Auf Wiedersehen, Berlin!

Our last few days were a blur - meaning I can't remember a lot of what we did, besides hang out in biergartens and soak up Annie time and eat even more delicious food.  Oh!  And Meredith had a layover in Berlin and she came and toured the city with us for a few hours!  That was awesome.

We first went to the Reichstag, where Parliament currently resides, which was also the location of a very famous fire started by Hitler in the 1930s, which was also boarded up for a long time during communist bullshit.  But it's a beautiful building, and see that glass dome at the top?  We climbed it!

Best friends!

Before the climb.

There's an audio tour as you wind your way up the dome, giving you facts about Berlin, the Dome, the skyline you're looking at, etc.  Very interesting.

Spotted!  A cute nugget at the top of the dome.

We also wandered over to the Brandenberg Gate, which is a big time Berlin landmark.  After the wall went up, the gate was isolated and inaccessible and it got lots of media coverage when the wall opened in 1989.  It's basically just been a site for major historical events and "is today considered a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace."  Thanks, Wikipedia.

The six of us.

Next up was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, built in 2003-2004, which...as you can see, is a huge concrete "field" of big concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern.  It's been said that the memorial resembles a cemetery and is supposed to produce "an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the sculpture aims to represent an ordered system that has lost touch with human reason."  Which I get.  As you can see from the following pictures, it looks neat, clean, orderly from the outside.  Not so bad.  But you start walking in between the columns/slabs, the ground starts sloping, the slabs get taller, you get confused, and you can't really see your way out.  Kind of like the whole Nazi movement to begin with!  Symbolism, people!  It's powerful stuff.

Another big controversy was that a German company was making a special anti-graffiti chemical substance for the slabs.  Turns out this same company helped make the Zyklon-B gas used in the concentration camps.  NOT GOOD.  Some people think it's a sick irony and some people say it's this company's way of giving back and apologizing.  You decide.

Mere may or may not be too short to be seen from behind this slab but she's giving me bunny ears.

I smiled but Meredith felt better looking somber.

Oh look, a spot of sunshine in a sad memorial!

She's playing with Mere's bracelets and looking pretty good too.

See, look!  I'm stylin.  Cause I'm the cutest.

Annie's two gay dads.

I don't have any other pictures of us with Meredith, dangit.  But we ate a delicious German lunch with the ooiest gooiest cheesiest spaetzle you ever had (besides the stuff Lauren made for us on Monday night), and then she had to catch her plane to Dubrovnik, by way of Helsinki.  She's a trooper.

Drew and I wandered around Prenzlauer Berg, a super cute area of Berlin with shops and restaurants and pretty apartment buildings.  Lovely.

We both napped on a quaint little park bench for a little while.

And had koffee und kuchen at AnnaBlume.

Strawberry Rhubarb heaven!

Then met Lauren and Annie and John for beers at Pratergarten, where Annie only sat still long enough to take this pic! She's a woman on the move, that one.

Friday and Saturday were silly days of dancing in the apartment and lounging around.

And wearing sunglasses in her high chair.

And hugging her tight before she went down for a nap and we had to leave.  :(

We left for Croatia Saturday afternoon, and while I thankfully didn't cry telling her or John or Lauren goodbye, I definitely did on the plane.  And later that night in our hotel.  And just a little the next day.  Leaving her is so hard!!  I hate it!  Oh gosh, I could cry right now just thinking about it.  Help!!

Anyways, Berlin was an amazing and informative adventure with John and Lauren, and they were the ultimate hosts.  Having someone literally live in your living room and share a bathroom with you for 8 days isn't easy for anyone, family or not, and they were such graceful champs about it.  They planned everything we did, which is also annoying as a host (especially when they'd ask "What are you guys in the mood for for dinner?" and we'd respond "Uhh...we don't care.  What do you suggest?"), but they never complained once and had a million ideas and itineraries in their back pockets.  So thank you, Lauren and John, for a really incredible week!!  We'll never forget it and hope we can do it again next year.