Tuesday in Berlin

On Tuesday morning we woke up to the bright Germany sunshine.  It’s bright here around 0430!  We enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel, complete with both American and Germany cuisine.  The yogurt was amazing, as was the bread selection.  Nutella is served everywhere here and I’ve enjoyed lots of it.  We walked to the station and headed back to the Berliner Dom to meet to kids.  Our tour guide gave the tour in German (I think Stephan requested that), but Erin, one of the chaperones, interpreted for David and I.  It was a very impressive building.  He did a great job explaining the history of the building.  We got to behind the ropes to the alter, and also up to the balcony where the emperor would sit.  The ceiling art is actually mosaics art with little tiny colored stones.  It was recently renovated and was gorgeous.  Many of the sections for murals were never finished.  The last part we visited was down into the crypt.  Yes, there are really dead bodies in the caskets, or vaults or whatever you want to call them.  It was clean, but musty with a hint of the smell of death.  I wonder how they seal those big stone crypts?  They were so ornate it was incredible.  I guess back in the day, if you were royalty you commissioned the design of your crypt long before you anticipated being dead.  There were many for the children of the royals, mostly boys, and I’m assuming they were hemophiliacs based on the information given about bleeding disorders.  The little boys’ crypts were also very ornate, always adorned with a crown on top, while the girls were a simple box, sometimes with absolutely nothing on them; not even their name. 

After the Berliner Dom, David and I went on a bus tour.  It was a hop on-hop off tour so you could stop anywhere along the way.  We stopped at the Brandenburg gate and tried to get closer than the day before.  The plans for Obama were well underway and taking over the entire city.  I have to be honest, I was really annoyed.  Most of the city was buzzing over his visit and I kept asking why they all love him so much.  I never heard anything solid, just that he made lots of promises last time he was here.  We got off the tour close to our hotel to take a quick nap and cool off.  We also grabbed some laundry soap for CJ.  We tried to get back to the NEUS museum to meet the group but ended up missing them.  This museum was amazing!  Full of Egyptian artifacts.  I couldn’t help but think, how DID the germans get their hands on all this stuff?  Kiersten would have been in heaven at this museum.  If we ever come back with the girls, then we will be sure to plan a long stop here.  We met up with the kids at the Norbanhof station and headed over to Kurfürstendamm street for the kids to shop. 

We went back to our favorite café Schwartz for dinner and I tasted white asparagus.  It was awesome.  It is only available for a few weeks this time of year.  It was cooked in butter and served with boiled potatoes topped with hollandaise sauce and basil.  Does anyone know if you can get white asparagus in the states?  Dave had a whopping serving of Weiner schnitzel and house potatoes.  It was amazing too!  They also have the best Coca-Cola light at Schwartz.  Indego knows to bring in a big cup of ice and pours it over fresh lemons.  They serve it out of glass bottles and it’s amazing.  The perfect end to a long, hot, muggy berlin day.  We went back to the hotel where we had left the AC on high and our room was wonderfully cold.  CJ taught me a new German word, “hülaheis” or hot as hell.  That sums up the weather.