We wanted to try to hit the Reichstag (the German Parliament building) first thing because the crowds are supposed to be so bad, but alas, we were not really prepared to be out of the hotel early enough. Our friends, Steve and Liz , were brave enough to venture to Berlin with us (despite all the ruckus in France) and we all decided to try a hop-on hop-off tour bus rather than walk ourselves to death again!
Matt and I got to our meeting place 45 minutes early because we were so determined not to make Steve and Liz wait for us! It took us a good half hour to find somewhere to park, so we really ended up being barely on time!
But, while we were waiting for the Tour bus, Tori fell in a big mud puddle and got her pants soaking wet! All her extra clothes were back in the hotel and it was pretty cool outside, so I took off her pants and wrapped her in Isaac's jacket. She started toddling off with sleeves dragging the ground and I was walking close behind, but struggling to put on my sweater... and then she fell, and, not being able to catch herself because of Isaac's sleeves, she busted her poor little lip open on the craggy cobblestone sidewalk of Berlin! It was so, so , so sad. We both cried and I felt like the worst mom in the universe. Then later that night, she fell off the bed at the hotel and scraped the other side of her lip and bruised her poor baby head! Here she is in the bath after we got "home" to Stuttgart. You can't really see the bruises, but you can kind of see her lip...
The wind just kept blowing, so we all loaded onto the tour bus and headed off to see Berlin! We hopped off at Unter Den Linden, which is the most famous street here:
Our first big stop was the Brandenburg gate, which was originally considered a symbol of peace, the angel on top was called the Goddess of Peace until Napolean captured the statue and put it in the Louvre. When they (the Prussians) finally re-captured it, they re-named it the Goddess of Victory. "Who needs peace- we'd rather win!" But then they re-dedicated it as a symbol of peace after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. This is a popular tourist spot, and you can take your picture with just about anyone, some who have nothing to do with Berlin, or peace or WWII or anything:
Isaac was pretty stoked to see a Storm Trooper there, though!
In all the big cities, we have found random people painted with metallic make-up and dressed up like some famous person from the city. You tip them and take a picture and it's got to be a very interesting way to make a living...
And finally after making it through all the other pics, we got a family pic (Tori sans pants, of course)
The Brandenburg Gate from farther away:
Like I said, Just about anyone will get into metallic make-up to make a buck!
Then we headed over to the Reichstag Building... we weren't really planning to make it inside because we had heard that the lines were so very long and it was now after 11.... we thought we would just get some pics out in front and have to miss the tour of the impressive Glass Cupola at the top. :(The inscription on the top says "For the German People".
Here I am with the kids, Tori sleeping now (You can see the line stretching out in front of the building- it goes way past where we are standing out into the grassy yard.)
But then, this super nice guy came over and told us that he saw our stroller and that there is a family entrance on the side! So we went around to the side and only had to wait behind like four other families to get to the top! It was such a blessing and I think my favorite part of Berlin was not having to wait in that line with my children! I guess that doesn't speak too highly of Berlin, but it's true!
Inside the dome, a cone of 360 mirrors reflects natural light into the legislative chamber below. Lit from inside at night, the glass dome and mirrored cone give Berlin a very memorable night-light!
Tori wasn't really impressed with all the environmental mumbo- jumbo, "Huh?" she says:
This is the top of the glass cone that my children are sliding down. (They try to be destructive where ever possible.) This draws hot air out of the chamber below and pulls in cool air from below.
Here are Isaac, Daphne and Zack (Steve and Liz's son) on the top of the Reichstag (Notice the ominous clouds behind them):
Those clouds followed through on their threat, so to escape the rain, we headed back to the bus, which quickly lost the initial thrill for Isaac and Daphne:
And here's Tori, in desperate need of more sleep:
When the rain subsided, we stopped off at Checkpoint Charlie. This was the most famous border checkpoint between the American and Soviet sectors of Berlin during the Cold War. Just a short distance from the East German Border guards, Checkpoint Charlie stood "defiantly showing off all the clever escapes over, under and through the wall". Over the years, there were over 5000 documented escapes from East Germany into West Germany and 565 of these were East German Guards! Matt and I thought it was pretty amusing that these guys would get assigned as border guards along the gate and then just disappear into American territory.
But then, this super nice guy came over and told us that he saw our stroller and that there is a family entrance on the side! So we went around to the side and only had to wait behind like four other families to get to the top! It was such a blessing and I think my favorite part of Berlin was not having to wait in that line with my children! I guess that doesn't speak too highly of Berlin, but it's true!So here are some pics from the Glass Cupola at the top of the Reichstag. Not only is it very beautiful, it is a very "green" way of energizing the building. Although I must say... I'm not as impressed with all their "energy-efficiency" as I'm supposed to be. For a country that rarely has days in the nineties, it probably isn't such a big deal to not have air conditioning. For those of you back home in the blistering heat of Texas and even Utah, for that matter, I think giving up air-conditioning is a much greater sacrifice. I must say though dear,dear Germany: if you are going to boycott air conditioning, I think you should re-consider the boycott of deoderant. I am pretty sure that America's use of deoderant isn't increasing global warming. Just a thought.
The glass cupola was impressive... I must give credit where credit is due!
We all have on little head phones that only cover one ear- if you are wondering!
Inside the dome, a cone of 360 mirrors reflects natural light into the legislative chamber below. Lit from inside at night, the glass dome and mirrored cone give Berlin a very memorable night-light!
Tori wasn't really impressed with all the environmental mumbo- jumbo, "Huh?" she says:
This is the top of the glass cone that my children are sliding down. (They try to be destructive where ever possible.) This draws hot air out of the chamber below and pulls in cool air from below.
Here are Isaac, Daphne and Zack (Steve and Liz's son) on the top of the Reichstag (Notice the ominous clouds behind them):
Those clouds followed through on their threat, so to escape the rain, we headed back to the bus, which quickly lost the initial thrill for Isaac and Daphne:
And here's Tori, in desperate need of more sleep:
When the rain subsided, we stopped off at Checkpoint Charlie. This was the most famous border checkpoint between the American and Soviet sectors of Berlin during the Cold War. Just a short distance from the East German Border guards, Checkpoint Charlie stood "defiantly showing off all the clever escapes over, under and through the wall". Over the years, there were over 5000 documented escapes from East Germany into West Germany and 565 of these were East German Guards! Matt and I thought it was pretty amusing that these guys would get assigned as border guards along the gate and then just disappear into American territory. Here we are (Tori sleeping again):
We were moved by many of the pictures in the museum:
Checkpoint Charlie isn't actually there anymore, just a museum and a re-c
reation of how it looked:
This year in November will mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We went to see the remains of the wall.
We were moved by many of the pictures in the museum: Checkpoint Charlie isn't actually there anymore, just a museum and a re-creation of how it looked:
This year in November will mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We went to see the remains of the wall.The Wall was 100 miles long and was constructed by the East German Government (Russia), to stop the outward flow of people into West Germany (governed by the Allies predominantly the U.S.A, along with Britain and France). Between 1949 and 1961, 3 million people leaked out to West Germany. The 13 foot high wall had a 16 foot tank ditch and a "no-man's land" or death strip. The wall was contructed practically over-night and if you were on the East side, you were not allowed to leave, regardless how many loved ones resided on the Western side. Very sobering thoughts, indeed.
After that, we headed behind the wall to the Topography of Terror exhibit, which marks the site of the Command Center for Hitler's Gestapo and SS. Because of the monstrous atrocities planned here, the rubble of these buildings will always be left as rubble. More cheerful sights in Berlin!
The Topography of Terror was pretty much our final stop for Day One. We headed back to catch the tour bus and actually get our children to bed at a decent hour.... Tori's pants finally dried and we decided to get one more pic of her awake!
So we got back to our car and found that we were a little late for our parking meter. Our meter expired and the meter maid gave us a ticket exactly one minute later! Thanks for all the compassion, Berlin. We love ya!
After that, we headed behind the wall to the Topography of Terror exhibit, which marks the site of the Command Center for Hitler's Gestapo and SS. Because of the monstrous atrocities planned here, the rubble of these buildings will always be left as rubble. More cheerful sights in Berlin!
The Topography of Terror was pretty much our final stop for Day One. We headed back to catch the tour bus and actually get our children to bed at a decent hour.... Tori's pants finally dried and we decided to get one more pic of her awake!
So we got back to our car and found that we were a little late for our parking meter. Our meter expired and the meter maid gave us a ticket exactly one minute later! Thanks for all the compassion, Berlin. We love ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment