Stamp # 2: Danke Schoen, darling, Danke Schoen -- Wayne Newton

---

Gutentag - Jan 21-25
My good friend Vicky and I took advantage of a super affordable flight thru Ryanair.com and ended up in Berlin, Germany this past weekend. Unbelievably cold to say the least, she and I wore at least 3 layers of clothing and two pairs of socks each day, mind you we were outside for most of those days so it was the least we could do. We stayed in a hostel (but a really nice hostel) right beside Berlin's central train station (kind of like staying right beside Union Station) -- Berlin Hauptbahnhof (pronounce: Hout-bun-hof), I thought it was hoppedbanhof at first. LOL.

We were walking distance to a few key landmarks: Brandenburg Gate & the Reichstag.

I took over four hundred pictures, so I will have to write about each day separately with their albums; today, Day 1: Walking Tour.

The first full day there, we decided to go on a 3.5h walking tour. Yes. In the cold. Not the best decision ever, but when you're a tourist, and want to see things, you quickly forget about how you feel and revel in the moment thinking,

"OMG, that's the Berlin Wall! I was turning 8 when I saw it fall on TV!"

We also got to see Hotel Adlon. What's so special about a hotel? That's what I said. At first. Well, my dear, remember when Michael Jackson was filmed dangling his son, Blanket, over a balcony in front of a lot of people? That was from the Hotel Adlon which directly faces the Brandenburg Gate on Pariser Platz. It costs 12000.00 EURO a night.

Other sites we saw:
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Checkpoint Charlie
Gendarmenmarkt
Bebelplatz
A monument to 'victims of war and tyranny'
Berliner Dom

See which pics correspond to which place. It's easy though!

---

Photos

Photo 3
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe)

Photo 5
This building has evidence of bullet holes from the war. They're the smaller holes, not the few big ones first noticeable.

Cold War Propaganda
Painted on the side of the Luftwaffe HQ

Remains of the wall
I am on one side of the street, the wall is on the other side that's why it doesn't SEEM as tall. It is though, probably about 10 feet.
Just googled and it was about 11 feet.

Crossroads
Back in WWII Germany, this area had the Luftwaffe, the Gestapo and the SS offices/HQ stationed here; appropriately this is where my pics of the wall were taken as well.

Photo 15
Checkpoint Charlie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie)
That is NOT Charlie. It referred to military alphabet of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...