Since Corpus Christi gave Michal a 3 day weekend - we headed off to site-see Germany. I think that it's always been on my mom's bucket list to visit the place where my great-grandmother (who is 102 and still kickin' it) grew up. Therefore, we planned our trip around seeing this city.
Wuppertal
Thanks to Michal's great knowledge of Germany & German trains, and excellent detective skills by my mom - we were able to find Nana's (aka Great-Grandma Gretchen) house in no time.
While we were there, we decided to document this "special monument in Europe" through our infamous JUMPING PICTURES!
I was so proud that we even got Mom to take a jumping picture! She looks great and I wish we could have convinced her to participate in this activity more during her tenure in Europe.
The next "site" that we had to visit in Wuppertal was 'Platz der Republik.' This is an important site because when she was a little girl (4 years old) WWI started and this square was where they gathered up the horses. She remembers always wanting to play with the horses, but her mother never letting her.
The remaining must-see site was standing in front of this stair case in which Nana had her picture taken decades ago. It was super hard to find this staircase, but thanks to the little half circle window on the building in the background, which hasn't changed over the years, it made us certain that this was the staircase that we often heard Nana tell stories about. She told us stories about heading down this staircase on the way to school and church. It looks way different today than it did almost 100 years ago, but it was cool to say that we had walked the same stairs that she had one day.
Afterwards, we decided to just wander throughout Wuppertal until our train left. Here are some cool pictures of the city.
We then decided to take the local train in Wuppertal. This train is memorable because it is so different from "regular" public transportation (anywhere) in Europe. This train is suspended from a track that follows the river. As you rock back and forth, you have a breathtaking view of both the river below and the city out both sides of the car. I mean, seriously, you can't go to Wuppertal and not take a ride in this train. As Michal says, "It would be a crime not to."
Cologne
Upon exiting the train station in Cologne, you are BLOWN AWAY by the enormity of the Cologne Cathedral. It is massive and nothing about what you expected. It looms over the train station and makes the Salt Lake Temple look like a doll-house in comparison to the volume and height of this building. Michal says it is the largest Cathedral in the world. (Facts yet to be verified). If you ever get the chance to just stop in this city for an hour to see this cathedral it would be worth it.
After admiring the cathedral, we decided to go explore some other parts of Cologne.
Michal loves train stations, and even more - Trains. Our trip wouldn't be complete without him acting like a 'maly chlopczyk' (little boy) and getting so excited over all the trains.
Mom found a lock with Fatima's name on it... and Michal found a lock with M+K on it. We decided that we'll just go ahead and claim that it's ours.
We had a lot of fun just wandering around and exploring Cologne. During our travels we saw lots of classic German small-town architecture - and found out that Cologne used to be inhabited by the Romans. It was the northernmost colony that was settled by the Romans over 2000 years ago. This arch was from that time period and still stands as the entry way into Cologne.
Berlin
Thumbs up was the "theme" of lots of the pictures in Berlin (see if you can find them below). Mostly because of our "thumbs up" experience in Warsaw at the Krasinski Palace.
The Berlin tower has a restaurant inside of it. So I've decided that someday Michal & I will go there for dinner. I love heights and city'scapes' and being able to feel like I can see forever. Maybe I'll make a list of places I want to eat one day - and this will make the bucket list for those places!
So, while we were there some pick-pockets got caught and even better than watching cops bust these guys, was watching them get busted by the media as well. I wouldn't say the were pick-pockets 'per se' but they were playing "cups." Where you pay them $ and they put a ball under 6 cups and mix them up real good and if you can tell what cup the ball is under you win your $ back, plus some... but NO ONE ever won their money back because these guys cheated... and got caught. Maybe it was some dramatic reality show. I sure hope so - that's the closest I've ever gotten to being on reality TV!
Checkpoint Charlie (and the lovely McDonald's in the background). We came here and checked out the history while Michal scoped out a place for us to watch the Euro-cup Poland vs. Greece game. Who can say that they watched the Poland vs. Greece Euro-cup opening match at Checkpoint Charlie?
The best part about this match was that all the Germans (or those at this little beach like bar place) were cheering on Poland. They booed the refs when the Poles didn't get their way, and went silent when Greece scored. After watching this game, I realized that bad relations may still exist between Germany & Poland - but, for the most part, they are being mended quickly and new relationships are being formed and the past not being held against one another. What an amazing thing sports can do to bring people together. (Bring on the Olympics next!)
Checkpoint Charlie is super close to the Berlin wall, but we were so tired after the game (and from all the traveling we had been doing)... that we decided to go ahead and call it a day and head in that direction tomorrow.
The Berlin Wall is really a site that can't be missed if you visit Berlin. It's my 3rd time here and every time I come, I feel like I learn something new. The pictures are so expressive (don't take offense at any posted here) and full of meaning and it really draws so much more emotion out of the viewer.
Berlin is full of so many things to see and things to do. It is definitely a 4 day city. We were only there 2 days and felt like we didn't get to see nearly enough.
Okay, the boat in the background of this photo is a Hostel. What an ingenious idea... sorta. You only have to pay like $11 if you want to sleep up on the top (with no shelter) but get the benefits of a shower in the morning. If I was a little more adventurous, maybe I would consider this.
Here is our best attempt at trying to capture the Berlin Tower. Michal's idea turned out much better than mine.
We walked around Tiergarten Park. It was beautiful, shady, and refreshing to wind down our stay in Berlin. We did decide to hike to the top of the Nike Statue to see a view of the city. On the way down I counted the number of steps (and have since forgotten). Regardless, every step was worth it once we saw the view from above!
Warsaw (and Wroclaw) was decked out with Fan-Zones before we left Poland, so we were pleasantly surprised to see a Fan-Zone in Berlin. Michal went Crazy and wished we could have been here for one more day to go to the Fan-Zone to Watch Germany play Portugal.
More Thumbs-up Pictures!
Michal was sad when it came time to go home. Really sad. But on the way to the train station he said, "Berlin is to Warsaw as St. George/Las Vegas is to Salt Lake." Which is so true. Only 5 hours away and a lot of things to see.
