Berlin

Our 2nd day in Berlin, we explored the city.  We walked over 10 miles with the kids & they were such troopers the whole time.  We also did a hop on hop off bus tour which let us see some things off the beaten path which was nice too.

We visited the Gestapo museum to allow the kids to see remnants of the Berlin Wall up close & personal.  We spent a good hour and a half there talking about the history of what exactly happened before, during, & after the war.  We also talked about the fall of the Berlin Wall & how important that was.  I know kids hate those types of things, but I hope they always remember.  History shouldn't be forgotten, it's there for us to learn from!

After the Gestapo Museum we made our way to Checkpoint Charlie in the very center of Berlin.  It's SO tiny!!!  And to think how hard it was to get passed the border.  It's crazy to me.

There was a tiny McDonalds right next to Checkpoint Charlie so we opted to eat a quick lunch there (German kids meals are SO good compared to the ones you get in the states.)  While we ate we talked about Checkpoint Charlie & it's importance.

After lunch we found a Ritter Sport store that was two full stories of chocolate goodness.

My very favorite thing to see in Berlin is the Ampelmann.  I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with them. The lights in East Germany have these adorable red & green men instead of just lights.  The green guy is walking with a cute hat on & the red guy also has a hat with his arms outstretched to both sides to remind you to stop.  I would giggle every time we walked across the street.  Trek made fun of me because I kept taking pictures of the lights.  Then we found a statue of the green Amplemann in a park.

And even better, we found an entire store dedicated to him.  I won't tell you how much money I spent in that store.

The highlight of our day in Berlin was the German Espionage Museum.  It is a tiny little museum that you'd miss if you blinked.  I found it on a map & knew the kids would LOVE it!  I had no idea how much fun we'd all have there.

Just to get into the museum, you had to put your ticket into a hole, get into an elevator thing where they took your "xray" & then shot you out the other side.  The kids were in heaven.

We learned about morse code, cryptics, all sorts of codes used during the war period, & more.

The museum was fully hands on & because of COVID, only a few people were allowed in at a time (they'd clean everything between visitors) so we basically had the whole place to our selves.

There was an entire wall dedicated to James Bond which made me think of my dad.  He LOVES James Bond.

The kids all successfully broke open a safe.  I was surprised.  We also enjoyed listening to radio waves to find codes hidden inside.  It was really fun learning about all of these things.

Canyon loved writing with invisible ink.

I think the girls were just happy to have a place to sit after walking for so many miles.  They sat & watched pieces of James Bond, Bridge of Spies, & Mission Impossible.

Trek got stuck trying to climb through an airvent.  ha ha ha.  The kids made it through just fine.

The kids favorite part of the spy museum was the laser maze.  It was SO MUCH FUN.  The kids all did theirs on kids level easy.  Cadence, Lorien, & I did it on Adult medium. . . Lorien got out, but Cadence & I both "blew up."

After the spy museum, we explored more & saw so many beautiful buildings.

The Brandenburg Gate was gorgeous.  It's definitely the highlight of Berlin.

The Jewish Memorial was quite spectacular too.  It gave us an opportunity to teach the kids about the Holocaust.  I was proud of my kids for knowing this was a hallowed place.  We spent 30 minutes there walking in complete silence as we paid our respect to the millions of Jews killed.

The Dom Cathedral in Berlin is also absolutely gorgeous.  It's one of my favorites in all of Europe.

At the end of the day we met up with friends at the TV Tower again & ate dinner together.  But first we had to take some goofy pictures with it.

We found a lovely restaurant near the tower that had some delicious italian food.  It was nice talking with friends & enjoying the evening in Berlin together.

The next morning we woke up & decided to rent scooters & ride to the river where a large section of the Berlin Wall still stands.  The kids LOVED the scooters.  I loved the artwork on the wall.

Then we drove the 7 hours home.  It was a fun 3 day excursion over a long weekend.  The kids enjoyed it & Trek & I loved seeing the city again.