Germany Day 2

Hey guys! If you have made it this far in my stories, I applaud you! Maybe, my stories are boring, or I ramble on, but if you are still reading these posts, THANK YOU! I am really enjoying writing these and I feel like it is just such a wonderful outlet for pairing my pictures with stories, and a way for those who wanted to see and hear my stories who haven't been able to, to be able to read these posts!

This next post is about our second day in Berlin, Germany, arguably the longest, tiresome, most fun day! We literally did EVERYTHING, those "Top 10 things to do..." lists say to do in Berlin... and then some.

Our second day in Berlin was amazing. We finally were able to get some sleep the night before! The sun actually set at a reasonable time, unlike Norway. We woke up early, and we set out for quite the adventure! Per usual, Shane devised a plan to see some amazing sites. Shane was a great navigator, and map reader! So we headed out for our big day in Berlin!

We first walked a little over a mile to this landmark that was a symbol of victory during a war. I do not remember the name of the monument, opps! Anyway, what was really cool about this was it was in the center of the street, like a round-about. However, there was no visible way to get to it. However on each corner of the street there are buildings with staircases that lead to tunnels below the ground. You can walk the tunnels and then once you reach the correct staircase, you can go up and land on the ground of the monument! I thought it was really cool. The hall ways of the tunnels lit up as you walked, and there were musicians playing music.

It was such a hot and sunny day, that it was difficult to take pictures of the building. We were pretty hungry at this point, and so we decided to start walking towards the BrandenBurg Gate. We walked through the Tiegarten park towards the BrandenBurg Gate, it was so peace full and serene.

The BrandenBurg Gate is opposite this monument. So we followed the paths and stumbled upon a small farmers market!

The market vendors were poised with efforts of sustainability. Jeff and I bought sustainably farmed bratwurst. It was so delicious! We also got these slushie drinks that were mango and strawberry. They made you rent glass cups for the slushies for 4 euros, and once you returned the cups you would get your money back. I found some really cool hand-crafted earrings, that I was able to negotiate for lower (score!)

While we were walking around the market, we saw a booth that was selling Chico Bags! We couldn't believe it! I ran up to the booth, and said, "We're from Chico!", the employee's were shocked, they asked " really, Chico, California?" they asked us what could we possibly be doing in Berlin, if we lived in such a wonderful place. I laughed and said we were there for vacation. It was so cool to see a little bit of home in Berlin.

Picture by Dani Anguiano

The farmers market was right in front of the BrandenBurg Gate, one of the main monuments I wanted to see! Behold:

The BrandenBurg Gate is the entrance to a plaza with hotels, shops, and restaurants. There was a man on a bicycle who was selling pretzels so of coarse we had to buy some to try! I got a plain one, and Jeff got a cheese one, none for Shan & Dan :( . They were pretty dry, and because they were being sold by a touristy location, we assumed they must not of been so authentic. Oh well, we were still hungry and they hit the spot, in fact I even carried the rest of mine around in my bag and snacked on it throughout the rest of the day, haha!

Look how cute and touristy we look here with our pretzels in front of the BrandenBurg Gate, HA!

We then searched high-and-low for some food that Shane and Dani could eat, it's tough traveling with dietary needs! But we managed to navigate and find our way to some food. While we were looking for restaurants, we stumbled upon the famous Ritter Sport Chocolate Store, they had so much chocolate, ice cream and a restaurant in the building. I wanted to buy allllll the chocolate! While we were venturing for food, we found a plaza with old buildings, I assumed were music venues, as they advertised artists such as Motzart and others on a banner.

Here's a panorama of the plaza!

Nearby Dani and Shane ate some curry wurst, and lots of little birds came by for some bread! The birds were so friendly, that they would eat the bread right from our hands! Ps. This is not a how to, be careful if you plan to do the same! It was probably a silly and dangerous idea.

We also stopped by the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Which is the first picture of the post.

It was such a sureal feeling. You could feel the weight and heaviness that this memorial was providing. The memorial is an optical illusion. It appears to be the same height if you look at it head-on, but as you walk through it, the middle blocks get taller. We walked through to the center and around.

Across from the Memorial, was the U.S Embassy, as we were walking we saw many Embassies, and we were wondering when we would see the American one. Berlin, is well-known for it's Berlin Bears, which are Bear statues all around painted in different colors and designs, you can find small replicas and stuff animals and shirts, etc. with them on it. So of coarse the U.S Embassy had a Berlin Bear dressed as the Statue of Liberty.

We also decided to walk to the Birkenstock Store which was "close by" to try and buy some cute and cheaper sandals, no luck for me, but Dani got a really cute blue pair! On our way we stopped to rest our feet and we sat next to a really beautiful government building.

And guess what guys... the day was STILL not over, trust me it was all the same day. We then decided to go to Check Point Charlie. I was really excited to see this monument, because we had learned about it in high school. Side antedote: Jeff's dad visited Check Point Charlie in the 60's or 70's during the cold war era while it was still being used! There are dressed up US soldiers that stand in the front of it and make you pay to take pictures with them... I didn't want a picture with them, just in front of it, but it was difficult because so many people wanted to pay for pictures to be taken (noobs!)

Checkpoint Charlie is in the middle of a very busy street, there is the nicest McDonalds across the street, that I have ever seen. In fact, every McDs is better in Europe... not taste wise, but everyone we went to (which was a lot--- don't judge us) was glamorous and in beautiful old buildings. McDs has free wifi in almost every country, hence our frequent McD's stops.

Near Checkpoint Charlie, there is a museum and a small market-type place (free) that has the history on the fence, and sells souvenirs and food. After we went to Checkpoint Charlie, we had accomplished EVERYTHING we wanted to see that day (I told you it was a lot!) We then began walking back to our hotel. We walked along a stretch of what appeared to be an old car museum, which is located by a huge hot air balloon you can pay about 20 Euros to go up in. In the first picture you can see the air balloon in the distance.

The street we took happened to be part of the Berlin Wall (West side), the side with the famous "Save Our Planet" painting. That was really cool to stumble on. As you walk there are also some small pieces of the wall that are found around Berlin.

As we continued walking, we stumbled upon this restaurant pavilion, with this really cool statue. We stopped and rested our really sore feet, as we had walked about 12 or 13 miles that day. This day in Berlin, made my feet the most uncomfortable, I got the worst blisters, and both pairs of shoes that I brought gave me different blisters (UGH)... it was a good thing I packed bandaids! As we sat down to rest our feet, in the water a water show began. It was fun to watch!

We drug our stiff bodies and swollen feet home, and then we went out to a restaurant just around the corner from our hotel, and seriously ate the best chicken ever! It was an inexpensive place that sold huge pieces of chicken! Dani and I then soaked our feet in our shower, while the boys watched Twitch on their phones! We all fell asleep super quick, because we had big plans for our next day !