Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Ber (aka: Berlin, Germany)

Back in February, for the 4-day weekend, we headed up to Berlin with our amazing (wonderful, fun, awesome...) friends, Dusty and Mary Anne Miner. They're awesome. True Story. 

But, before we went all the way to Berlin, we made a pitstop at the Freiberg Temple. We watched their kids while they did a sessions and then we swapped! Pretty sweet trade. (Thanks again guys!) 

When we got to the temple Thursday night (Valentine's night. We had such a romantic drive through Germany ... just joking. That's a lie) the moon was perfectly situated in between the spire of Angel Moroni. 


Friday morning, Brad grabbed the Miner kiddos, and we hung out in our room, there at the temple. It's so nice to have temple housing - so convenient! It was good practice for when we have 4 kids ... or triplets. Whichever. 


I guess Kason thought jumping off the bunk beds was a smart idea ... who wouldn't think that, right!? 



After we finished our sessions, ate a quick lunch, and snapped some shots of the temple and all the snow, we headed to Berlin! Driving into Berlin was CRAZY!! Traffic was ridiculous. I think it took us about an hour to get from the outskirts of Berlin into the city center. Never, never want to live in a city like that!! We got settled in our apartment then, the Miners, kicked us out. Okay, well, not really. But, they did let us go on a quick little date, Berlin style! It was a fun little break and when we got back, they headed out for a little bit. 

I love the little flower shops all over Europe. They are so charming! 


We wandered around Berlin on our date, trying to find some food. Finally we settled on a doner shop. After some confusion with the orders, we ended up with dinner! I love hanging out with this guy - he's pretty fun! 


After dinner we found this really cool health food store 'Anatura' but, of course they're only in Berlin. We got our dessert there and then headed back to the apartment! 

*** 

Saturday morning we headed into downtown Berlin. It was sightseeing time! 
This is their TV Tower. Apparently you can go to the top but, it was so cloudy/foggy/freezing/yuck while we were there, that even if we went to the top, we wouldn't have seen much. 


Surprise, surprise! There's a church ... in Europe. Weird, right? I can't remember the name of this church but, I thought it was kinda cute. Therefore, it made the blog cut. 


In the same area was this statue of Poseidon. I loved (loved, loved) the sea turtle. If we hadn't just told the kids to not climb into the dry fountain, I would have done just that. Darn rules!




This Pinocchio guy was just chillin' on the street, so naturally we had to have the kids pose! Such a cute little "liar". 


These bears were EVERYWHERE in Berlin. A lot of store fronts had them. There was even a Statue of Liberty one at the US Embassy. I guess Berlin translates to BEARlin? Who would have thought! 


This is the Berlin Duomo. I didn't go in. Nor did the Miners. But, Brad never passes up an opportunity to check out the architecture inside buildings like this, so, he went in while we hung out in the park across the street. 



This memorial was for all the fallen Jews (I think?) ... I really should listen more when people read from the good old 'Rick Steves' book ... 


These guys ... they were so cute! And fun! They were so happy (which I feel is rare in these parts...) and full of spunk! I stood and listened to them for a minute, snapped a picture and then moved on. But, I felt really guilty for taking a picture of them and not giving them any money so, I turned back and gave them a Euro. They cheered for me and I knew my job was complete.


We knew we were getting close to the Brandenburg Gate because of the masses of people, the fake fighter pilots and Mario and Luigi. Yeah ... not to sure what they had to do with Berlin nor the Brandenburg Gate but, they were there, taking pictures with tourists. Weird. Sadly, we opted out of the photos with the Mario Brothers ... 




Just to the left (if you're looking at the gate) of the gate was the American Embassy. Something makes me so proud when I see that American flag flying high in a foreign country. Go 'Merica! 

After the famous gate we moved on to the Jewish Memorial, Berlin Wall & Checkpoint Charlie. Stay tuned, my friends! 

1 comment:

  1. So fun! I'm finally blogging about Berlin and had to see what you had to say about it. :) I'm kind of wishing I had read more in that Topography of Terror place...I'm just awful in museums with kids!

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