Ok, so I didn't make it to Paris, but that is how the song goes. Berlin was AWESOME! My co-worker and I took the train early Saturday morning. The train was a good experience. There is a photo posted of one of the trains we were on (and me looking insanely dorky!). We arrived in Berlin, got a cab to the hotel, dropped our luggage and began toursit-ing. First stop was Checkpoint Charlie. This historic marking served as a crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. On the way to the Reichstag, we passed the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor). This is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. The next site was the Reichstag. This is where the German parilament meets. It was a beautiful building (the glass dome) and we got to go to the top and walk around the glass. We then walked to the Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe). This is a unique memorial in that there are 208 'blocks'. The designer never stated why he chose 208 or the symbolism behind each of these 'blocks', but it is dedicated to the European Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust. Next stop was the Potsdam Platz, but on the way we saw Vapiano! Woo! One of my true loves in Arlington! ;) Saw Burn After Reading, had dinner and then came back to the hotel. We were exhausted but it was a great first day!
Sunday, woke up to the best breakfast ever*! Walked to see the Berlin Wall and went to the Jewish Museum. Early afternoon came and we headed to the train station to go back to Schweinfurt.
Great weekend away!
*Due to numerous requests, I will go into detail of the breakfast. When we checked in, they told us breakfast was included. I was thinking, oh goody croissants and pretzels. However, when we arrived at the restaurant, I was wrong. There was an omelette station, eggs, sausage, pancakes, a fruit bar with yogurt, a large variety of cheeses, breads (rolls, croissants, no pretzels), and a pastry section, with perfect size chocolate croissants, pound cakes and delicious apple strudels. The coffee was great and the juice was fresh. Ok, so you may not think it was great, but it was! ;)
with the sound of music.... yes, all weekend I was singing that (Michelle can attest!). We were in Salzburg Austria! A weekend full of site seeing/touristing, drinking wine and eating....hmm, sounds like a typical day :) We did everything you could do in Salzburg. We saw Mozart's birthplace (Mozarts Geburtshaus), Leopoldskron Palace, which was Baron Von Trap's House, the Sound of Music Pavillion (photo above), the Festung Hohensalzburg (the HUGE fortress on top of a mountain), but my favorite was Hellbrunn, the beautiful yellow palace. It was like a big playground, it even had a fitness section. However, I climbed up the big hill and got that beautiful picture of the mountains. We then ended our touristing at the Fortress. Due to my awesome sense of direction, we ended up walking down the mountain. At least it wasn't up ;) We definitely deserved our apple strudel! After the long day, we took a nap and then went out to dinner, walked around a little more and then to bed.
