Berlin

We flew to Berlin last Wednesay and stayed until Friday afternoon. We added Berlin to our trip because my friends, Courtney and Jamie (long lost high school friends reunited on facebook), raved about how wonderful the city was. They were definitely correct! We loved it!

The city oozes with history and I love the rawness of it. There are tons of beautiful old buildings right next to modern buildings that have been rebuilt since the war. There's a lot more open spaces and trees and grass than in Amsterdam, Paris or Brussels. And the people seemed more down to earth and relaxed (from what we could tell from our lack of German skills). The city is a lot more spread out, so it was nice to be able to walk down tree lined streets and peer into windows on our way to the next destination. Berlin really felt like a city that I could move to and be comfortable in.

After being completely tired out by Paris, we took time to slow down and enjoy ourselves in the city. We didn't put ourselves on a crazy tourist schedule, but we did get to see quite a few recommended spots.

Checkpoint Charlie (and museum):

This was definitely my favorite museum of the trip. The museum is kind of old and run down and very raw. I'm sure that archivists must be squirming at the site of some of the precious relics in the museum being open and exposed to elements, but I suppose it added to the charm of the museum. I knew about the Berlin wall, but I was a little too young to understand exactly what was going on and why the wall was constructed. This museum explained everything in detail and made the situation come to life. We saw car trunks and radiators that were used to smuggle people across the wall, homemade respiratory machines to help survive an underground tunnel under the wall and lots of pictures and accounts of people who made it across the border. At one point in the museum, we were standing at a window that people used in the actual museum as a lookout point to smuggle people across the border. The history and experiences of the people was just so real to me at that moment!

The Reichstag:

This is the newly constructed German parliament building. The original base of the Reichstag still remains, but the inside was completely remodeled and a transparent dome was added to the top. The designers of the building reflected the new dedication to openness the government took after WWII with the building's architecture. The building is open to the public and visitors can peer down into the main meeting room and watch law making in progress. The dome on top of the building has spiraling walkways and an open air top that collects rain water and precipitation to help heat and cool the building. The mirrors in the dome also reflect sunlight to help direct natural light into the meeting space and reduce electricity need.

Brandenberger Tor:

us sporting my handknit hats (habitat for me, koolhaas for Jon).

There was an art installation right behind the gate with a stack of nine boats that were used to rescue prisoners from Turkey and bring them to safety. I loved seeing art installations like this all over the city that were so symbolic of freedom from persecution.

Pergamon Museum:

This was the only art museum we visited in Berlin. The Pergamon is filled with antiquities from ancient Greek, Babylonian and Arabic cultures. The museum has a great 30 minute audio introduction to the museum that we listened to and then we wandered around looking at other things that piqued our interest. I really enjoyed looking at some of the arabic rugs and textiles in the museum.

Potsdamer Platz:

Potsdamer Platz is supposed to be the central area of the city and is
filled with lots of ads, tall buildings and shops. The most striking
building in the center is the Sony building, which looks like Mt Fuji
from outside and a space ship from inside. And, in the interest of full
disclosure and being real (thanks Amy), it is also the place where we
succumbed to American food and had ourselves a snack of 6 donuts
and 2 large hot chocolates from Dunkin Donuts (who knew it was so
popular in Germany?). Yes, we were on a total sugar rush after that!
But, how could we just buy four when a half dozen was cheaper?

Jüdisches Museum:

We visited the Jewish museum on Thursday afternoon after a lovely lunch in the museum café. The museum is designed by Daniel Libeskind and is full of such striking symbolism history through its windows, gardens, art installations and enclosed spaces. The museum had a lot of interactive exhibits that would be great for young kids, but we mostly enjoyed the design of the building and the photos and descriptions in the collection.

Pension Peters:

We stayed at Pension Peters, which was recommended in the Rick Steves book. We could not recommend this hotel enough. It was the most inexpensive hotel of the trip, included breakfast, had soaring ceilings and a beautiful courtyard view and was incredibly clean. We were so happy to have found this place.

On a side note, Jon and I are totally sold on the separate bed coverings thing. This solved the cover stealing debate that has been going on since we were married. We each had our own blanket and were warm throughout the night. I think I will be turning the Crate and Barrel quilt that I wanted to make into two twin sized quilts with a duvet pocket so that we can use separate quilts in the summer and separate comforters in the winter.

Mr Hai & Friends Vietnamese food:

We were so happy to have found this restaurant. It's located just around the corner from Pension Peters and has two pages of the menu devoted to vegetarian dishes. Because we couldn't understand German, we just pointed to a dish and were surprised with what we got. We ate there twice because we enjoyed the food (and ease of ordering) so much.

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche:

Our last stop in Berlin was at this old church that was bombed out in WWII. Instead of tearing the church down, it was left up as a monument and the church was rebuilt around it. The old and new remain to remind visitors of the past and encourage them in the future.

• • •

On Friday morning, we journeyed on the U-Bahn to the home of my ancestors, or at least what I pretended to be was the home of my ancestors. My maiden name was plastered everywhere and I had fun getting pictures to bring back to my family. If the museum had museum t-shirts, I totally would have brought them all home to my family for their annual Christmas photo. Unfortunately, they did not, so they'll have to enjoy the photos of the local farm, apothecary, café, bookstore, map and train station!

And, you can see the rest of the Berlin pictures on flickr: here

Paris

We headed to Paris on Monday and Tuesday last week, after making a quick overnight trip to stay at our friend Jodi's apartment in Brussels (more on Brussels later).

Paris was incredibly beautiful and so overwhelming. The city is oozing with culture, charm and character everywhere you turn. We did our best to see the big sites and totally tired ourselves out after two days of walking everywhere. Next time we go, we'll vacation in the European way and savor our time in the city!

After checking in at our hotel, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower to begin our tour of the city and then took a city bus to Notre Dame to start our sightseeing.

The church is even more impressive from the back.

Isn't the Rose window gorgeous?

Lighting a candle in remembrance of my grandma who passed away earlier this year. I know that she would have loved to attend Mass here.

We spent most of the morning doing Rick Steves historic Paris walking tour. We were both a little confused about the directions, but were able to see most of the stops that he highlighted. We took a little break in the afternoon to have our first Parisian croissant and pan du chocolat at a boulangerie in the Latin Quarter. Both were excellent and now I know why everyone raves about them! Seriously, they were so delicious!

After finishing the walking tour, we headed to the Louvre. We had debated whether or not to go to this museum as it's pretty intimidating. In the end, we made a quick trip to see the Mona Lisa and were in and out of the museum in about 45 minutes. We had purchased the Paris Museum Pass beforehand, so we were able to see lots of museums at one set price, with no waiting in lines.

The Louvre

The Mona Lisa is that tiny painting on the wall on the right. Can you see it?

Tourists taking pictures with the Mona Lisa

Jon and I doing the same.

After the Louvre, we got our first baguette and headed off to the Centre Pompideau. This modern and contemporary art museum is considered an eyesore by many Parisians (it definitely doesn't blend in with the city), but Jon and I liked it because it was a great visual break from the rest of the city. There are great views of the city from the outside and lots of fun art inside. Our friend, Jodi, begged us to go and visit and we were so glad that we did!

On Monday night, we took the Metro to the Trocadero and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and the stunning light show that happens every hour. It was gorgeous.

After viewing the light show, we headed back to our hotel and miraculously ran into my friend, Erica, in the Paris metro. She and her friend had stopped in Paris on their way back to the States after a Mediterranean cruise. I still can't believe that we bumped into each other like that! What are the odds?

On Tuesday morning, we trekked up to Sacre Coeur to see the beautiful cathedral and climb the tower. The church was gorgeous and the views from the tower were amazing. Jon and I are both slightly claustrophobic and slightly afraid of heights, but the cramped and narrow spiraling stairs (300 steps) up to the top of the tower was totally worth it for the view.

Nothing beats an ivy covered building in the fall!

We were very tired at this point in time from all of the sightseeing!

After lunch, we headed back into the city and saw the Rodin Museum:

The Thinker

In front of "The Gates of Hell"

Les Invalides and Napoleon's tomb:

We got in trouble with the Police for taking this photo. Apparently tripod tourist pictures are not allowed!

Napolean's Tomb...so huge for such a tiny guy!

We finished up our museum hopping by stopping at the Musee d'Orsay.

This and the Centre Pompideau were our favorite museums in Paris. The Musee d'Orsay is a train station converted into a museum and is such a great space. The museum houses lots of famous impressionist works and it was fun to finally get to see them in person.

We ended our time in Paris with a trip to Laduree for French macaroons and a dinner at a café on the Champs Elysees. I am exhausted just writing this post...I can't believe we actually saw all of this in less than 48 hours! See the rest of the photos on flickr: here.