Exploring new areas of Berlin

Of course, Check Point Charlie ... we didn't do the museum across the street because it was so late.  Not that it wasn't open - it was just too late for our kiddo's.  No worries though, we need one more trip out there to see everything anyway!

The train system/subway system in Berlin is GREAT!  We park our car at our hotel and just use the transit system the entire time we are there.  With little kids who don't want to walk everywhere it works out perfectly for us.  While we waited for one of our rides the girls found a spotlight/sunroom type thing that they started playing in. Emi was pretending to be a rock star, Paige superman, and Anika a (shy) ballerina!   

Visiting the Topography of Terror Museum.  It was such a good presentation about what happened during WWII and what the Nazi's did to the "unwanted".  It was a very solemn atmosphere!  Just be careful with your kids and all the graphic pictures and exhibits.  There is a section set aside about what they did to the children (experiments and such), I tried to distract the kids so they didn't go in there.  

Check out these websites for more information:
(Wikipedia) HERE
(official website) HERE
and HERE

In front of a long stretch of The Berlin Wall!

This time we thought ahead of time and reserved our tickets online (FREE) to visit the capital building: The Reichstag.  It was really, really neat!  I highly recommend doing this tour and going up the dome.  There is a FREE audio guide in English too!

For more information go HERE (for Wikipedia) and HERE (for the official website)

This was a VERY common occurrence for me and Kenneth.  Yup, I'm nursing! That is just how we roll! This is us on the top of the dome!

The view from the base of the dome.  Check out Grandpa's yellow gadget handing from his neck.  It measures the temperature, the wind and a lot more that I can't remember and probably don't understand.  Here Emi and Grandpa Layton were learning science stuff - both of their favorites!

In front of Brandeburg Gate

(Yup, I'm nursing in the background again!  I probably could have kept this picture off our blog but where is the fun in that ... and it doesn't truly give you an idea of what I was doing the entire vacation!)

It was FREEZING in Berlin.  I honestly think it was colder this time than it was back in January when we came out for New Years.  We had to wait in line for Museum tickets for over an hour so we took the kids to a cafe to get Hot Chocolate to warm them up before we entered the museum. 

The Berlin Dome

The next day we went back by the Brandenburg Gate and let Evan fight Darth Vader!  It was hilarious!  We had to pay him, of course, but Evan loved it and when they 'fought' Evan hit his hand holding the light saber and the man said "Stop! Stop!" The kids just laughed and laughed and were so excited that Evan beat him!  It was really cute!

And, of course, the girls loving the Berlin Bear!

Our Family Experiencing Only of Little of Berlin

Brandenburg Gate, with the Goddess of Peace on top and Mars 'sheathing his sword'.  Can you believe that Napoleon took this statue to the Louvre in Paris in 1806?!  The Prussians defeated Napoleon and got it back in 1813 though.

The U.S. Embassy is just to the right of the kids (this is where Uncle Marc would work if you guys got lucky enough to get Germany).

Memorial to the murdered Jews who were killed during WWII - the first formal, German government-sponsored Holocaust memorial.  There are 2,711 gravestone like pillars, and no matter where you are in the memorial the exit always appears to be up.

(Just a side note ... We learned from Rick Steves that these pillars are chemically coated for easy removal of graffiti - ironically this chemical coating was "developed by a subsidiary of the former IG Farben group - the company infamous for supplying the Zyklon B gas used in Nazi death camps".)

We then walked down Unter den Linden boulevard, which was a grand boulevard in the 'good ol' days'.

The notorious Nazi book burning. 

Memorial in memory of the 20,000 books that were burned under Hitlers rein.  If you look close enough you can see empty white bookshelves - these bookcases go all the way around the room below.  Good thing the kids have seen Indian Jones so we could somewhat explain this memorial to them  :)

Just in front of this memorial is the Humboldt University seen HERE

Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom)

More pictures of this Cathedral are found HERE.  We paid extra so we could walk around the entire dome.  It was a great view and the stairs were perfect with getting some of the kids energy out. 

Checkpoint Charle

Part of the Berlin Wall

Some of the items not pictured here that we saw include:

*Memorial to Politicians who opposed Hitler

*Berlin Wall Victims Memorial

*Pariser Platz (where Brandenburg Gate is located)

*Hotel Adlon - where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony

*Ghost Subway stations - these stations were un-used for 28 years - they still have the old green tiles and some of the same signs posted ... it was really interesting!!

*The Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) where a replica of Kathe Kollwits stautue is (Mother of Her Dead Son) - it marks the tomb of Germany's unknown soldier and the unknown concentration camp victim.

Some of the things we want to go back and do:

*German History Museum

*Pergamon Museum

*Neues Museum & Egyptian Collection

... who am I kidding, there is so much more we want to see it's ridiculous to list them all.  It's like visiting Washington D.C., it requires a couple of visits to see everything you want to see and then you still haven't seen everything.