Berlin is fascinating

This first picture, that Ian thinks I took from a postcard, is actually a picture that I took right at dusk in front of the Brandenburg Gate. We had just landed there in Berlin and met up with our group for a quick dinner. The gate is as beautiful as everyone says.

Thanks to Ian and Starwood Points, we stayed at the Westin Grand just up the street from Checkpoint Charlie. The location was ideal as it was just a short walk to Museum Island, the Berlin Wall and the Tiergarten (which is like their Central Park).

The bear is the symbol of Berlin and Buddy the Bear is all over the place in different colors and styles. Allison and Ian are pictured here with one of them.

One of the more interesting memorials in Berlin is the Holocaust Memorial. It is right in the middle of the city and represents the different coffins of victims of the holocaust. There are hundreds of them on this city block, different heights and placed at different angles on rolling hills of bricks.

Here we are in front of one of the sections of the Berlin Wall. It is very sobering to think of the number of people killed trying to cross this wall to get to freedom in West Berlin. One of the best things about this trip was all of the history that we learned about Germany - and the struggles of the people that lived through it.