Berlin - the wall - the war - the impact

Berlin was a huge city. We were there 3 days and didn't see all of it. While we were there - we visited Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie is the checkpoint where people would cross over from East Berlin to West Berlin or visa-versa. The checkpoint is now a museum memorializing the wall, and the fall. It houses actual items that were used to smuggle people across the line and stories of people being separated from loved ones.

I may need to do another post about Checkpoint Charlie because I think the rest of the pics are on Judith's camera.

As we walked through the city - you could see where the wall used to be. There are marks on the sidewalk that were left after it was taken down, and they literally go straight through the middle of the city.

Something else that we saw in Berlin was this church. It was bombed in the war and now stands as-is as a memorial. Next to the church are two or three towers that house 100's of glass mosaics. The glass is what was salvaged from the ruins. There is everything from small slivers of glass to large pieces. Again - I will have to post more pics when I get the ones from Judith's camera. Here are the pics I have that show some of the damage still visible today.

This was one of the most powerful parts of the trip for me because it really showed the reality of was - and we were standing right there!

Heidelberg and so on

This is Heidleberg.

This is a castle in Heidleberg.

And so is this.

And this.

After Heidelberg - we headed to Berlin - a city full of European culture. Check back for possibily 3 or 4 pages of our time of in Berlin.

First full day in Germany

For our first day in Germany - we went to Bamberg - a beautiful town not far from where Judith lives. Here we visited this church. The gates into the sanctuary were locked so we weren't able to get many shots. But it was our first look at one of the churches we had heard so much about, and it was a good impression.





While walking around the town - we saw a lot of really beautiful architecture. This was one of my favorites.


This mural was also very cool.



If you look close at this mural - you can find a lot of "mistakes" like this: look closely! Do you see it?





Great food is another thing we had a lot of fun experiencing. There were so many different foods to try - we wanted to try a little bit of everything. This is what it all looked like.





This was also our first time to eat in one of the infamous beer gardens; and it was very typical of what you hear about on the travel channel.
I think Simon is again practicing his camera skills here. (see him at the left end of the table?)


Speaking of Simon......




Simon got duck - he loves duck leg. Here he is with his dish.





We actually talked him into eating in American style!


But that didn't last long because eating this way is absolutely unacceptable in Germany. I hope
we didn't get you in trouble Simon!





The red rooftops in Germany lend themselves for a great photo op. I took advantage of this when we were on a wall over-looking the city. Look how cool it is!






Love that last shot of our Judith!


We did take the opportunity to get some great family shots too. Do we look German?





This was really cute too.





So to end our first day - The Schunks threw us a party. We got to meet most of their closest friends and family. It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of great people! Here are some shots of the yard as we prepared for the guests. Ashley is posing with Laura - the family dog. Laura is 11 or 12 years old and pretty slow in her old age. But she is so sweet. Ashley loved her.





Simon was playing papparazi as usual - and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of eachother taking pictures!



Josh had a lot of fun talking to this guy.


He is a genious. He has been accepted to Harvard. He lacks a bit of common sense though. He asked Josh if he had ever had Chicken beer. Josh says "WHAAAAT! We don't have chicken beer!" The guy (his name is Marco) says " No, really! I was in a chat room talking to some Americans and they told me you had beer made from chickens!" I don't know if Josh ever convinced him that they were playing with him, and that "chicken beer" does not exist.


We also got to see our other german daughter - Mirja. Although not nearly enough.


We met Judith's uncle who brought us some regional wine. We got it home safely. Now we just need to pick the right occasion to drink it! Maybe New Years?


Another thing we discovered in Germany is that they use cola in some interesting ways. Have you ever had Cola Beer? It doesn't sound good - but I like it. They sell it bottled over there - but you can make here by mixing about 3/4 beer and 1/4 cola. They also mix cola with orange juice. Ashley liked this combo.


That pretty much sums up day one. Sounds like a full day huh?

Germany Part One

Ok Folks - here we go. Part one of our adventures ensues.

When we arrived in Germany, we were exausted and could not WAIT to get off the plane. We expected to go through a customs check, get our luggage, go through another customs check, and hopefully leave after that. Well - there was NO customs check. Nothing. We got our luggage and we left. CRAZY!

After some looking around and feeling a bit lost - our hosts appeared. Simon was on hand with his papparazi skills, but all the shots are still on his camera. Judith had the same beautiful smile as always with a tongue piercing added to the mix. She also went blonde on us.

So after we got something to eat - we headed out into the European world.

After about an hour of travel - we were greeted with this - cool huh?

Turns out Judith's boyfriend, Nico, has access to this awesome antique VW Bug Convertible. So we were chauffeured the rest of the way to Judith's home in this beauty.

Judith's home is beautiful. The homes in Germany are very old - some as old as 500 years. This is a shot from the street of Judith's home.

The next several pics were taken during a walking tour of Judith's town. The name of her town is Mainstockheim and it is located in Bavaria. It is a very typical German town.

That's all I have for now. I have so much to share - I need to figure out the best way to put it all together. Stay tuned!

Pictures

The last three days were spent in different cities. The first in Bamburg, the next in Rothenburg, and today we were in Heidelburg. Here are some various pics from these cities.

We made it!

We are in Germany! The flight was long and tiring - but worth the hugs we got when we arrived.

I have already taken a lot of pictures - but don't have time to load them now. Keep watching for pics sometime soon!