Catherine found some pretzel bites in different flavors, which made me happy, because I only saw the big pretzels and couldn't decide what I wanted. On the way out there were people handing out free high C drinks as samples. Nice sample! And, I figured it was much needed.
It's hard to get tickets to see the Riechstag, and in fact, I was only able to get tickets to see the famous dome. We were told to get there 15 minutes early. We did. Were first in line and the staff was late. But it was ok. It was a beautiful day. We had some time to enjoy the scenery.
And also this impressive little monument.
At last we were allowed into the dome.
We were given headphones that explained not only the Reichstag, but also all the views we were seeing on the way up and down. We took it slow, and really enjoyed ourselves. None of us are hugely political, so the information we got was just right for us and don't think any of us minded not being able to tour the inside of the building.
This shade moved with the sun.
The central cone.
The top of the building is not closed. There is literally a hole in the roof that catches the rain and sends it into this funnel. It does not look as though the funnel would be large enough, but I guess it is.
family selfie
Good views of the city.--Such as the Brandenberg gate.
This was the only thing in Berlin where we had to be somewhere at a certain place and time, so now we were free to do as we pleased. We wandered to a nearby gift shop that had blue shirts for only 9 euros, got those and a new backpack for me as the old one was literally coming apart at the seams. We did not get the mutant duck bear.
Next door we had hot chocolate and croissants and planned out a little better what we wanted to do in Berlin. We decided to take the train to Alexander Platz and work out way back to the Brandenburg gate. It took a little bit of doing, but Catherine is good at subways and got us there. The first thing we saw was a modern and unromantic mall, but we had to go there because Dave and Catherine are obsessed with Build a Bear.
(The store for people who can't make up their minds)
I took a quick look and then went across the hall to my obsession, the oil and vinegar store. This store had samples of ALL the oils. I had a great time, and bought some Tuscan seasoning for dipping oil. I went back to Build a Bear to discover that they had made TWO bears. (I nobly refrained--at least at that time, from mentioning that we had a whole bag of bears ready to be donated at home) I caught the end of the stuffing ceremony. The lady was really animated and fun. Dave and Catherine were super cute about it.
(Your Bear does not live from honey alone)
On the way out, I noticed the sign for Lottz mini-Berlin on the third floor. Could this be the amazing miniature world I saw on a documentary??? YES!!!!! This was the most amazing place!! Miniature world heaven--the detail is incredible. Every 20 minutes it would go dark so the city could be seen at night. And there was even a thunderstorm.
Every one of these people at the rock concert is unique
Shaun the Sheep
The stork bringing a delivery.
A worker.
After this, we were hungry and wanted to find some good street food. Specifically, curry-wurst which Carolyn and Bella had raved about and which seemed to be on every street corner. No problem finding a snack bar, but worst customer service ever. I got the curry wurst. Huh. A mediocre wurst, with a mediocre sauce. Not a fan. Presumably, this was a good wurst--as there were big lines. Fries are served with mayo, not ketchup.
Here's one of the few attractions that we didn't see. The TV tower. You can eat an expensive meal at the top. We figured we'd already seen a lot of views and eaten at expensive places.
We also found bears. These are not hard to find. They are everywhere and painted in all kinds of ways.
This wasn't a house of horrors--it was more like an interactive, fictional macabre tour. Not in the least scary, just funny and spooky. We caught the English speaking session. They put us in a group of about 30 and we moved from room to room. The idea was that it was the time of the Black Plague and Jack the Ripper was on the loose (apparently there is one of these in London). There were actors in every room.
We took a 1 minute boat ride to get to one of the rooms, one of the tourists, Marcus, was picked as the head troublemaker. In one room there was a monk who accused us all of being sinners. In another there was a judge who called up tourists to accuse them of crimes. When we were told about plague and leeches, we could feel the leeches on the bench. There was a torture room, one tourist was taken away and presumably something went horribly wrong. In another room we were incited to a revolution! We were hungry! We wanted big potatoes! And we wanted them NOW! Marcus was again selected for a special spot in the revolution. Alas, he was killed. In the room with a butcher which obviously, had sharp implements, we could feel our hair being cut. Jack the Ripper showed up as the strobe lights went on and we all felt a poke in the back. Naturally, the Dungeon tour exited into the gift shop.
Dave was getting antsy. We hadn't meant to spend all day on weird side tourist attractions. He wanted to be sure that we saw the important Berlin. We would, but there was one other stop to make first--
The Ritter Sport Store!!
We looked at St. Mary's Church along the way.
As we were walking, my feet began to be a little sore, and it seemed that they might even be swelling a little. No surprises there, I was only amazed that my feet hadn't been a lot sorer a lot earlier. . The Ritter Sport store was loads of fun. The first thing we did was to "make" meaning, we chose three ingredients and they mixed them up in some chocolate for us, our own Ritter Sport candy bars.
Mine was a rhubarb, carmelized coconut and hazelnut. Dave made one with a double sour cherries and gold stars and Catherine chose carmelized almond bits, vanilla cookies and gold stars. The chocolate had to wait 30 minutes to cool, so we explored the rest of the sore. Upstairs was a display on how chocolate is made, and there was a café with chocolate fondue and fruit.
Naturally, there was all kinds of chocolate to buy--and we did.
They even sold a little hot/cold bag to carry it all in for only 1 euro. We stuffed the chocolate in, picked up our specialty bars, and took a train to finally see the Brandenburg Gate, passing the British Embassy on the way.
We also found the American Embassy later on.
Okay FORGET the gate, FORGET anything else, THIS is the only way to travel. Why didn't we find this at the beginning of the trip??? Why were there three of us which seemed to be too many to use the bed??? Why was this bed AT our destination rather than on the way to it??
We got there around sunset, so the lighting was horrible for pictures, but the gate was still impressive.
Also impressive was the Jewish memorial nearby. We spent some time wandering through the memorial.
By now my ankles were significantly swollen and a rash was developing that itched.
Nothing could be done about that so we walked to get some water. Down the way we could see the golden statue of Victoria, we all wanted to see it, but it felt as though we walked forever to get to it.
Happily, we could walk by way of the famous Tiergarten. So beautiful! It reminded me strongly of Opa who would always begin to tell us stories with, "Im tiefen Wald" (in the deep woods). And that was it---no story, just a terrific beginning. Anyway, the part we saw had lovely woods, ponds, occasional statues of animals and lots of bikers.
All of us were tired so found a pretty bench and rested and watched the world go by. Alas, Catherine and I both needed a bathroom and the statue still awaited. The GPS said it was only .5 mile away but it felt much much further.
It was indeed impressive.
From a distance, I thought the tower of the statue was covered with candles. No, those are cannons.
From the statue we could see the train station in the distance. Catherine and I began to head toward it. Dave took a detour to look at another statue across the street more closely.
Yay Weber State. Truly a global school.
As we approached the train station we could hear angry voices and see police lights.
At first we thought it was an accident, but it turned out to be much bigger than that. It was a huge protest--scary looking, especially after seeing so much history of WW2 violence. This is a good place to mention that police sirens in Germany have not changed since the 1940's. Anyway, there was a Burger King with a bathroom just before the riot (I mean, protest), so we ducked in to use the facilities and waited for Dave to catch up there. We had to walk right through the protest to get to the train. I asked one of the policemen what it was all about? The issue was immigration and both sides were there to be heard and the police were there to be between the sides.
On the train platform we had a good view of the anti-immigration side. They were much better prepared than the pro-immigration side with flags, signs and speeches claiming that immigrants were taking jobs. They even sang the German National Anthem.
We got off the train to eat dinner at Wok to Walk and had a delicious bowl of noodles with shrimp and cashews with garlic sauce. Next train got us home at 10:00.
I put my poor ankles up on cushions with a cold towel. The rash had developed into bright red angry blotches, very hot and very itchy.
We had walked 11 miles. I was glad to think that I didn't have to get up early the next morning.
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