We had an interesting awakening at 3 a.m. this morning when Dad woke up, went to bathroom, shaved, turned on the lights and told Jeff and I, "rise and shine, time to get up!"  What the he#*&#%$&. "Dad, it's 3:15 a.m." 

"Oh, I was reading my watch upside down." Face palm. 

We woke up around 7:30 and had a nice breakfast downstairs. Today, we had a tour planned with a private guide at the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. The camp was started in 1933 in Oranienburg, just north of Berlin. It was mainly a political prisoner camp, and between 35,000-40,000 people died there.  We met our guide, Johanna, at Alexanderplatz at 10 a.m. and took a regional train to Oranienburg. Johanna is from Romania, and ironically, studied in Eau Claire for two years, so she was familiar with Wisconsin. 

Like past memorials I have visited, this one was vast. Grim. You leave feeling somber. I didn't take a lot of photos. What I also like about Johanna's company is that they focus solely on this memorial, and while the guides are paid a small fee, most of the money for the tours goes to charities. The tour company doesn't feel anyone else should profit from a place such as Sachsenhausen. I couldn't agree more. 

It was cold today. We all wore two layers of pants and had gloves, a hat and scarves on. There is something about the wind, and not having any sun didn't help. But, at least it wasn't rainy. After the tour, we went to a pizza place called Mansaniello's, which apparently brings a lot of its ingredients from Italy. It was pretty fantastic, and definitely not like the Papa John's-Pizza Hut-Little Caesars stuff. 

We went back to our room and relaxed a bit. Dad and I fell asleep, as jet lag always seems to hit harder the second day. Then, we walked across the street to a swanky piano bar named Van Gogh. It had a great piano player and it was cozy and lit with candles. Dad spoke to mom on the phone and is now sleeping, and Jeff is waiting for his favorite team, Creighton, to play its first NCAA tournament game. 

Tomorrow we don't have anything planned or any commitments. I have some things on the agenda, but we can do what we wish. We are having a great time so far, and Dad is being a trooper. We walked 4 miles yesterday and about 4.5 total today. 

Thanks for reading!

Jamie