Berlin, Prague, Krakow and Budapest 2015: Day 3

Today was definitely a long day! We woke up bright and early and were on the bus into the city by 9 am. We had a wonderful guide, Uli, who gave us a lot of information and anecdotal stories. I’ll try to replicate some of them here. We stopped by the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall first and had some great photo ops. It was only made better by the perfect weather! 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. I heard it was 100 degrees in California the other day…ouch. After the wall we were back on the bus learning about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. We stopped by the Jewish Memorial which was an art project erected 7 years ago. The concrete blocks were left open to interpretation, but the general consensus is that the further you walk into them, the higher they become and the more disoriented an uncomfortable you become, similar to how the Jews must have felt being led to concentration camps. The kids had a great photo idea, so I’ll post it below. We walked over to the Brandenburg Gate and were told that Berlin used to be walled in to make it easier to collect tariffs for merchants to help the city financially. This is one of the gates that was not taken down. On top was a copper statue of 4 horses and the goddess of victory overlooking the city. Unfortunately it was not always there. A certain ruler (self proclaimed dictator if I may) decided that he needed a souvenir from the city and somehow managed to take this statue with him. It gives new meaning to having a Napoleon Complex. After Napoleon was defeated, the state was returned and just so happens to be glaring at the newly built French embassy…We returned to the bus and made our way to Potsdam. We could have driven, but opted for the more scenic route, so we hoped on a boat to take us into the city. Once we arrived we met up with our guide and toured the city as well as the Sanssouci Palace, home to Fredrick the Great and his many descendants. After a few hours we hopped back on the bus and sat in familiar traffic all the way to Berlin. We made it just in time to visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. This museum tells the story of how and why the wall was built and all of the different and creative efforts people used to try and escape. It was very informational and eye opening to say the least. Our final stop was dinner at a well known Italian restaurant where we each enjoyed a personal pizza! Sometimes you just need a little comfort food to get you through the day. I didn’t hear any complaints. We trudged back to the hotel and make it just as the sun was setting (10:30pm). Enjoy the pictures below!!