Berlin

Arriving in Berlin on Monday we found the Schoenhouse Apartments to be a wonderful surprise.  The apartment was big, spacious and the staff were so welcoming.  Ella and Drew were so excited to have a room to themselves.  The apartment is located just off Alexanderplatz which is a great location for restaurants, bars, shopping, metro really everything.  I would definitely recommend.

Berlin is a very modern city full of energy, not what I was expecting.  Lots of new looking high rise apartments and offices surrounding old (rebuilt)German flare.  It is fun to see so many different eclectic out door restaurants, music and fashion. - Anji

 

Jason here, taking on some of the blog work.  Day 5 of the Greene European Vacation and we are off and running.  The first rule of navigating Berlin...

Stay out of the bike lane!!!  All the sidewalks have a red path just next to the street where bikers ride at 100 miles an hour and we managed to nearly get hit at least a dozen times.

Having managed to not get run over by the endless stream of bikes, our first stop was some site seeing from 500 feet up in the air.

The balloon is located just down the street from Checkpoint Charlie and is tethered to the ground. It runs you up 150 meters (outside the US so need to use the measurements the rest of the world uses)   The views are breathtaking if not a little unsettling and make for some great picture opportunities.

Next we were off to see the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (Museum/Memorial to German Resistance)

 

The wall came down in our (well, my and Anji's) lifetime (1989), but it's hard to imagine what it would have been like living in a city where your friends and family live across town but you are not allowed to see them.

In the afternoon, we went to the Berlin zoo.  This zoo has the largest number of species in the world with over 1500 different animals to see.  Here are a few of our favorites.

We also got to see a lion roaring up close and personal, this video does not really capture the impact of that roar.

Wednesday

We toured the Charlottenburg Palace which was very high on Ella's list of todos, she gets  excited to see thrones, crowns, jewels and paintings and Charlottenburg did not disappoint.  The headphone tour guide is perfect for the non-German speakers. 

Jason and I tried schnitzel which we found to be great.  Reminds me of chicken fried steak with cream gravy, only the steak is pork and the gravy is a mushroom bernais sauce.  OK, so that probably didn't sound that good but it was definitely tasty (pictures to come).

In the afternoon, Drew and I hit Kurfürstendamm, one of the longest shopping streets in Europe.  We were amazed to see 4 different H&M stores and yes, we hit every single one.  Prices in Berlin are comparable to US, maybe a little more expensive, but still so much better than Copenhagen.  We saw some very interesting German department stores but really a large number of the shops are what you find in every American city - Sony, Adidas, Mac, etc.

By the way, before our trip I had decided to cut back on coffee.  (When you wake up dreaming about your next cup that's probably a clue that you drink too much).  Anyways, on arriving in Europe I could not resist the wonderful lattes that are sold on every corner.  And I have to say I have not regretted falling off the coffee wagon!  Best coffee ever for sure.  Since  I'm on the bad habit topic, I have managed to get up and run only one time this trip.  My excuse in Denmark was the weather but Berlin has been perfect.  So perfect in fact that the coffee downstairs prevented me from running all but one day :-)

Both days in Berlin we did a lot of walking.  Even taking trains and buses there are still just a lot of things to see and do which involves walking.  I have resorted to tennis shoes, there's just so far that my sandals can go.  Jason and Ella have found soaking your feet in the tub helps.  Usually around 6-7p we are ready to sit down and unwind.  The Steges have 14-month-old Elliot who is also usually ready for dinner and bedtime around the same time so we typically say goodnight to them fairly early and venture out on our own for dinner.