Well today is Christmas and we got p to find some souvenir type presents under the tree. We did not get a lot though as we had already celebrated chrisms back home before we left. After that we lazed around for a few hours before deciding to go out and see checkpoint Charlie. The Checkpoint was basically just a booth in the road and a sign so we did not stay long, it as however good to see. On our way back home we happened to walk past a Vietnamese restaurant that Dad had read about so we went in a had a very tasty meal. Then we went back home and lazed around for a few more hours.
We woke up very late this morning as varies devices had gone off in the night. And we sat around for awhile waiting for dad to come back, who had gone off to explore. He Come back later and was very enthusiastic and told us to get ready we were going out to see Berlin as he had found some interesting areas. So we put on our warm gear and headed out to see this interesting stuff. He took us over to a island in Rine called museum island that holds a lot of Berlin’s cultural and art museums. All of the museums were closed however (I think I was the only one disappointed by this), so we had a look around. Most of the buildings were oldish and were rather interesting. After that we went off the island and ended up on a big field in front of a massive church which had probably 1000+ people lined up waiting for the mass to start. We went over to a water Thing that was made up of different parts of the Wall. William when Mum said this asked “what wall” -_- (really William). We then went back to the apartment where we ended up sitting down in the little café playing chess and drinking hot drinks. I beat William, Dad, and would have beaten Claire but we had to leave. Mum beat me as I made several stupid moves (I did however later beat her). At one point Mum went off to a Christmas mass which I would have gone to but it was all in German. Later we left the Café and went to pick up Mum who said that the mass was very depressing as it was basically no one talking and everyone just singing very slow songs and not talking or smiling (people its Christmas eve).
Today we went to see the Brandenburg gate. Which has a rather interesting history. The Gate was constructed in 1788 as a gate way to the avenue behind that stretches off into the distance. There is a statue on top of the Greek goddess of victory (Nix) which was taken from Paris in the 1800s by Napoleon as a symbol of victory. During the cold war it was a symbol of the devision between east and west Berlin. Now days it is just a tourists attraction but you know still it looks nice. After that we went to one of the German government buildings which at one point was used as the Nazi HQ. We were however not awed inside or to near it so we left quickly and went home.
We got up at the the crack of dawn so that we could catch a train over to the Volkswagen factory, which Mum and Dad had been told by friends was going to be a great day out. Well we got there and found out that the factory its self is literally bigger than whole of Devonport, and were then told we could not go in the factory but we could look at all of there car show rooms in this big area that have for tourists who come to see the factory. We started at the Porsche show were we could … look at three Porsches and sit in them ‘fun’. All of the other show rooms were like this and even Dad and William were not enjoying them selfs (and they are car enthusiasts). We also visited he Volkswagen museum which was by the showrooms that had a display and model of every car that Volkswagen has ever made, this was only slightly more interesting. We then left to go to the near by designer outlet shops as Claire and Mum wanted to shop, who kew shopping was so mind numbingly boring. We left quickly and head back to the train station having spent about 4 hours there, instead of the anticipated 8. Once the train got back to near our apartment we on he walk home noticed golden tiles on the foot path which are put out side the home to represent the Jews killed by the Nazis. Each one has a name and date on it.
Today was our first day in the communist east Berlin, or it would have been 50 years ago. I woke up this morning in east Berlin. We went down to the café for breakfast as we had no food in our rooms. the food was nice and we ate quickly. After that we headed out to see the Berlin wall memorial, which is a section of the wall that has been preserved and a museum. The museum was closed but we got a look at the wall, which is actually two walls with no mans land between (which was filled with land mines during WW2). after that we went to the Berlin museum of natural history. The museum great it had lot of dinosaur fossils and preserved animals. By then it was time to head home so we did.
Today we got up at 6 and left a hour later for Köln with Claudia, Chiara and Jorg to catch a train to take us to Berlin. But before we left we had tim to look through some christmas markets and eat lunch at a bar/restaurant. Then we hoped on the train to Berlin and waved good bye to Claudia, Chiara and Jorg, who have been great hosts so THANK YOU to them. The train took 4 hours to get to Berlin and traveled at 250km/h. We were in first class which was great as the seats were comfy and it had free wifi. After we got of the train in Berlin we took a taxi to the hotel and resided we had no food so we went out for food/explored the local area a bit. We then came home ate and went to sleep.
Claire is still sick so we left her and Mum at home and headed out with Claudia and Jorg to see the X – ray museum. The museum was great with tons of cool stuff about X-rays. It even had a booth where you could get your own X-ray done of your head. After that we headed out to see the old part of Remschied, which had lots of houses from the 1700s. They looked pretty dodgy but were still standing. After that we walked back to the car went home and mucked around until it was time to sleep.
Apparently German knifes are the best, and that is why we all piled into a car to day and headed up to the Wusthof factory about half an hour a way from where we were staying. When we got there my Dad was is chef heaven, they had knifes for everything. Some of the knifes were so sharp you could cut your self just by looking at them, just kidding, but still they were sharp, very sharp. That was about it for that day as claire stared to feel sick. So we went home relaxed and went to sleep.
Today we went to Koln, which is a city of about a million people near Remshide. The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was the huge cathedral with 2 towers that were lightly the tallest building around (and it was not a small city). We walked through a chrisms market to get there and went inside. The inside was very impressive and had huge stranded glass displays and a very high stone roof. There we found out that the cathedral had taken over 600 years to build (due the construction stoping for about 200 years). The building was con pelted in the 1800s and was entirely made of stone. we were also very impressed about just how detailed the exterior was. It was covered in stone fingers and models. We then decided to head up one of the spires, which apparently is about 270m tall and we had to climb 533 steps. the view from the top was extremely interesting and we spent a lot of time looking down. It was a lot like standing on the roof off a skyscraper and looking of the edge. after that we headed down the tower to eat. We found a place that apparently my Dad had been to 25 years earlier when he came to Germany. The there was good and we left feeling very full. On the way back to the car we walked through several christmas markets. And I brought a clay water tower that you can put a candle in. we then headed home a mucked around until it was time to sleep.
Did not do a lot today just mucked around and rested. At one point Mum, Dad, and Claire went to the shops but that was about it. Oh but at the end I … went to sleep.
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