Amplemann, Currywurst, and History-- O MY!

Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken me a little while to put up the pictures from Berlin. The weather has been so nice here that I try to avoid my computer as much as possible to just be outside! We've been busy walking "in nature" and teaching a weekend course, but now that I finally have a second I'm excited to share our Berlin experience with you.

Berlin was one of the coolest cities we've been to. It was so different than any other European city we've seen because, sadly, it was badly destroyed in WWII and much of the city was not rebuilt or completely restored until after the fall of the wall in 1989. But because of all of this Berlin was a very historical city and still the most modern city we've seen. There is one famous street in Berlin, Wilhelmstrasse, that Ben and I walked down one day. It starts about a block from the Brandenburg Gate and runs for 2km south(ish) through the city. Anyways, the street was lined with historical markers telling all about famous buildings that used to be there and famous people that used to live on the street, but hardly any of those things are still actually there. The entire 2km was completely destroyed (a couple buildings have been restored) during WWII. We also took a self-guided tour along part of the the wall-- that gave us a good 10 mile walk one day through the city. It's really cool because you can see where the whole wall used to run because it is marked continuously by a cobblestone path that leads through the city. Well enough of the history lesson- let's get to the pictures!

We saw a lot of cool cars in Berlin... the first of those were these 2 Ferraris

Monkey-face Ben in front of the Brandenburg Gate

The Reichstag 

The Soviet War Memorial in Tiergarten Park

Tiergarten Park.. a beautiful park in the middle of Berlin

The Fernsehturum (big television tower) and a ferris wheel that was set up for a festival 

The Berlin Victory Column

The Ampelmann (the street crossing guys in Berlin) were awesome!

Ben's new favorite European meal- Currywurst. He ate it for every meal (except one time when we had Dunkin Donuts). We also tried "Berlin's Best Currywurst", but we disagreed-- it was not the best.

A Bugatti! Just another one of the ridiculous cars that we saw in Berlin. 

The Berlin Cathedral

This is a true street vendor: he has a grill attached to is waist and a cooler on is back.

A guard tower along the Wall 

Part of what remains of the Berlin Wall

This is the cobblestone path that outlines where the Wall used to run through the city

Very modern section of Berlin

Berlin's Central Station was absolutely amazing. Definitely the biggest and most modern station I've seen.

Running a race through Berlin

The runners!

Another Wirtshaus! Ben and I enjoyed a delicious meal there later in the night :)

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe with the US Embassy in the background. There are many different levels of the Memorial to make an uneven and confusing design.

Ben standing at the Topography of Terror. An outdoor museum in Berlin that sits on the ground of what was formerly the Gestapo and SS headquarters.

Ben and I standing at Checkpoint Charlie- the entrance/exit to the US section of Berlin. 

Checkpoint Charlie

Ben and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Berlin has statues of bears all through the city (much like the statues of Brutus in Columbus). This is the bear at the American Embassy.

Our dinner at the Wirsthaus. MMMmmmMMM

The Reichstag at night