Today we slept in (Hurrah!). We had planned to see the DDR museum in the early afternoon and the German History Museum in the evening - the tour guide yesterday said that it and all other state museums were free on Thursday from 6-10pm. We arrived at the DDR museum with a large crowd of others, so we decided to get ice cream instead because the museum was really crowded. After we finished our ice cream, we took a bus around the city with the intention of taking the self-guide Rick Steves bus tour. However, when the bus got to the Reichstag we saw that the line wasn't very long (probably because it was SO hot today) so at the last minute we jumped off the bus to visit the Reichstag. It was very hot, but we only had to wait 30 minutes (usually the wait is 1+hrs). We got a great view of the city and learned some more history.

Afterwards, we had some time to kill before the museums were open for free, so we went to another local restaurant (recommended by Rick Steves) which was pretty good (but also more expensive). Ivan ordered the schnitzel; Susan tried the jager sausage (with spagghetti); and Claire had another type of sausage. All of the food was very tasty and very German.

At 6pm, we went to the German History Museum only to find - to our dismay - that it closed at 6pm and wasn't participating in the free museum activities. We had all been looking forward to that museum the most and were disappointed that we missed out in our attempt to save a few Euros. Instead, we went to the new museum where the Egyptian display is and saw Nephratitit's head (among other things). We stopped at a coffee shop on our way home (and a Birkenstock store - though we didn't find anything we liked) and then went back to the hotel to pack most of our stuff and prepare for the next leg of our journey which begins tomorrow.

Labels: Berlin, Europe 2008, Germany

We awoke in time for the 10am walking tour with the "Original Berlin Walk" (recommended by Rick Steves). It was fantastic, but we got so much more out of it having done the Rick Steves self-guided tour first. Probably 1/2 of the tour were places we had seen yesterday, but we learned so much more history from our guide today. However, after 3 1/2 hours of walking, we were all pretty tired by the end. We went to the kebap stand by our hotel for a fabulous lunch of Donner Normal sandwiches (a cheap and tasty middle eastern / Mediterranean food) and returned to the hotel for rest and internet use.

In the afternoon, we went back out on the town to take in more sights. We were pretty interested in the Check Point Charlie museum, but we decided to divide and conquer: Claire went to the museum while Ivan and Susan took a look at Ku'Damm and Potsdammer Platz (the "Times Square" of Berlin). After Claire was done with the museum she told us many of the amazing stories she learned of how creatively people attempted to escape from the East. The successful stories were very exciting and the unsuccessful stories were heartbreaking. We enjoyed some refreshing ice cream on the street and then returned to our hotel where we retired relatively early.

Labels: Berlin, Europe 2008, Germany

Off for Berlin... But first, sometime between 1am and 4am, the storm knocked out the electricity to our cottage (yes, even though there's no running water, there is... correction, was... electricity). It made things much more difficult to get ready for the day and especially to clean up after ourselves, but we did our best to leave the cottage as clean as possible.

We first drove to the port where Ivan's parents will be leaving in the evening and then returned the rental car. During our flight to Berlin, a problem was discovered in-flight, which required us to turn back for Helsinki after about 30 minutes in the air. However, about 20 minutes later, the problem was resolved and we were able to turn back around. The pilots made up most of the lost time and we managed to arrive in Berlin only 15 minutes late. The landing was a bit of a hair raiser as the plane kept rocking back and forth and the land was approaching awfully fast. Still, the pilots managed to pull off a safe landing and everyone lived happily ever after.

In the airport, we collected our luggage, bought a map, and found public transportation to the hotel (later we learned about a group day pass, but not before we spend 6.30 Euros getting to the hotel). We disembarked the tram at the specified stop, but there were unable to find the hotel from the directions given. Thankfully, with the help of two very nice German ladies (who didn't seem to speak any English), we were pointed in the right direction and were happy to finally arrive. The staff of the hotel was very friendly, helpful, and spoke excellent English.

We napped and found a fantastic restaurant (reccommended by Rick Steves) for a traditional German dinner (schnitzel, meatballs, etc) and then took a walking tour of the city (again, with the help of Rick Steves). We were able to get familiar with the lay of the land and the public transportation system and decided to take a guided tour tomorrow morning.

We returned to our hotel (which was quite nice, although the room was very small for three people) and got a good night's sleep.

Labels: Berlin, Europe 2008, Germany