Leah and Jenn had a wonderful trip to Berlin playing their instruments in the Junior Honor Orchestra. Bob and I got to enjoy Berlin on our own since we traveled there to see the girls in their celebration performance at the end of the week.
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| Opera House across from our hotel |
Most of Berlin was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt during an era when buildings weren't all that beautiful. The city is not romantic or pretty and it has very little charm. But something about it made us want to learn more. On our first day we took a tour of the entire city but at the end of the day we had to study the historical facts. We really needed to understand how torn apart the city really was when it was divided at the end of the war. After reading the information that we were probably taught in middle school history, we were able to spend another day in Berlin with better historical knowledge. We understood where the Wall made East and West Berlin into two completely different cities. It was all very interesting. The city of Berlin is proud of how hard they worked to rebuild after the war. Some of the new buildings are really ugly and some are beautiful. I know this seems shallow but the very best building we went to was the Ka De Wi department store. Since we live in Belgium we unfortunately have the most boring and worst shopping so landing in this mecca was fascinating. It reminded me of the old Marshall Fields store in Chicago but 10 times better! Berliners know how to shop! Enjoy just of few of the many pictures we took
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| This building is a museum now but the front is still from before the war and the back was rebuilt. |
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| what's left of the wall |
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| Jewish Memorial Museum |
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| Check Point Charlie before 1989 |
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| Checkpoint Charlie now |
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| Brandenburg Gate |
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