Danke!

So after a 9 hour train ride, in true German style, the train pulled into Berlin Hostbanhof at exactly the posted time, almost to the second. We had 6 hours until we met the rest of the family in the city and there was only one place in the station that was open. To be honest, sleeping on a McDonalds booth is quite comfy. We made sure to buy something about every hour so we didn’t get kicked out. The time went by quick and before long we were in the car with the rest of the crew and over at the East Side Gallery. This section of the wall has been painted by various artist from all over the world and is a beautiful representation of culture. Most of Berlin’s building are very new, as so many were destroyed by the WWII bombings, and our next stop at Postdamer Platz was a good example of the new architecture. Despite the age of the buildings, a lot of Berlins sights have rebuilt in the original 18th or 19th century styles and its surprising when you learn some were finished as recent as 1999. The Brandenburg Gate, Berliner Dome, and the Reischtag parliament house were some of the great buildings we saw while walking around the city. We also took a ride on a crazy 6 person bike while the driver dodged around tourists.

The museum stop of the day was at the Pergamon Museum. The museum had a lot of original sculpture from the city of Babylon including some pieces that are over 100 feet wide and 40 feet high. Its incredible to walk on something that was built over 2000 years ago and was part of one of the most famous cities in history. The last stop of the day was Checkpoint Charlie, and we all learned a lot about the history of the city and the divide of East and West Germany after the war. After all the typical tourist photos we made the drive back to the ship. It was a long day to say the least, but it was well worth it to be back on the ship.
The ship is at sea today and the next stop is Stockholm, Sweden. The sun was out so we spent most of the day taking in the rays and relaxing by the pool. We have been really lucky that the seas have been so calm and its easy to forget that you are even on a ship.