History, the wall, and old stuff

Monday, June 22, 2015
Berlin, Germany
 

 Mon Jun 22
-off to Berlin today to return the rental car.
-As with all transition days, the hours melted quickly. We had a morning tour of Leipsig n had a magic moment in the church where Bach was the cantor for over 25 years n is now buried. A choir from the U.S. performed for about 20 mins when the church opened at 9 n it was magical.
-We got going for Berlin by 10:15 so almost on schedule. The autobahn was fast but GPS took us to the wrong street the first time. After a scramble n a search we found the correct street n dropped our bags n hurried to drop off our car. We made it through the maze just in time then relaxed w a gyro lunch in the train station n a GPS guided walk to the hotel to relax.
-I soon went out on an adventure to exchange Czech crowns de euros. Was fun n successful, even if a marginal exchange rate.
-motivated for a late afternoon walk in the drizzle. Seemed appropriate given the things we learned about the FDR. Saw the GDR parliament building n Brandenburg gate. Impressive structures. Walked through the holocaust museum which was powerful.
-Stumbled onto an excellent Indian restaurant. Best meal we have had on the trip.
-nice walk home in the drizzle to burn a few calories before bed.

Tue Jun 23
-slept in til 7:45 so nice to get some rest. Plotted out a plan for the day with many destinations. Then down for bfast to fuel
-decent amount of rain falling n chilly so suited up n borrowed umbrellas from the hotel. Off to our first stop just across the river to the Palace of Tears. We were happy to get out of the cold wind n rain. Pretty interesting exhibit about the division between east n West Berlin. We r
staying right at Freidrichstrasse which was a main control point between the two Berlins. Interesting that we r right in the thick of it.
-retrieved our umbrellas n off to Museum Island n the Pergamon museum. When we got
there the line was 1.5 hours n no way we were waiting there in the rain. The surrounding buildings were pretty so that was some consolation

-off to try n find some squares in the rain. Sort of found one n decided it was time to fuel at our Indian restaurant. I had set a waypoint in the GPS the previous night so off we went to get warm n full. The meal did not disappoint n Laura threatened to stay there until
dinner
-we skipped another square n headed straight for Checkpoint Charley. Pretty interesting time line display but we r pretty familiar with the events by this point. Interesting info about the construction of the wall n all of the anti-crossing mechanisms eg the pipe at the top to prevent climbing n the raised concrete pad to prevent vehicles from smashing through.
-Laura was pretty done but soldiered on n agreed to go to one last place. So we hopped on the underground n went to c one of the largest remaining sections of the wall. The museum displays were written for children n the information repetitive with what we had learned over the past few days. We agreed we were officially done w Berlin n snapped a few pics n boarded the S-bahn for home.
-we took some down time to get warm n dry then I went out for my final mission to check out the parents' hotel in Oct n to research the bus stop for tomorrow's ride to the airport. It was a good thing I went to look for the bus stop because we had gotten bad info from one of the gals at the front desk. A fresh query to a new staff member n I got directions to the correct bus stop. I did a dry run of the walk n timed it n checked the schedule. We were all set for our departure tomorrow.
-a shower to get warm n some fresh dry clothes. Then off to our final meal, shwerma of course, then bed. Excited to start our journey home tomorrow 
 

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