80. A Baby Named Blanket

Today we saw the Berlin wall. Or at least the outline of the wall that was on the ground. Now every time there is some sort of irregularity in the pavement someone asks if it was once part of the wall. Our day started at the Reichstag where Brody read us some history. I’m not even 100% sure how to pronounce Reichstag, so you can imagine the struggle in this reading. No one complained however, because Mom said if we didn’t “urk” her, we could take another trip to the carnival tonight! So there were no complaints at all throughout the day.

We spent some time at the Brandenburg gate learning about the buildings around it, and how to avoid the people asking for petition signatures. In every city in Europe, there is some type of petitioning going on, and I never know what it’s about, but they love to confuse tourists into signing them. I have not fallen for this trap. The American Embassy actually allowed us to take pictures of the outside so we showed our American pride and had a little photo shoot. Close to that was the Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson held his baby, Blanket, off the balcony. So we got our history and pop culture lesson in for the day.
 

 

Although it was bombed and filled in shortly after the ending of World War II, we went to the place where Hitler’s bunker once was. Next to it was the Jewish Monument. This monument was completed in 2005 and it is so easy to get lost in. The pillars look like they are placed randomly, but the only random thing about it is the number of pillars and their height. They are actually laid out like a grid that is just begging for people to come in and play hide and go seek.

After a couple more city squares and a stop into the bookstore, we were deemed worthy enough for dinner at the carnival! It was super unhealthy and worth every calorie. Our first course was brats covered in ketchup and curry, next came the fries with fancy sauce. Fancy sauce is half ketchup half mayo. In this case we added some curry in true German spirit. We also feasted on desserts. Some chose ice cream, but I chose a waffle doused in Nutella. Our meal was accompanied by a band that played all American 80’s songs. I think Germany has a line dance for every single American song that was made in the 80’s.