatly in height, and the ground they are sitting on slopes up and down in random places. Jessica read that it was something that looks like it has order but was actually very chaotic and confusing. It was very interesting and the boys of course had a great time hiding behind the stones. I started to tell them not to run around and be crazy since we were at a memorial, but then I realized that every other person there was playing hide and go seek, so I gave up trying to control my kleinkinder.
Next we went to see Berlins Christmas market which they kept open until New Years. We can always find great food at the Christmas markets.

And lastly that day we went to see Checkpoint Charlie. It was also a very interesting place with lots of stories to tell. This is the place in the Berlin wall were cars were able to pass in and out and it was guarded heavily as you can imagine.

The next day we went to see my favorite part of the trip. There is a place on Bernauer Strasse were part of the Berlin wall is still standing. We climbed this tower so we could see the wall and the "death strip" that was built to make it easier to see people trying to get across. There was a museum there also that was showing coverage of different events concerning the Berlin wall. Those clips are very memorable to me. It just showed the craziness of it all.
And here are the little darlings, harassing their baby brother. He loves it though.
We had a great time and I am so glad I got to see a little of this part of German history.

4 comments:

Jessica said...

I love the picture of Jacob looking like a groundhog. It was a great trip and now I think I can say I am done with Western Europe. You do have some wild and crazy cute boys.

Williams Family Dirt said...

So awesome....so jealous!!

Scott B. said...

Wow. That was a great write up and great pictures for what looks like a very cool trip. I'm glad you guys were daring enough to go even without Steve. It looks like it was worth it. What a fascinating place.

Roger said...

On closer examination of photo #1, I note the following:
1. Jessica is happy to be in Berlin.
2. Jacob is being his cooperative self.
3. Nathan LOVES to pose for a picture.
4. Steven either was a smart-alec one too many times, or it is time for him to get permanent teeth.