Berlin

Those two happy faces were pretty excited to visit Berlin earlier this month, as were Derek and I! The kids had a two week school holiday mid-february, but we could only sneak away for five days because of Derek’s work schedule. So, we planned a trip to Berlin, figuring we could see enough in five days to get a bit of a feel for the city. We did a LOT, but it somehow didn’t feel too packed. We visited all of our “must-see” historic sites, and snuck a lot of fun and downtime in there as well. Thankfully we were pretty lucky with the weather. Considering how far north Berlin is, it wasn’t as cold as we’d expected, and there was very little drizzle and no snow. Definitely a good thing in a city so spread out, as we did a lot of walking!

Reichstag building

I took loads of photos, despite accidentally leaving my camera on and the battery dying after day one, and not having brought the charger. Oops! iPhone to the rescue. Anyhow, I’ll split them into a few separate posts, starting with some monuments today.

Looking up from the base of the dome.

Kids looking up to count how many of me they can see.

I was super excited to go to the Reichstag building to climb up the glass dome. The central pillar of mirrors made for some really awesome visuals. Derek of course was more interested in the history, and thoroughly enjoyed his visit also.

From above. There were some pretty amazing historic photos around the base of the mirrors.

Repeated family selfie taken from the ramps.

Of course we visited the Brandenburg Gate. It’s pretty hard to miss, and of course was completely surrounded with tourists, but cool nonetheless. I have not yet grown tired of seeing all these places that I’ve only ever read about or seen photos of.

I loved these hand-organ grinders (complete with stuffed monkey!)

One of our favourite spots was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is a beautifully done memorial, with undulating cobbled pathways between the concrete stelae, the slabs looming high above the visitor in the very centre. Standing there at the edges looking into all the pillars, it was very moving.

When I set up the self-timer for this shot I accidentally had it on burst, so we made a very silly animated gif. It was surprisingly fun and has inspired me to do this more often.

One bright and sunny morning, we walked from our airbnb apartment (which we loved! If you need a recommendation for a great family-friendly and comfortable place in Berlin, let me know!) to the Bauhaus Archiv, stopping at the Victory Column along the way. Views down the Spree River were beautiful, and we even saw a kayaker out there — brrr!

We climbed the windy staircase allllllll the way to the top! Great views, sore legs.

Incredible mosaic around the base of the Victory Column. The tiles are tiny (1/2 inch) and it was richly coloured with amazing detail.

The Bauhaus Archiv, filled with delightful art and furniture from one of my favourite eras of design.

I’ll be back with more photos later this week! So much to see in Berlin, what a vibrant city.