Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Trip to Berlin

We still have a few days left in our appeal period of two weeks, which finishes Monday night.  So I took our original Clement boys on a trip to Berlin, Germany.  It is a 6 hour drive but thankfully all interstate.  Notes from our trip:

  • If you see a KFC, McDonalds, or Burger King on the way, you better stop because there are very few fast food restaurants between Warsaw and Poland.
  • Most of these places do have one worker that does speak some English.  Just be patient and ask if you can pull up to the window to confirm your order.  It seems to work better that way.
  • There is no border patrol between Germany and Poland.  Once you get into Germany, you may be randomly stopped like we were for an ID check.  German police were very nice and loved our send off. "You Americans have a good drive and enjoy your stay!" 
  • The autobahn does have speed limits.  Seems like all the vehicles adhere to these postings so be sure to keep on eye out.
  • Berlin is great.  It was very surprising to me how nice East Berlin is. It actually seems to be nicer than West Berlin because everything is so new. 
  • We stayed at a really nice hotel, Aldon, which is located right next to the Brandenburg Gate.  It is located right in the middle of the Government District so it is an easy walk to just about anything you want to see. 
  • Aldon is a five-star hotel but since we came in on a Sunday and left on a Tuesday, it was relatively cheap (plus it is the off season).
  • Germany uses the Euro so be sure to go to an ATM to get some cash.  Currently, one Euro equals 1.4 US dollars.
  •  Things to see:
    • Brandenburg Gate
    • Parliament House (Reichstag House) - be sure to get a ticket across the street with a reserved time to take a tour from the observation deck which has good views of the city.
    • Berlin Wall - several locations.
    • Holocaust Memorial
    • Window to booking burning
    • Museum Island (five different museums)
    • Olympic Stadium
    • Hitler Bunker - nothing to see but located next to Holocaust Memorial which is ironic.
    • Several churches destroyed during WWII.
    • At Christmas time, there are 50 Christmas Markets located throughout the city.  Most are very similar so you just need to check out a few.
    • Tiergarten - Berlin's Central Park
  • We hired a tour guide since we only had one day to see everything we could.  It was a big help in getting everything in.  If you have several days, you can see most everything you want on your own. 
  • Berlin Wall - throughout the city the location of the wall is identified by stone pavers. 
  • Great education - the boys learned so much about the final days of WWII and the Cold War. 
  • Subway - if we had been here a few more days, we would have checked out the subway because it seems to be a good way to get around the town.
It is a minimum three day trip from Warsaw.  One day to get there plus another getting home in addition to however many days you can spend touring.  I would recommend two days in Berlin if possible.

Note, we could not bring the new kids since they do not have passports yet.  Robyn took one for the team by staying at the house with them.  I do hope we can come back someday with everyone that could not come.  Nevertheless, it was just a days drive and we are just in a holding pattern until the appeal period ends.  Berlin is a great place with so much history so very happy that we went.

 
Brandenberg Gate - former Communist side

Throughout the city, these pavers show where the Berlin Wall was located.

Where Communism stopped.
One of every favor chewing gum for Tucker's selection...

Checkpoint Charlie (where WWIII almost happened)
 
Largest section of wall remains

 
I spy a cool name on this church.  Anyone, anyone?

 
Observation Deck above Reichstag House (Parliament)

Reichstag House (Parliament for Germany)

Olympic Stadium (1936)

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