#Icesterlin Day 12

June 3rd
There was definitely a disappointment when we got up this morning knowing that this was the first day to head home but we were determined to make the best of the next few travel days. We started with finding a local breakfast place near the hotel (Backerei Cafe Tuna Berlin - Mitte)

After some good food and great conversation, we took off for one more adventure in Berlin at the Charlottenburg Palace. The Palace was under pretty heavy renovation but they were still giving tours of many wings inside. So we grabbed tickets for the next tour and off we went with head phones and a tour guide in our ear. For an hour or so we wondered bedrooms, formal seating areas and ballrooms. It felt so out of place from all the other areas that we had toured during our time in Berlin but it was all so fascinating.

After we were done with the tour and walking around the grounds, we checked our watching and realized we were cutting it pretty close to making back to the hotel for our 1pm checkout so we set off running to catch the subway back to the hotel to check out on time. Since we were loaded down with all of our luggage and didn't have enough time to explore any other parts of the city, we decided to make our way to the airport.

We had way too much time at the airport and quickly realized that we had booked our flights out of a pretty small airport and quickly ran out of places to window shop and very few places to grab lunch. Eric & Audrey did take the opportunity to get a Berliner donut where I learned the history of "Ich bin ein Berliner". President Kennedy was addressing West Berlin when trying to say "I am a citizen of Berlin" but the story goes, the way he pronounced it, he really said, "I am a jelly filled doughnut". We did eventually decide on some lunch and killed a lot of time just hanging out in the small waiting area.

The flight to Amsterdam was pretty quick and in no time we were waiting for our shuttle to our Amsterdam airport hotel. Little did we know at the time that this shuttle was super late, super expensive and the hotel was really, really, REALLY far away from the airport. But the time we were picked up, checked in and realizing all of the pit falls of the situation we had gotten ourselves into we were pretty disappointed. But we decided to rally, bit the bullet & the cost and make a 10 minute turn around to go back to the airport to hop on the train to head back into the heart of Amsterdam. We all just loved the city and didn't want to spend our last night overseas in some boring hotel in the middle of nowhere eating snacks out of a vending machine.

Once we finally made it into the city we were all really glad we had done it and were so excited to be walking around Amsterdam again. We found a great little place for dinner at Molly Malone's but as soon as we sat at the table, we learned stopped service dinner. We were bummed but they were nice enough to recommend a place to eat a few doors down at a Lebanese Restaurant, dabka.

Revisiting my favorite spot in Amsterdam

The food was great, the atmosphere was a lot of fun and we were really glad to have a real meal.

The one thing that Audrey & I really, really wanted to do was go back to our favorite "watering hole", Wynand Fockink, and grab one or two more drinks before we headed back to the hotel. You can imagine our disappointment when we got there and it was already closed. We were pretty defeated but again, we rallied and spent the rest of the evening walking through a new favorite city checking out all of the sites and sounds. It wasn't what we had planned for the night but it was still a great day.

#Icesterlin Day 11

June 2nd

First on the agenda today was something Jed and I were really excited about. We were headed to the East Side Gallery. While we were on our way there, we found a photo booth/Photoautomat. We were super excited since this was pretty high on Eric's list and we had no idea how we were going to find one of these booths. It was so early in the morning that it was just us being silly in the photo booth outside a bar with no one around. It was really fun.

The photo booth was a block or two from the start of the East Side Gallery. I am pretty sure I could have spent the entire day walking this street examining & photographing all the art so I will try and keep the pictures to a minimum here but know that I took a LOT.

One of the neat things they have done is allow different artists to come paint different parts of the wall over the years so parts of it are constantly changing while still maintaining some of the iconic imagines from the original wall and still having random graffiti on top of that. Again, I could go on, I get so excited, but I won't.

After a few hours of walking to was getting pretty hot out in the sun and I think everyone else was ready to explore other parts of the city so we found the closest public transportation spot and headed back over to Museum Island to get into the gift shop we were too late for the day before. Thankfully this time we made it in plenty of time and they had exactly what Audrey was looking for so it was a win-win for everyone.

We were back to wandering the streets of Berlin as we came across fun and different sites. We enjoyed a quick walk through a local street market and found adorable courtyard to walk through. Audrey had found us a candy making store (Bonbonmacherei) to go check out and it was so good. Unfortunately, they weren't making candy while we were there we were able to try some candy and see some of the machinery they use from afar.

With a sugar rush going, we decided to push ourselves before lunch and go over to the Victory Column/Siegessaule and climb to the top. It was great exercise as we climbed the 270 step spiral staircase. The view at the top was great and it is amazing how much green space this side of town had.

It was getting late and we were all starting to get hangry and we needed to find lunch quick. It was surprising how difficult it was for us to find a place to eat and after a lot of walking, checking out menus, prices and reviews we ended up at our most disappointing meal of the trip by far at Back Factory Cafe. Much to our surprise, it ended up being a crazy, touristy place that was part hospital buffet/fast food restaurant/gas station snack shop. We were all way past the point of trying to find anything else so we all did it knowing we would be disappointed.

We did feel much better after so not very good sandwiches and we were back out and about to explore another very heavy area. One of the last historical places we wanted to see was the Topographie Des Terror.

This place is still difficult to fully process. It is still difficult to truly understand all the things that happened with Hilter, his raise to power and all he did to some many during his time in power. This museum had so much information and I am not sure I was able to absorb a quarter of it. It was the one time that I had wished we had a tour guide to help steer us and teach us through this large building, inside and out.

There were artifacts under a covering outside as well as markers for where all the original buildings were during his rein. It was mind boggling to read and see how they displayed how it all happened. During our time under the outside covering it started to downpour so we stayed a while longer tryin to cram the last bits of information we could in our heads before the rain started to clear up.

There was one last place I really wanted to swing by while in Berlin, Hilter Bunker/Fuhrerbunker. From all the information I had read and all the documentaries I had watched, I knew there was nothing left of the bunker and much like many parts of the city, they have built over. But I felt it appropriate for closure, to go to where it all ended for Hilter. There really wasn't anything there but a large sign stating a little of the history and a drawing of a floor place from decades ago. I was very glad I was able to go to such an historical spot but there was little there to see.

With three days under our belt in Berlin and 11 days on the road, it was time to switch from tourist list of to do's to let's act like the locals and hit up the oldest beer garden in Berlin, Prater Garten Berlin. This place was great! We all grabbed beers, a pretzel and found a table to laugh about our days abroad, people watch and enjoy every aspect of what we were getting to do. It couldn't have been better.

After our fail for lunch, we decided to do something we tend to never do and go back to a place to eat we have already been. So you know that either this place is fantastic, or our lunch experience was that bad. I think it was really both. So we headed back to get doner kababs and they were just as good the second time around.

We finished the night we even more food and found a cute little dessert place,Kauf dich gluecklich. The area was pretty empty, even the cafe, but it was so good and a great way to end our evening. Tomorrow was a big travel day and we had lots of things to do on our lists to finish both Berlin and Amsterdam strong tomorrow.