Sea life and Aqua Dome

Kayden has been asking to go to an Aquarium since we came to Germany.
That boy LOVES aquariums.  Not the best lighting but here we are at the Aquarium. 

I think in all honestly this was the kids favorite part.  They got to touch and hold
some prawns, and touch starfish and sea anemones.  

Loved how they had the aquarium set up.  It was fun to go to each of the
eight sections to see a different kind of fish, shark, etc.

True Happiness is found at the Aquarium.
Any questions??  Look at her smile. 

Kayden loving his fish!!!

The prawns loved kayden.  He was able to hold the most. 

The staff was very friendly and so knowledgeable  They just kept talking with the kids.
They had the coolest camera.  It reminds me of a scope.  you take the tube with a little camera on the
end and you can go right up to the animals in the tank and get up close and personal with them. 

Here is Chandler and the worker talking all about the ocean
and the fun sea life critters. 

Kayden wanted to take them home.  UMMM, NO!

This was one of my favorite parts.  This was the nursery.
The dark egg sacs were baby Sting Ray and the white one are baby sharks.
These baby sacs were moving.  They were going to town.  You can see the baby shark and he
was trying to get out of there.  They were super adorable and I could have watched them all day.

Baby Girl loving the Sea Critters. 

I love how the under belly of a sting ray looks like he is smiling at you.
it was super fun to watch the ray tank as the sting rays swam over your head. 

Can you see the big sharks????

We loved all the sea critters. 

This aquarium is so interactive they had a video game for the kids to play.
And well, they must have known I had three kids because that is exactly how many controllers they had.
PERFECT!

Love the colors of the Ocean. Can you see Dory and Nemo? 

They had a really cool Labyrinth with mirrors and laser lights.
You had to go in and try and find your way out.
So much fun!!!!

The only group picture I got all day.  Boo!!!!
But thank you mirrors for creating such a wonderful picture opportunity. 

This interactive museum does an excellent job of pulling back the iron curtain
and bringing to life life during the cold war in East Germany. We went back in time to how people lived under communism.
They started really young like collective potty training. The little kids went to the bathroom at the same time
and the kids had to stay on their toilet until everyone was finished.   Engineers earned little more than farmers, and everyone, it seems, went on nudist holidays.  They had an apartment inside and it was interesting to see how it was set up.
Women had to work outside the home and come home and do all the house hold chores and cooking.  No thank you!
I loved the interactive museum.  The kids kind of browsed and played with a couple things but were not nearly as fascinated as I was. 

Another fun Buddy Bear.

Since it was our last night in Berlin I asked the kids where they wanted to go to dinner.
They chose Vapiano's an Italian Restaurant.  We enjoyed summing up our vacation as we ate
delicious food and laughed.  What a perfect Spring break.  We missed Jeremy and were sad he coudln't join us.
Maybe next year he can.  Thanks for the Vacation Babe!

Flat Tire Tour of Berlin

Day Four of Spring Break we spent exploring Berlin.  

We started our day with a typical German breakfast.
Brotchen, Meat, cheese, veggies, olives, eggs, and yogurt. 

We scheduled a Bike Tour with Flat Tire
and this is their motto
"Walking is Stupid."  Ha!

Berlin really isns't that old.  80% of Berlin was destroyed during WWII.
This is St. Mary's Church (Marienkirche) Established in the late 13th century.
Berlin has at least three different main squares depending on which area you are in. 

The kids infront of Neptune Fountain.
The Baroque Fountian was severly damage during the war and was restored in 1969.
I love the powerful Neptune with a trident in his hand. 

The TV Tower quickly became our landmark.  The TV Tower is the highest building in Berlin
It was also across the street from the main train station "AlexanderPlatz"
We knew if we could see the TV Tower we would never get lost.
For decades the tower was praised as a symbol of Socialism by the East German Government.  However, now the tower symbolizes the new center of a reunified Germany.

This was the meeting point for our day city tour.

Here we are on our bikes ready to explore the must-see sites of  Berlin.
We are going to spend 5 hours on our bikes going to The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall, Cold War Watch tower, Nazi Architecture, Victory Column, Reichstag, Bebel Platz, Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.
We spent the first couple minutes getting to know our bikes.
Each bike had a bell and a beeper.  There was only 3 different speeds and each bike
had a name.  Mine was Hank.  Ha! Kayden's was
Brooklyn
Chandler

Rotes Rathouse, Berlins Town Hall.

Our first stop was Bebelplatz
This was the site of the infamous "Book Burning" on May 10, 1933.
 Important works of world literature by journalists, writers, scientists, and philosophers were seen as a threat to the Nazi's ideology and the Nazi party burned over 20,000 books.
There is a really cool monument on display, a library embedded in the ground with a room full of empty book shelves.
The picture didn't turn out very well because there is a plastic Sheet covering it.  It was pretty fascinating.

Our tour guide Daniel was awesome.  The kids loved listening to all his stories.

Two Bronze Plaques had a memorable quote by Heinrich Heine 1820
"That was only a prelude, There where they burn books, they burn in the end people."

The next stop was Gendarmenmarkt Square.
The square is surrounded by three beautiful Buildings.  The French Cathedral, The concert Hall and the German Church.
The French Cathedral was built first.  The German's wanted their own church so they built one on the opposite side and the church looks almost exactly the same as the French Cathedral.
This is the French Cathedral.

The Concert Hall

German Church 

 We are standing in the spot where Check Point Charlie was but it no longer excists.
So we go to see a picture of what it looked like.
Check point Charlie was the most famous border crossing point between West and East Berlin During the Cold War. 

Daniel our tour guide gave a fabulous presentation
with Chalk and the side walk.  He started drawing a picture.  He asked what it looked like.  Kayden said a Glass of beer.
Daniel explained this is how Germany looks and the 9 countries that surround Germany.
Austria, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic  

After WWII Germany was split into four different zones
Zone #1 USA, Zone #2 France, Zone #3 United Kingdom, Zone #4 USSR

All four of the Zones wanted access to the Capital Berlin
Berlin is the yellow circle this circle was split into four zones as well.
The Right part of the circle was USSR.
The bottom left was USA The middle was United Kingdom and the top left was france. 

The Western zones all merged together (The purple chalk)  and Russia was on it's own.
The Yellow circle signifies Berlin the Capital of Germany.

The Iron Curtain (blue chalk)  East Germany wanted to cut off all access that East Germans had to West Berlin.
The Berlin wall happened over night.  (The blue around Berlin) 

This was one of the roads by Check Point Charlie. 

This is where the Wall Stood.

In 2001 Lause and Eva Herlitz started an art project on the streets of Berlin called Buddy Bears.
The Buddy Bears arms are raised to symbolize Friendliness and optimism.
The Buddy Bears create a positive mood all around the world.  There are 140 of these cute bears all over Berlin. 

Part of the Berlin wall still standing.  

This is the original Cold War Watch Tower.
Two soldiers would be up there watching for anyone trying to escape for 8 hours.
There was No heat, I couldn't imagine hanging out in this little area for 8 hours just waiting
for someone to try and escape.  Most of the soldiers guarding this tower were very young and untrained.

One of the intersections we crossed.  I thought the building looked awesome and
Modern compared to the rest of the City. 

This was Hitler's Bunker.  This is where Hitler allegedly killed himself and was set on fire.
The bunker is still here It's just underground.  They filled it up with dirt and created a car park.
Daniel told us how they kept part of what they thought was Hitler's Jaw and when they did some DNA testing it turned out
to be a female's jaw not a male.

The Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe
also known as the Holocaust Memorial honoring the 6 million Jewish victims of the holocaust.  

Victory Column also known as Golden Lizzie and  Chick on a stick.
The last tier was put on by the Nazis. 

Here we are in front of the Reichstag.

The kids in front of the famous Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin Cathedral

I loved the little Amplemannchen.
These Green and Red traffic light men were called Amplemannchen.
They were used in East Berlin to teach Chidlren about road saftey.

Ammplemannchen was part of their heritage and they wanted to keep him. 

Ampelmannchen were  a part of Eastern Berlin Heritage they wanted to keep.
They won too and now these cute little men tell us when we can cross the road safley.
The Ampelmannchen appeared in cartoons, games, radio broadcasts and bed time stories.
We even went into a couple Ampelmannchen stores.  You could buy them as noodles, even gummies.

Another Fun Buddy Bear.

Charlottenburg Palace

The palace Gardens

Spring is in the air.  BEAUTIFUL.

The Statues at the end of the palace gardens.

I was standing at the end of the gardens look back at the palace.  BEAUTIFUL.  I just love Palaces. 

I could wake up to this view every morning.  Wow!

Kayden (17) at Charlottenburg Palace.

Brooklyn (14) at Charlottenburg Palace

Chandler (11) at Charlottenburg Palace

I was feeling quite accomplished.  When we were on our bike ride we rode passed this
bridge.  I wanted to stop and take a picture and bask in the beauty.  But alas, it was not on our stop.
so after the Bike ride was over we wandered on our own using the public transportation, our own land marks and found this bridge.  I don't know the name of it or anything about it but I think it's impressive and beautiful.   

We also passed the President's home on our bike tour and didn't get to stop.  So after finding the Bridge we stopped and asked some Polizei if they could direct us to the President's home.  They told us we could walk about 20 min or take the public transportation a couple stops away.  I asked the kids what they wanted to do and they all agreed we should WALK.  I'm so glad we did.  We played the funnest game of Truth or Dare.  Oh my goodness we laughed and laughed.
My favorite was Brooklyn.  She wanted a dare and I dared her to start doing jumping jacks and while she was doing them to say "yeah, getting healthy and fit together "as we walk by a bunch of people running.  It was hilarious....
Kayden's favorite was Brooklyn again.  She had to yell No PDA to a couple that was kissing.  Oh my gosh we laughed so hard.  It was sooo funny.
Brooklyn's Favorite was a dare she gave Kayden, He had to say Awe, yeah to a couple sitting on the bench.  We all were laughing so hard.
Chandler's favorite were the same as mine and Brooklyn's  Way too much fun.    We had a lot of heart to heart talks too.  But this was by far one of my favorite memories.  

Kayden stopping to smell the flowers and said, "Look Mom, it's picking my nose."
I love this Boy of mine.  He makes me laugh all the time.  He Keeps me on my toes and
cherishing every single minute I have with him.

I love this beautiful daughter of mine, or as people say mini Tina!
  I love the memories that we get to make together and I just
Love everything about her!

My sweet Peanut.  I keep telling Chandler to stop growing and he keeps
on growing.  I love his love for life.  He has the biggest heart.
I love you my Chanman!

We headed back to the hotel for some delicious Bean and cheese Burritos, 

Fresh fruit and fresh veggies.  Who said you can't eat healthy on vacation?
They clearly have never vacationed with me.  Not to mention how much money you save.