Berlin...

So - when you come to Berlin you expect to eat German food... Right?   Well it turns out one of the favorite foods (judging by the number of places that have it) is Currywurst... which is basically sliced sausage with curry on top.   They are very big on Indian food in general.  Our first night here we tried a "Thai" place at the end of our block - turned out to be Indian with a hint of Thai... That's ok - it was tasty.   Yesterday when we were out exploring we were looking for a nice place to rest our feet, use the restrooms, and have a meal - we ended up at a very good Vietnamese place... Yep - pho in Berlin.

We took a "free" Sandlemans tour of Berlin on Thursday.  Free is in quotes because you pay the guide what you think he/she deserves at the end of the tour - obviously everyone paid something.   Our guide was great  - she had a history degree from Leeds and bright pink hair.   That 3 hour walking tour gave us a good overview so we knew what to go back to on Friday.

That afternoon we checked out the TV tower - this giant antenna tower (space needle-esque- complete with rotating restaurant) that was built on the east side of Berlin during the cold war.  It was one of the few ways that east Berliners could see over the wall.  We also toured the Berlin Dome - the largest church in Berlin - complete with a HUGE organ which was playing while we were there.   We were pleased to find the tour also included access to the cupola of the dome - where we could get a slightly lower view of Berlin than the TV tower.

Yesterday we explored on our own - went to the Victory tower, Brandenburg gate, Holocaust Memorial (very well done memorial), Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall and the museum associated with it.   The boys were rather bored at the wall and entertained themselves and other visitors with their own construction project.  (Folks were taking pictures of their work!)

Berlin was a fascinating city.   Our apartment was GREAT (high ceilings, lots of space, the best outfitted kitchen so far.)   I'd definitely come back.