Weekend in Berlin

We spent the weekend in the German Capital

After driving back from Frankfurt on Friday, we got up early on Saturday morning and spent over 6 hours in the car driving about 600 kms on the autobahn to Berlin. I believe the consensus was "thank God for a Tom Tom" when we arrived in the city and were detoured because of closed streets.  After we made it to our hotel, we walked to Check Point Charlie and had our picture taken with the US & British soldiers outside (they had German accents).

Bus Tour

Berlin is a large city with over 3.4 million people. We thought the best way to see as much of the city as possible was to get on a bus tour. It was also helpful because it was in English.  The tour took us around the city in about 2 hours 

and we road it almost twice to soak everything in and also to get dropped off by the Sony Building.  There are lots of government buildings that had been restored since WW2. More than 70 percent of the city was destroyed but now it is a vibrant, thriving capital.  We got to see lots of sites, old churches, and monuments.  Berlin is over 750 years old as a city and there is much more to the city's history than the World Wars.  There is also some modern architecture and newer buildings.

Berlin Wall

We spent some time visiting the Berlin Wall and reading about the construction and reopening of the wall after the German reunification in 1989.  There was an outdoor display and we were lucky to have a sunny day to walk around.

2008 Euro Cup Finals

It was an unfortunate end for Germany as they lost to Spain 1-0. However, it was fun to be in the capital where over 600,000 people gathered, dressed in yellow, red, and black, to watch the game. Several streets were closed and you could hear Germans singing in the streets hours before the game. However the atmosphere was a bit somber at the at the conclusion of the game, but we can say were were there.  And yes...it was bigger than the Packers.

Will Traveler

Again, we have to say that Will was a wonderful, perfect traveler. We're lucky that he is such a good baby.  He's like a little alarm clock when it comes to eating every 4 hours. He's sleeping about 4-4.5 hours at night and really did well in the car, stroller and on the bus. We can't complain or ask for more from the little guy.  This proves promising for future European trips. He also brought out smiles from the Germans who thought the little baby was cute.  We now need to try trains and planes and other countries. :)