Berlin

Berlin was awesome!  Despite the fact that I didn't receive our passes in the mail in time, we bought the Berlin Pass, they let us pick them up in Berlin.  Which was awesome!  The fact that they wanted the email print out of our receipt, not so awesome.  We spent about 1 1/2 hours trying to find a printer we could use to print the email.  Of course the internet cafe down the street had a broken printer.  So, after a brisk walking tour of Berlin, we found a hotel that would let us pay to use the internet and print our email, work every penny!  Uh, Euro.  Once that was done, we set off to explore, we had 24 hours to cram in as much as we could!

This is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Unfortunately, it's all boarded up for repair.  So, we saw the new church and pictures of the old church.  It's one of the few buildings that looks as it did at the end of the war.  

 Berlin loves it's bears.  They are everywhere!

 This is Tiergarten.  Totally reminded us of Central Park.

 Victory Column

 In case you don't understand, let me translate:

You CAN'T grill here...

 Soviet Army Memorial

 Brandenburg Gate

 Another bear!

 Holocaust Memorial

 The oldest U-Bahn, metro, station in Berlin.  They have a sign with 

the names of the concentration camps, so they never forget.

 The first traffic light in Europe.

 Gendarmenmarkt

 A TV tower in Berlin, the tallest structure in Germany 

 Berliner Dom

 You can see patches from WWII damage.

 It was so sad to see tiny coffins in the crypt.

 Lu had a stare down with a silver "statue".

 The fourth largest bell tower, by number of bells, in the world.

 I wish I'd been able to get a better shot of the moon, so pretty.

 Menashe Kadishman's "Fallen Leaves", at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.  

When you walk on them, it makes an eerie sound.

 Checkpoint Charlie

The museum didn't allow pictures but recounted numerous stories of escape from East Berlin.  

 Berliner Dom at night, one of the lights was out on the left, didn't they know we were coming?!?!?!?

 My sister-in-law had recommended stopping by Brandenburg Gate at night, she was right, so beautiful!

 This is Ampelmann.  He is SO awesome.  I love him.  It's Berlin's crosswalk guy.  And just so you know, you can only buy his stuff in Berlin, so stock up should you ever visit!

 This is the courtyard of the little 3rd floor apartment we rented in Berlin.  

 You can follow this line through the city, it marks where the Berlin Wall stood.

 I think this may be the coolest grate I've ever seen!

 I was thankful we arrived in Berlin when we did.  The city was preparing for the Berlin Marathon that Saturday so barricades were already going up.  John briefly entertained the thought of running it, and then decided not to.

 Remnants of the Berlin Wall

 On top of the Reichstag building in Berlin, so gorgeous!

 We even got to see some fall color

 The U-Bahn station looked cool with the light at the top of these columns.

 We had some awesome Doner for lunch, YUM!

 This was down the street from our apartment.  Too bad they don't sell t-shirts.