Hannah has her first 2 week break from school right now and so we had decided it would be a good time to take a week vacation. We have started to try to plan our vacations a bit more in advance, we still are not up to Swiss standard of having them planned a year in advance, but we are trying.
This year we decided to go to Berlin. We wanted to see most of the main historical sights, eat some good food, gets some yummy treats, and do a little shopping. I would say despite a rainy two last days we accomplished our basic goals.
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| The first night we arrived we headed downtown for Mexican. We just happened to see a chocolate store on the way. We all got a truffle to try. Elliott was impressed by all of the chocolate sculptures. |
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| The yellow trains and this public transportation map were our friends during our stay. Thankfully the German trains run so frequently we didn't have to pay attention to train times, just routes. |
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| We rented bikes with a tag a long bike for Hannah and a kid seat for Elliott to ride during our first two days in Berlin. We did this in Amsterdam last year. It is a great way to see the city with kids. We were also quite impressed with the bike lanes in the city and the drivers awareness watching out for bikers. |
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| The Brandenburg Gate. We went there on the German Reunification Holiday. There was a big festival going on making it difficult to get too close to the gate. |
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| Cruising through the Tiergarten on our bikes with the German parliament in the background. |
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| A family selfie at the East Side Gallery. The largest remaining section of the Berlin Wall is in the background. |
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| The park and river area at the East Side Gallery. |
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| Hamburgers! We found a window seat in the very crowded Burgermeisters and at a wonderfully greasy Bacon Cheeseburger. |
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| Berlin is very family friendly. This is one of the many specific Parent child coffee shops. There were 3 play rooms and an open play space for the kids. Switzerland needs to get some of these! |
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| Another very cute cafe that specializes in waffles- sweet and savoury. They also have ice cream, crepes, and a few shops with clothes... It was called Kauf Dich Glucklich. |
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| This year is the 500th year since the reformation. We decided to take a train ride to the town of Wittenberg where Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the church door. |
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| Inside the church |
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And finally a beautiful path leading into a park Gleisdreieck. It was where I did some exercise while the kids were napping or "resting". It is just one example of the many green spaces with trails inside the city of Berlin.
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Overall we really enjoyed our time in Berlin. It had a great mixture of Culture, History, great Restaurants, and a family friendly atmosphere. Next up, a long flight to America at Christmas time.
