Four Days in Berlin

Last weekend we made the six hour drive directly east to Berlin since I had four days off of school. What a great city! It's steeped with history, everything being either 50 yrs old, or half there due to being bombed off. (like the church) There is still an East center and a west center, but of course most of the wall is gone, except for the parts where you can see where it used to be in the sidewalk, and small pieces for people to see. We just happened to be there for the 60th anniversary of the unification of east & west. We saw the president of Germany, walked through the Brandenburgh Gate (which was on the eastern side) and even got on tv, as the stations and all three million city inhabitants were there! Lots on beer, brats, pretzels and Russian goodies. We walked until our feet about fell off. We also loved seeing "Checkpoint Charlie" (You are now leaving the American sector...), and various sculptures. (Like the one where the east and west are so close, but not quite touching. That one also stands for the U.S, France, Britian and Russia as the four strands. The Pergamon Museum blew us away as they've reconstructed entire ancient monuments the size of Petra INSIDE the walls. The Istar Gate, Pergamon altar, and more were incredibly impressive. Lots of good shopping, (including KaDeWe, the 1st German department store) but were crazy expensive. Who would pay 179 euros for a cotton shirt? (even if it is designer!) I'll wait until I get back to the states and shop the sales. No wonder people shop like crazy when they visit the states! Less than a month of school now...the time has gone by so quickly! We're moving to a new apartment, a little bigger (and less expensive too) in August. Not much time more. Hopefully we'll get in one more adventure before we come home June 21st!