Christmas Eve in Berlin.
Christmas day in Berlin. We started out at Checkpoint Charlie, the most prominent Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
This is the sign going into East Berlin.
And a picture of a Soviet soldier.
The other side as you enter West Berlin.
And the picture of a US soldier.
Kev and boys at Checkpoint Charlie.
Kevin and Piper standing on a piece of the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie.
Near Checkpoint Charlie is a section of the wall that has been preserved.
Near Checkpoint Charlie is a section of the wall that has been preserved.
Then we went to the Jewish Musem of Berlin.
The museum was very interesting, with details of the German Jewish history up to and including the Holocaust. It was architecturally designed by Daniel Libeskind to make you feel uncomfortable and disoriented with a large void which slices through the entire building. An artist, Menashe Kadishman filled the void with 10,000 faces cut out of iron called Shalechet, or Fallen Leaves. They represent the victims of the holocaust.
It was a moving and thought-provoking area, as you could enter the void and walk over the rough cut faces.
Our oldest checking out a Torah scroll in the Jewish Museum.
We spent a long time in the Jewish Museum, so in the evening we went to the Christmas Market near our hotel to relax and let the boys have some fun.
The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a standing reminder of the destruction of war and the resolve to rebuild (the new modern building is the rebuilt church tower).
Having fun on the rides at the Christmas market.
The following day, we headed out to see some of the tourist sites of Berlin.
This is a statue in the Tiergarten, Berlin's largest park.
A WWII memorial near the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate, a former city gate and Iconic symbol of Berlin and Germany.
You can see in the picture below that during the Cold War the gate was a gate to no where as it was encapsulated by the Berlin Wall. It was also the site of the celebrations in 1989 when the wall fell and the "Festival of Freedom" held in 2009 during the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A memorial to those who lost their lives trying to cross from East to West Berlin.
The Reichstag building, the seat of German Parliament.
In front of the Reichstag building.
The dome on top of the Reichstag building, added in 1999.
Views inside the dome.
View over Berlin on the way up.
Kevin and boys on the top of the dome on the Reichstag with Berlin in the background.
We also stopped by the Schloss Charlottenburg, but did not take a tour through it.
We also drove by some other beautiful buildings and historical sites.
The Fernsehturm, or television tower in East Berlin.
Our final destination for Saturday was Legoland of Berlin. I know, I know, what a way to spend your time in Berlin. But the boys were troopers through all of the sight seeing and this was a Christmas trip, after all!
In the Legoland mini-Berlin world. This is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The Reichstag building.
The boys had a great time!
Kevin helped building towers.
E turning up the 'earthquake similator'.
Life size Bob the Builder and Wendy figures.
On Sunday we headed out of town to Potsdam, site of Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great.
The south garden facade.
The terrace gardens, looking down from the palace towards the park. It wasn't much to look at in winter, but the park is said to rival Versailles in beauty.
View along one of the colonnades on the northern side of the palace.
More to come on our Christmas travels!
We also stopped by the Schloss Charlottenburg, but did not take a tour through it.
Schloss Charlottenburg.
We also drove by some other beautiful buildings and historical sites.
The Fernsehturm, or television tower in East Berlin.
Berlin's largest church, the Berliner Dom, a Protestant Cathedral.
Our final destination for Saturday was Legoland of Berlin. I know, I know, what a way to spend your time in Berlin. But the boys were troopers through all of the sight seeing and this was a Christmas trip, after all!
In the Legoland mini-Berlin world. This is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
The Reichstag building.
The boys had a great time!
Kevin helped building towers.
E turning up the 'earthquake similator'.
Life size Bob the Builder and Wendy figures.
On Sunday we headed out of town to Potsdam, site of Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great.
The south garden facade.
The terrace gardens, looking down from the palace towards the park. It wasn't much to look at in winter, but the park is said to rival Versailles in beauty.
View along one of the colonnades on the northern side of the palace.
A windmill near the Sanssouci palace in Potsdam.
More to come on our Christmas travels!
2 comments:
What amazing pictures. What a wonderful privilege for you to see all that. Hope the little guys will remember some of it, but you'll have great pics for them to look back over. Definitely a Christmas to remember. (We still missed you back here tho!)
Thanks. We think the same thing all the time... I hope the kids remember all this history they're experiencing and maybe even appreciate it one day. We missed being with you for Christmas, too!
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