April 14, Tuesday

April 14 Tuesday


We were able to sleep well on our futon...until 4am. Luke woke up and couldn't sleep, he tried to read a little bit, but I woke up and we talked a little bit, then fell asleep and slept in until 0900!!! Wow. That surprised us.
We woke up and Luke made a breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs and toast. He also made some espresso, dad sliced some cheese and apples. Yummy. I took the opportunity to wash the duvet on our bed. It was REALLY REALLY REALLY stinky. I couldn't stand it- even after tons of febreeze. We washed it in the washer in the basement and hung it to dry on the towel warmer.
Luke and I took off at about 1100. First we went to Checkpoint Charlie museum. It cost about €12 for each ticket. The museum was kind of jumbled together. It was aged and sprawling. We did enjoy the second level, it was better put together, but just as jumbled. They had lots of examples of art with the wall as the subject. Much of it looked like 8Th grade art class. It took us a while to get through it.
Then we walked over to the topography of terror. That is an outdoor exhibit with posters of pictures and very well written text about WW2. What I enjoyed were the vivid black and white pictures. Man, those Nazis sure did know how to take a good photo. They sure liked their lines. There is one pic I remember in specific where there were thousands of soldiers in lines, they were carrying Nazi emblems on tall sticks. The lines were so straight, the picture so clear you could read what was written on the signs. I saw a description that said that propaganda pictures were often posed. I was not surprised. The exhibit was outdoors in the open space where the Chancellery was. The sun was out and warming us, the slight breeze cooling us. Perfect day.
We then walked a bit to the memorial to the murdered Jews. The memorial is thousands of concrete rectangular blocks of varying heights. They look eerily like coffins.

We also saw the site of Hitler's bunker. The site is now a parking lot and a sign with a map of the former bunker and some dates and facts.
We then walked to the Brandenburg gate again. Luke read some text from the book and narrated a bit about the gate. We saw a bike shaped like an octopus. The main guide was “driving” the bike and there were 4 or 5 other people peddling a bike around in a circle. They were all contributing to the work of the bike. I also saw a guide with a couple on segways. They looked like they were having fun. I told Luke that was my kind of tour. For lazy Americans too tired to walk.

We looked at this special DZ bank that was designed by a famous architect. The building was glass and the interior was a an architectural piece of art. It served NO functional purpose other than to look at. It was big and interesting but we couldn't get very close to it as it was gated.
Then we headed towards the subway and headed home. We stopped at a few outdoor restaurants and read the menus. Then we saw dad from a distance. He was literally pacing in front of our apartment. Apparently our apartment owner had changed apartments on us. Dad was there to direct us to the new place.
Mom and Dad got called soon after they left for the day and were notified that we needed to switch apartments today. So they hiked back to the apartment and packed up all our stuff and moved it to this apartment. So, they lost their whole day of sightseeing. I felt bad. I still feel bad.
We got to the new apartment, sat on the couch, got the whole story from mom and drank a tall bottle of beer between the three of us. We each mooked out of the bottle and passed it around like high schoolers. It was good enough.

Luke made an easy meal of spaghetti with red sauce and brats, sliced bread. We had juice and coffee.
We made the decision to go out again tonight after dinner. I am pretty tired. We went to the Reichstag. We waited in line for 40 minutes at least, once we got in to the building we went through security, then up the elevator, then up the ramp to the very tip top of the mirrored dome. Luke decided not to take any pictures even though I expressly asked him to.
We scooted home and are now eating liverwurst on bread, red wine (from a bottle), chips and cheese. Yummy. Hopefully we will be able to get to bed asap. I am trying to get Luke to finalize the itinerary.
Our apartment sleeps 8. 6 in one bedroom and 2 on the couch. We will be sharing a room w/ mom and dad. We'll have to get out the ear plugs because m/d SNORE.