Berlin

For fall break we made a quick trip over to Berlin followed by a couple of stops in Poland.  Ryan had to be back at work on Thursday, so we left Friday night and it was go, Go, GO!

We started out our day in Berlin at the Tiergarten with some huge pretzels...

My elsie.  Who is she kidding, it will take her all day to eat that pretzel.

Pretzels make great facial hair, you know.

Then, we headed over to the Reichstag (parliament building) to ooh and ah...

The architecture is fantastically symbolic, after all.  A glass dome overseeing the city where the people of Berlin can look down on parliament, reminding the elected officials that they answer to the people. 

My kids totally appreciated every aspect of said architecture, as seen here.

The love portion of their love-hate relationship.

This small memorial to politicians who opposed Hitler is just outside the Reichstag.  Thus, this marks the spot where we started explaining WWII and the holocaust to our young kids.  K and I had started reading The Diary of Anne Frank together, so she was able to digest a lot of these types of sites.  But for Carver, Elsie, and Ava a simple good guys versus bad-horrible-evil guys version of the story sufficed.  It was neat to see this story unfold through the eyes of a child.  They might be young, but they can be extremely perceptive and discerning.

Next stop, Brandenburg Gate and surrounding Pariser Platz.

An activist group was on a hunger strike in the middle of the square.  It made us hungry just looking at them.

These two.

On to "The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe"... 

and a quick stop for a photoshoot of some sisties...

Next stop, Potsdamer Platz...

This so-called "mall" was a little underwhelming.  Lovely indoor/outdoor dome type thing, minimal shops.  Guess I'm still a spoiled American.

Back to Tiergarten Park…

Fall Ava

Enjoying the HUGE bubbles!

Love those dimples.

And now for a stroll at dusk...

Unter Den Linden - just right for an evening stroll.

They have these cool East Berlin cross walk lights around the city.

The best view of Bebelplatz, since the rest of it was under construction.

Museum Island and a nice view of TV tower

The hate portion of their love/hate relationship.

The Berlin Cathedral, unexpectedly closed for a concert.  Ugh.

That's a wrap for Day 1.  This is a very spread out city, I tell you.  Day 2 was my fave, mostly because it began with a chance sighting of this Currywurst stand, thereby securing our lunch plans.

We made this stop to the Topography of Terror early, while the kids were in good spirits.  Ry took the inside tour, and I braved the outside tour with the littles.  The plan was to switch at some point, but alas, we ran out of time and the littles ran out of patience.  Nevertheless, it was Ry's favorite part of Berlin.  It was a detailed walk through the Nazi regime and fall, complete with pictures and artifacts.  The outside was a walk through some ruins of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters.  K had a headset and enjoyed the commentary too, while the other 3 played angry birds and such.

Fast forward about 30 years, and check out the Berlin Wall sites...

On to this lovely square...

Where these two adorable girls kicked back and listened to some street music.

And we got to experience this lovely public toilet (vom)

Our time in Berlin had a sweet sweet ending...

Brandenburg Gate - chocolate version

She calls this look #chocolatetvtowerduckface.  She's going places, this one.

Worth it.

I take pictures of any and all giant chocolate models.  It's policy.

Chocolate Titanic

Stay tuned for my Poland post and my first real life look at the world of polish pottery.