Berlin Highlights

Prepare yourselves because I'm about to summarize our whole time in Berlin in one post. Don't worry though, there will be more pictures and less words.

We began our adventure in Germany with a 4 hour boat tour (good thing it wasn't a 'three hour tour'... I would have gotten worried).

See the TV tower in the background?

Our captain serenaded us!

 During our week in Berlin, we did a lot of sight-seeing. Here are some of the things we saw:

Brandenburg Gate

A Forest of Pillars - a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

Yes, they have stores for these things

Berlin War Memorial

Deutsches Historisches Museum - The German Historical Museum 

Altes (Old) Museum - Pergamon Altar

Altes Museum - Ishtar Gate

Altes Museum - Babylon

Altes Museum

Berlin Cathedral

Olympic Stadium

Checkpoint Charlie

Largest section left of the Berlin Wall

SS and the Reich Security Main Office

Brick embedded in the streets of Berlin mark where the wall used to be

The Reichstag

The Reichstag Dome - GREAT views from up here

From atop the Dome (the closest building - brown with an odd roof - is the Berlin Philharmoniker)

Berlin Victory Column

I must also include all the DELICIOUS food from Berlin:

Schnitzel

Spätzle

Kaiserschmarrn

The best wurst I've ever had!

And that's the final chapter in KK's and my adventure :)

We all made it back safe and sound last week and I'm finally caught up with our posts. We hope you enjoyed tagging along and who knows where we'll go next!

Oxford and Dover Highlights

While in London, we took two day trips. Our first was to Oxford. So now KK and I can truthfully say we 'went to Oxford.'

Besides exploring the quaint town of Oxfordshire and some of the many colleges connected to Oxford, we were on a different mission. Both literary geniuses C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein taught at Oxford. We were able to visit the Magical Books exhibit to see original writings and drawings from Lewis, Tolkein, Susan Cooper and other writers. Lewis and Tolkein often met with their literary group, the Inklings, at a local pub. Which pub? We're not sure... It's got to be one of the three that we went to, or all three... We've not found a sure source on this. 

Our next trip was to the White Cliffs of Dover. It was a mostly easy walk and one steep climb from the train station to the Cliffs. Once up on the Cliffs the 45 minute walk to the lighthouse was very pleasant and with great views. 

Thankfully the rain held off until our walk back. But a bit rain was worth the visit to Dover. 

London Highlights

It's been awhile since our last post - sorry! We were in London 5 days, and three days ago we left London for Berlin to meet up with our family! So we're a bit "traveled" out and have really relaxed since arriving in Berlin. But we won't leave our story unfinished! We'll relate the last bits of our trip in sections. This post will focus on some of the things we did in the city of London.

On our first day, we went to the Tower of London. It's a large complex of towers, residents, dungeons and torture chambers. We took a tour with a member of the guard. His dry humor and drill sergeant persona resulted in a very interesting tour of the Tower: what famous people were sent to the tower and how they were tortured and/or killed etc. We also waited 30 minutes in queue to see the Crown Jewels; no pictures allowed but trust me, they were very big and sparkly.

The next day we went to Westminster Abbey - a most impressive structure with an equally impressive history. All coronations take place here, the Royal Wedding was held here, and many well-known people are buried here: Queen Elizabeth I, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Mary Queen of Scots, Edward the Confessor and more.

Then we walked to the Churchill War Rooms. This bunker was were where Winston Churchill met with his government to make decisions about the WW2. We walked back in time through the War Cabinet Room, Map Room (with the original giant map with thousands of pin holes in it), Transatlantic Telephone Room (where Churchill had top-secret conversations with Roosevelt), Churchill's Room (where he made 4 of his wartime speeches) and a museum section covering the life of Winston Churchill.

Then we made our way over to Her Majesty's residence, Buckingham Palace. 

Here are some self-explanatory pictures of the city.

Skip ahead three days (on our last day). We took the Underground to King's Cross Station - ring a bell to anyone? This is where Harry Potter and his wizarding friends got to the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4.  Yep, it's actually there!

After that magical excursion, we went to the British Library. Yawn, right? Well, there were actually many interesting things to see in the Treasures of the British Library exhibition. There were writings of Jane Austen, John Lennon, Michelangelo, De Vinci, Bach, Darwin and more. Jane Austen's writing desk was on display and so was Johann Gutenberg's first printed Bible.

To end our day we made our way to Baker Street - any more bells ringing? 221B Baker Street was the fictional home of Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved Sherlock Holmes! After waiting an hour to get into the tiny flat, we were able to imagine ourselves in the life of John Watson, Mrs. Hudson and Holmes himself.

What's to look forward to: Oxford and the Cliff's of Dover.