Berlin- Day 2

Day 2 in Berlin started out much better than Day 1. We found a meetinghouse for our church to attend there, and it was the first time we attended a German-speaking congregation here (the congregation we attend in Stuttgart is made up of mostly military and is English-speaking). It was a very interesting experience and was really awesome to hear the same hymns in German. We were so moved to see the gospel articulated in another language, and to know that here we were halfway across the world, and hearing the same teachings we would hear in our home congregation. Some sweet missionaries from the United States translated for us once the service began. The people were so nice and were telling us what other sights to see and visit before we headed out. They even invited us back to the Church building for lunch! We felt like we had found a little slice of home right in the middle of Berlin.
So we headed out to see our last few sights, and our first stop was The Victory Column, or the Statue of Victoria. Since we have our own little Victoria, we are here pointing at our Tori, who is fast asleep in the stroller:

This is us walking away from the Victoria. We were commenting as we walked down this tree-lined walk that it both looked and felt more like late September than Late July:

We found some WWII Rubble-turned-artistic-fountain...here is Isaac on top

(you can see our next stop in the background):

We passed the Berlin Zoo, which is supposed to be incredible, but we didn't really have time for a stop there. We had to settle for a picture with the huge stone elephants guarding the entrance:

Afterward, we mosied on to this truly spectacular sight... It is a church that was bombed during WWII and instead of being re-furbished, chose to keep the destroyed building and build new, modern structures around it. Their goal is to remind everyone of the horrible atrocities of war in hopes that we might avoid war in the future. The building directly to the right is one of the new buildings used by the church.

The ceiling inside the marred building:

Inside there is a replica of the building before the bombing:

And after:

Here's my happy crew out front... in stark contrast to the mood of the surroundings...

Our cars were parked relatively close to the Church building, so we headed back over and found ourselves there toward the end of their lunch. They were so kind and ushered us in, regretting that the food was gone, but the British bishopric member urged us to jump in and grab the desserts they were bringing out. We hung back, afraid to be rude and he said (in English), "Come On! Grab some. We're not polite! It's Germany!" Nicely Said. Nicely Said. And so we did! After thanking them profusely for their hospitality, we jumped in our car and stopped by the flea market on the way out of Berlin. We had hoped to find some souveniers there, but we settled for a Brat stand and some yummy ice cream. I know I have been quick to rag on Germany for their lack of generous portions and over-priced ice, soda and water. So, I must be quick to praise the fabulous ice cream you can find just about anywhere. It is actually Italian Gellato, but it is excellent and very reasonably priced. Those of you who know me, must know what a consolation this is for my taste buds! Yum, Yum!