~Berlin~

Tasha, Tine, Irene and Oliver had a great trip planned for us in Berlin. I have only included a tiny amount of the pictures and stories in this blog. In defense of the oversights, the lack of proper nouns and the sketchy history, and this humiliating picture; we had traveled from Korea to Utah to Germany within 48 hours. So, here we go...








Here I have all the necessary stamps to travel from West Berlin to East Berlin. To the far right is a picture of the bricks marking where the Berlin Wall once stood.

There is a gorgeous view of Berlin out of Irene and Oliver's ninth floor apartment balcony. I am (almost) standing on the balcony, enjoying the view and some fresh German bread from the bakery.

I am really standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate!!
This cute guy is made of of Legos!
This is the view looking up...I couldn't get near enough to the edge to show looking down. Did I forget to mention that I'm afraid of heights?
A Berlin pigeon...ein Berliner Taube
The lasting effects of war. History is close in Berlin.




This is a reminder of the book-burning that happened at this spot...to remind us of the emptiness that exists in a space without books.
This is a living person playing a statue.
Here we are in front of Germany's "white house." (I think...I should have waited for Tine to be sitting here with me to make sure I was right. Watch for corrections in a later blog.)
We are listening to the tour. We are all concentrating on the history. The excitement is just not escaping to our faces. The displays were truly awe-inspiring. We could have spent much longer here. But at closing time, we were hustled out of the museum. One museum guard got very angry at us, but Oliver defended us. I wish I could have understood that conversation!


After a wonderful time at the museum, we stopped at a bar for cocktails. We all passed our drinks around to share the fun. Where is Hannah? She was under-age, so we left her parked outside.

Just kidding! She's here somewhere. BTW, this is Irene's sweater I'm wearing. Thanks, Irene! (I have one at home from Tine. My clumsiness really paid off here.)
The atmosphere here was cozy and friendly. I would love to drink here again :)
Oliver spent LOTS of time toting around Hannah.
The pictures do not do this palace justice. The rooms inside were amazing. It is hard to believe that people actually live(d) like this. Although, Irene and Oliver's apartment is pretty close.

This was the servants' quarters. How'd you like be the cook here? The cooking is done in the servants' quarters and then carried over to the palace. Quite a walk trying not to spill the soup all over.

It has been 4 months since we visited Berlin and the memories are still amazing. I hope I did them some justice here on the blog.