Berlin, Germany

 I was so sad to leave Prague, but Germany was waiting and we had to see it all.  We all hopped in the car after breakfast and made our way to the German capital city of Berlin. We entered to outskirts of Germany and realized we were on the autobahn. You know what that means? No speed limit. Woohoo!! My speedster husband even decided to hit 100mph, but refused to go any faster considering his precious cargo.

Autobahn time...ok, ok this only says 92.

 The car ride to Germany was so much fun. There were some turbulent moments and much needed potty breaks, but all in all we arrived in Berlin with high spirits. It was an overcast day and we welcomed the cool breezes. The city seemed very modern compared to Prague and I was excited to see the country of my ancestors.  

Our first stop was the famous Berlin wall and checkpoint Charlie. Leon had been to Berlin once before while traveling Europe in college, so he took the lead in showing us around and giving some great background history to all of our sites. Checkpoint Charlie was the portion of the wall that separated the Soviet Union's East Berlin and the US run portion of West Berlin. I told Ellie that we were going to see a wall that was built by some very naughty people. This concerned her and she kept telling me that she didn't want to see naughty people, she only wanted to see nice people. Ok, Ellie we will only take you to see nice people, sweet girl.

  

A tiny portion of the once huge cement barricade that tried to keep communism and capitalism separate.

It was a humbling experience to see a once powerful wall torn to dust by the power of a revolution. I realized that I really didn't know much about the history of East Berlin and the wall. I was moved to tears as I read the stories of young Germans who wanted a better life and were hurt or killed for trying to cross the border. My heart broke for the young mothers who hid in trunks of cars with their children, full of fear and hope, wondering whether or not they would start a new life or be thrown into jail as they tried to cross the border. It made me so thankful for my freedom and my country. But it also made me wonder, how in the world people have forgotten so quickly what too much government power can do? 

After the visit to the Berlin wall memorial site, we headed over to the nearest Starbucks for a little internet access and muffin action. Note to self: raspberry cheesecake muffins in Berlin are to die for. Anyway, we decided we had time to visit three sites and walk around the city for a while. We choose the DDR museum, the German Capitol building, and the Brandenburg Gate. We also found an authentic German restaurant that we were excited to try. It was called Hansel and Gretel and served sour kraut and sausage. It was so salty and so German. We loved it. 

As we drove around East Berlin looking for the restaurant, Leon pointed out how all of the water pipes were running on the outside of buildings and over the roads. He said that this was exactly how the cities looked in Russia. Apparently, communists did not care about aesthetic charm for their citizens and just did what was cheap and convenient. It was dull and a little sad. To give the Germans proper credit, the pipes were painted a neon purple color, adding a little life to the city. 

Hansel and Gretel

Ham and sour kraut. Thanks Dad for the German taste buds, I loved it.

After our stroll through East Berlin and my self realization that I knew nothing about communist Germany, we headed over to the DDR museum (German Democratic Republic) where we could learn more about what life was like on the other side of the wall. We parked in front of a beautiful church and played in the fountains for a while. We also spent some time reading stories of WW2 Germany and victims of the holocaust. I am fascinated with the holocaust, mostly because I love Jews. Some of my very favorite people in this world are Jews and I am so touched by the stories of those who were affected by this horrific slice of world history. I wish I could go back in time and save all of these brave heroes.

My lover man.

Look at these awesome dance moves. She got my rhythm lol.

Germany, I love that you thought of me and my stroller when you built these steps!

The DDR was very interesting and informative. The government had so many regulations on the German citizens. For instance, instead of wearing Levi jeans the Republic made these hideous knock offs and they regulated everything from television to music to the education of their citizens. The people revolted by being nude all the time. It was interesting to see the propaganda and lies that the media was telling people. Reminded me a lot of the current media. Scary.

Love you Ellie bean.

Oh, thats how you got up there.

Next stop was the capitol building or the Reichstag. We planned on taking a tour, but with two cooped up kids and an hour long line we quickly reconsidered. We settled on running around the lawn and climbing trees. I wish I could say that there were special things about the capitol building, but there weren't. So we made our way to the Brandenburg gate

The gate was stunning. It has a long history and the current gate was commissioned in the 18th century as a sign of peace. It was isolated during the reign of communism in Germany by East Berlin and was one of the iconic images following the falling of the wall. Ok, lets be honest it was basically destroyed in WWII. As was all of Berlin. Seriously, there was not a single building standing that was pre-1950. Which is tragic considering all of the history in that region of the world. But I guess thats what you get when you start a bunch of wars. The gate was restored in 2002 to its 18th century neoclassical beauty.

A sweet old man offered to take a picture of our family and unfortunately he couldn't quite get it right. (both the picture above and below were his attempts at snapping a pic of the family with the gate, sigh.)

The square was full of live musicians and dancers and lights and life. It was fun to watch, but Leon and I always left before they started passing around their hats for money. That part is always so awkward. 

By this time I was on a hunt for my magnet. I used to think that shopping was such a waste of precious travel time, but after this trip I really started to enjoy it. Each place had so many unique treasures and I loved seeing them all. Ellie loved it too. She would constantly be asking me to take her picture by or with obscure things. And I happily obliged.

After shopping we found a pizza place for Ellie who was getting a little hungry. It was fun to make friends with the owners and talk to them about how they ended up in Berlin. So many of the touristy shop owners in different countries are foreigners to that country. Its kind of bizarre. They gave us their internet password and we decided to drive three more hours that night in order to shave off time in our long drive the next day. Who wouldn't want to see Hannover?

But I have to admit, my very favorite part of the day was making our way back to the car after dinner. The sun was starting to go down and the sky was the perfect shade of purple-orange. We found this amazing monument erected to the victims of the holocaust. I was so grateful for the opportunity I had to remember these people and what they went through. I walked around the monument with my lovely family and thought of the families who lost everything. My heart still breaks for them and those who could have participated in their pain. I talked with little Ellie about it a bit and watched as she ran and danced and ate her lollipop. I couldn't be more grateful for her childhood and her safety and freedom. 

We all sat there for a bit and enjoyed a German sunset. It was easy to smile and laugh with little Elle dancing her way through life. She was elated because the owners of the pizza joint gave her a lollipop. Jet was asleep by this time and we got to just sit and enjoy being a family.

As we made our way back to the car, we noticed that near the capitol building there was an outdoor movie being shown. It was old and in German, but I couldn't help but watch a little. I love being out doors and I love watching movies. I could have laid there under the stars and listened to German all night, but alas Amsterdam was awaiting our arrival. Auf Wiedersehen Germany!

Prague, Czech Republic

Waking up in Vienna was breathtaking and so relaxing. The fact that we only had a three hour drive ahead of us the next day meant we could sleep in and enjoy our lavish Austrian hotel room. And we did. It had to be around nine am when I finally ran to the market to grab some breakfast. I bought some streusel that was to die for along with milk and baby food that were also amazing. All hail to delicious Austrian food. As we drove away, I felt as if I didn't get to take a big enough gulp of the city. I felt like there was so much I missed. But we were on our way to Praha (Prague) and I couldn't have been more excited.

The drive was beautiful and the kids were great. It was hot and we passed a water park that I was so tempted to tell Leon just to stop at so we could cool off. Thankfully, we didn't and because of our late start we pulled into Prague in the late afternoon which left us very little time to see the city. 

To our surprise, the employee helping us check into our hotel room spoke fluent Russian. She told Leon that most locals speak Russian because of their history and relationship with the country. This was exciting for my Russian missionary man. He loved that he got to use his Russian throughout the day. It even kept us safe from the Czech thieves, commonly known as parking lot attendants.

We started out our adventure in Old Town Prague. We walked around this beautiful square with vendors selling yummy pastries, bohemian treasures, and some of the coolest mugs I've seen. You bet I picked one of those up for Poppi to drink his "Lemomade". We saw the beautiful old churches surrounding the square and the famous clock, known as the orloj.

This clock is famous because it is one of the oldest clocks in the world. It was installed in 1410 and is the third oldest astronomical clock and the oldest still working. It apparently has mystical astrological meaning. It is really confusing and no one can tell you what all the gadgets really mean, but it sure was beautiful. The King of Prague loved it so much that he didn't want any other city to have another like it, so he had the clock makers eyes gauged out. Too much? So is medieval times.

After we ooed and awed over the town square and loved on the bohemian souvenirs, we headed to the Charles Bridge. It was unbelievably hot and we were starting to be thankful for the lowering sun and upcoming dusk. The bridge was ridiculously ornate and had some really bizarre sculptures like dogs eating interesting parts of a man's body and such. But it also had beautiful religious sculptures. I love seeing religion in Europe. It is a big part of their heritage that I miss. There were also many artists and jewelry vendors. The view of the city was so magical. I just sat there on the bridge a while and looked out on the river thinking about how incredibly blessed I was and how surreal moments like these are.

The Entrance to Charles Bridge

The statues of Charles Bridge

The view

More from the bridge

Oh, this magical view

As we made our way across, I spotted a playground. Ellie was overjoyed and so naturally, we found ourselves on the other side hunting for it. Of course on our hunt we got lost and got to enjoy roaming around this amazing city a little more. I fell in love with all of the "New Age"/ "Hipster" traditions this city holds. One of my favorites was a fence full of locks that have couple's names written or engraved on them. Many of them had dates of anniversaries or little messages or poems to one another. It was really quite precious. Another was an awesome park with a huge chalk board that read: Before I die I want to... and people would write all the things they wanted to do. We also found a beautiful courtyard across from the Charles Bridge that we played around in and took pictures of the amazing view.

We are lost and not even mad about it.

The Charles Bridge

Sometimes it's hard to get a picture of all of us.

Bubba enjoying the courtyard views. Oh, how I love him.

The lock gate. We should have left a lock, but we were not prepared for such fun.

After our courtyard photo session, we finally found the playground! And then we realized that it was closed. But we wouldn't let that get us down, we just hopped the fence and played anyway. I decided to keep watch and Leon played with the kids. The Czechs didn't seem to mind.

After the park, we decided it was time for dinner. Leon is serious about his European food. This means he never wanted to eat anywhere touristy and wanted to ensure we got the authentic dinner experience. As you can imagine, this made picking a restaurant near impossible and with two hungry kiddos and a hungry nursing mama the pressure was on. To find a more authentic Czech place we walked down the river a bit and found a beautiful park with interesting water fountains and statues. Don't mind us exploiting our kids.

It was in this park that we found the chalk board that I previously mentioned. We played chase and looked at the clouds and I thought about what I wanted to write on the wall. Much of the wall was covered in "Love deeply" or "be in love" which is something I have already done, so I thought harder. After much deliberating, I finally figured out what I would write. Leon and I decided that we would pick different sections of the wall to write on and see if we could guess who wrote what.

Looking at the clouds

`

Can you find mine?

Yep, there it is! SAVE A LIFE.

and there is Leo's WATCH BYU WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (typical)

We quickly chose a restaurant after leaving the park. It overlooked the river as the sun was setting and was beautiful. The food was awful but the scenery was gorgeous. Whatever, it had WI-FI and I wanted to check my e-mail so bad and therefore I left happy.

It was off for more wondering after dinner. Honestly, I could have wondered that city for days. It came to life at night. Leon and I headed back to the square to take in the ambiance of the night. We still needed our magnet and some souvenirs.

I looked pretty haggard in Prague, but I had some great arm candy

We made it back to the square and had two sleeping children. I was in heaven. The church looked like sleeping beauty's castle, there was gelatto, and I was listening to beautiful music from street performers. Leon jumped in on a tour of the town square given in Russian. He was able to tell me more about the clock and history of the town. I got to hold my Mr.'s hand and share his ice cream. It was wonderful.

The old church

Clock tower

Prague town square

Our parking was up and we were getting tired, but I just couldn't leave Prague. I was feeling desperate and knew I just needed more. We rushed to our car to ensure we wouldn't get overcharged and sure enough we did. But thanks to Leon's russian he was able to sort things out. We drove up to the castle and walked around the grounds. The church was impressive. My cultural palate was full and I felt like I was stuffing down the most amazing tasting food without savoring every bite and it was killing me. We were the only tourist at the castle that night and I just stared in awe at the beautiful architecture and the amazing city below us. I laid on the ground and just looked up at the beautiful church. How could I say goodbye to this place? I decided right then that I just had to go back.

I wish picture did justice to the views

The church

Jet was a party animal

The gates to the castle

And then I could tell that my husband was having trouble keeping his eyes open. Ugh, where was the party animal I married lol? The sweet man was making all my dreams come true and it was time to let him sleep. I knew we had to go back to our amazing hotel room and get ready for our next excursion. I had such a hard time peeling myself away from the city. I love you Prague.

Our hotel

Breakfast with my silly goose

The Charles Hotel is forever in my heart. Ellie's toy princess was bought right before our trip and made it's way to every country with us. She even played with us at breakfast that morning. But as we were packing up the car Leon realized he forgot something in the hotel room and brought the princess with him to get it. It wasn't until we were half way to Berlin that we realized he left the princess in the room. Ellie was devastated and so was I. Leon couldn't have felt worse and he promised Ellie he would do anything he could to try and get her doll back. I was not hopeful. We called the hotel and those wonderful people found it and shipped it to Mimi's house in California for free. They sure did make a little girl and her mommy really happy. Did I mention I love Prague.