Der Keiser in Berlin

Uggghhh, I.m tired. Sorry I don.t have much energy today to report, so I.ll keep it brief. Yesterday.s train ride from Prague was uneventful and only about 5.5 hours. So I was able to take advantage of my 1st class ticket this time and sit in the comfy seats! After arriving, I checked into my hotel and called Joanna. She.s a friend of Becky Grant and lives here in Berlin. We met for sushi (first time I.ve had any on the trip and was CRAVING it!) and sat, talked, gorged, drank, and talked some more until the wee hours. I had a great time getting to know her and it was fun cutting up with someone who has a similar personality! Thanks Joanna, hopefully I can repay you soon!

This morning I didn.t get up too early, 11:00 to be specific.... But I was still able to down a Tylenol and make it to the plaza to meet the walking Free Tour guide that departed at 1:00. It was informative, but maybe not as much as the one in Munich. Of course like all tours, it depends on the tour guide. But we did get to see the highlights and some history as well. I won.t bore you with those details this time! But the tour is designed to just give you an overview in 4 hours, not show you everything and try to cram hundreds of years of history into the same time frame. Tomorrow I will either go to the concentration camp north of here, or a castle near by. My cousin Jeff gave me some other pointers, and I did not see all of them today, so I may try and take some of those off the list. I am already leaning towards staying until Friday, I like this town!

Brandenburg Gate, the most famous landmark in Berlin and where the Wall once stood.

Does this look familiar? Jacko (aka Michael Jackson) dangled his child off of this balcony...

A Jewish memorial. These are concrete "tombs", but there are many interpretations of the meaning.

Although the tombs appear to rise only slightly, the ground actually drops dramatically and the concrete tombs rise, giving them a lot of depth.

What is left of the Wall from 1989.

The American checkpoint Charlie. This is a mock-up of the original, which was 10 lanes wide.

The Dom and TV antenna tower to it's right. Why they built these antenna's and thought of them as "art", I will never know.

Inside of the Dom.