Berlin

First of all, here's an obligatory photo of the whole family in front of our massive cruise ship, the Norwegian Getaway. (It accommodates nearly 4,000 people.)

Our first port was Berlin. Well, Berlin is actually a 3 hour drive away from the port. A lot of families chose to stay close and explore areas around the port. But I married a guy that's fascinated with WW2 history- so we did the long trip to Berlin. With 3 hrs of traveling each way, it only gave us about 5 hrs to explore the city. That's hardly anything at all. It's like letting a kid show up at the candy store full of treats and then saying you're only allowed to taste 5 tiny pieces. So unfair! But we made the best of our tiny sampling of Berlin.

First stop, the Olympic Stadium (where Jesse Owens won his 4 gold medals- also rumored that Hitler gave him the snub, refusing to shake his hand in congratulations). I'm kind of bummed that our picture taker accidentally cut off the Olympic rings at the top...but I can't exactly go back to Berlin to take another pic.

At least we caught the rings during Kaiya's hand stand.

Next stop, the Kaiser Wilhelm church. There's an old one...and a new one built right next to it. Here's the old:

Inside the new- sorry it's dark inside and was hard to get a good pic.

Here's the Berlin Victory Column- built to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War. You can pay to go to the top of the column...but alas, no time- just enough time to snap a photo.

This is Reichstag- the parliament building. It's hard to see, but the glass dome at the top of the building is quite impressive. Apparently they let tourists into the glass dome...but there's a ton of security checkpoints, lines, etc...by the time you get through to the dome it takes up at least a half day (which our guide assured us we did not have time for).

Brandenburg Gate

It's always comforting to see the US flag. The embassy is in such a cool, historic location. Right by the Brandenburg Gate...and by the hotel that Michael Jackson stood on the balcony, dangling his baby over the edge.

Holocaust Memorial Monument

Lunch break- I guess I forgot to mention that we did our Berlin tour with some friends, the Nielsons. (We were with a group of about 20 people- the rest were strangers.) Their daughter, Emily, is Kaiya's bestie.

Berlin Cathedral- this is beautiful and I wish we'd had time to see inside- but time crunch and all...

That cobblestone-looking path along the street? Yep, that's where the Berlin Wall used to be.

Up close:

Checkpoint Charlie- you have to pay money to take an up close photo...with those fake soldiers. Thus, we stayed back and this was as close as we could get. Also, McDonald's truly is everywhere...

And the Berlin Wall in the flesh. Loved that this was the final stop of our packed full tour. Such an amazing city filled with such history.

Next up, Estonia.