Tom, Joan and Whitney come to Berlin!

Whitney, Tom and Joan arrived in Berlin on Sunday morning.  It was so good to see family faces from home!  We met them at the airport then took them by bus to their hotel so they could drop off their luggage and change into Sunday clothes.  Then we attended church together and had dinner at our apartment.  They pushed through the jet lag and we visited a few of the landmarks of Berlin that afternoon.  We were in he midst of a heat wave with temperatures in the nineties and high humidity - so it was hot!

 

The Siegessäule or Victory Column was our first stop.  This monument marks the German defeat of Napoleon and the French and is a beautiful and prominent landmark.

From the top of the Siegessäule there is an awesome view of Berlin.  Here you can see the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) which lies in a straight line from the Victory Column.

 

The Brandenburg Gate was our next stop.  The horse and chariot atop this gate were turned from facing the west to facing the east after the reunification of the city of Berlin.

 

The American Embassy

 The Jewish Memorial to those killed by the Nazis

This is one of the sections of the infamous Berlin Wall that has been preserved.  

After looking around Berlin, we returned to our apartment for ice cream with berries. 

 

 

Monday morning they came for breakfast and then we took them to see more of the sights of the city.

Our first stop was at Checkpoint Charlie

Then we went on a boat tour of Berlin.  It was very hot riding in the boat - I think we all got a little sunburned!

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a Berlin original - Döner.  This is a sandwich invented by the Turks who have come to Berlin for the reconstruction of the city.  This concoction features thinly sliced meat (chicken, lamb or beef) fresh veggies, choice of sauces all on a delicious pita style bun.

 

Enjoying our Döner

 



After our lunch we had to have gelato from Berlin's best ice cream shop.

Tom, Joan and Whitney ordered 2 beautiful and delicious creations.

 

Our friend Susan joined us on the boat tour and of course for the gelato - she introduced us to this wonderful place!

 

After lunch we stopped for more pictures.

 

This is another preserved portion of the Berlin Wall.

 

 

That evening, Tom, Joan and Whitney presented Family Home Evening to a group of our Young Single Adults.  They gave an awesome lesson!

After the lesson, Whitney played and sang 3 songs for our group.  They loved it!  Whitney is so incredibly talented.

 Then Whitney led the group in a fun game.

 It involved remembering names and switching places.

After the game, we enjoyed a dinner of pasta and cake with the group.

 

 

 

Tuesday morning Joan, Hal and Patty went shopping.  We took Joan to the famous Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop.  It is a wonderland of German handmade Christmas and other holiday items.  They are famous for their nutcrackers and pyramids.

We had fun exploring the store and Joan found a cute nutcracker and Berlin Bear Christmas ornament.

While we were shopping, Tom and Whitney went bike riding.  Berlin is famous for its huge forested park known as The Tiergarten.  They visited that as well as more historical sights.

Here is Tom holding up his belated Christmas gift - an Ampelman T shirt.  Ampelmännchen : little traffic light man,  is the symbol shown on pedestrian signal lights. In the former German Democratic Republic (GDR – East Germany), now a part of Germany. Prior to German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with a generic human figure in West Germany, and a generally male figure wearing a hat in the east.

The Ampelmännchen is a beloved symbol in Eastern Germany, enjoying the privileged status of being one of the few features of communist East Germany to have survived the end of the Iron Curtain with his popularity unscathed. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Ampelmännchen acquired cult status and became a popular souvenir item in the tourism business.

For our farewell lunch we went to a restaurant in Neukollin (a suburb of Berlin) for their famous giant Wienerschitzel.  Here we are anticipating the arrival of our food.

 

There it is - larger than a plate and more than Tom, Joan and Whitney could eat!  It was not only big, but delicious!  (John - yours is better tasting but you will have to step it up in size to compete with this huge treat!!)

 

 

Hal and I ordered the half size and it was enough for us for lunch and we took home half of it for another meal.  The drink you see in the background is Almdudler ( which is a sweetened carbonated beverage made of grape and apple juice concentrates flavoured with herbs)  it is delicious and enjoyed in Austria, Germany and at John and Cindy's Oktoberfest when available.



 

 

The schnitzel was served with fried potatoes - it was all yummy.

 We can't believe how much we ate! 

 

We then had to say our farewells and Tom, Joan and Whitney left for Freiberg and a visit to the temple.  From there, they will travel to Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia and Italy before returning home.  It was wonderful to spend time together!