Berlin is Wonderful, Their Keyboards Aren't

The past 2 days in Berlin have been phenomenal! Dan & I are taking a break from touring, because the museum we want to go to will be free after 6 PM. We figured we'd kill an hour here, and update you fine folks before touring, since it will save us 17€. Saving money makes me happy!

We've changed our itinerary for the days leading up to the Feast. Tomorrow (Friday) we'll be taking a train at 6:44 AM to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic. We'll arrive there approximately 11 AM and spend the rest of the day touring. We'll spend Saturday there, and leave for Krakow, Poland on the overnight train Saturday night.

Sunday we will arrive in Poland at 7 AM and spend the day at Auschwitz. Sunday night we'll jump on an overnight train to Vienna (Wein), Austria and spend Monday & Tuesday in Vienna. Tuesday night we take yet another overnight train to Rome and meet up with Mom & Dad and the rest to start our Feast of Tabernacles in Perugia, Italy.

Sound like a lot to you? It sure does to me! But we've had so much fun so far, that I think we're up for it.

Oh yay, Dan just showed me how to convert the keyboard so it's more like ours at home. It is much easier to type now!

Yesterday after my last post we took a bus tour of Berlin, to get an overview of the city--when we have time to do that, it is wonderful because you can get your bearings as well as see some things you wouldn't normally get to see just walking around the city.

We have pictures galore--in front of what remains of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Tor (Gate), Schloss Bellvue, Checkpoint Charlie, Topography of Terror, Museuminsel (Museum Island), etc. However, we don't have a way to offload them yet, so you'll have to wait a bit longer. Just trust me, everything is amazing, and we look spectacular in each and every picture ;)

After the bus tour and exploring Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche and eating crepes on the square we went to dinner at the famous KDV Department Store. I know, dinner at a store seems odd, but this store has a gourmet floor that is utterly unbelievable!

If dinner was easy and less than stressful, the next hour or so was frustrating. We're doing very well at getting around on the U-Bahn & S-Bahn (metro trains) but it was our first experience with the bus system. We finally figured it out, but it was a bit difficult at first.

The problem was, we had to be somewhere at a very specific time, because Dan had purchased tickets to a concert of Baroque and Classical Era music featuring Handel, Mozart, & Beethoven performed in Charlottenburg Palace. Can we say romantic and fabulous! The soprano and tenor were phenomenal and the program was fabulous. We both had an amazing time, and enjoyed it immensely. Ladies, can a husband do much better than a candlelight concert in a palace when aiming for romance?! I think not! Which is reason #148573 why I have the most amazing husband in the world!

We got home easily, because as I mentioned before, we've gotten to be experts at using the metro (we even have been able to help other people out, who were confused or lost!). However, when we got back to our flat, we ran into some problems. Namely, that the door wouldn't open. We finally had to call the property manager of the apartment and have him drive out at 11 PM to let us in. It turned out that the door had a "trick" to it, that he had forgotten to mention when he let us in the night before. All was well, but I felt bad for making the guy drive across town in the middle of the night.

Today we've had a (what else!?) great day touring Berlin more. We've been all over Alexanderplatz, up in the TV Tower where we had another romantic meal in the revolving restaurant that is the highest point in Berlin, and exploring the Tiergarten, Lustgarten, and many other parks, churches, etc. After the museums this evening, we're going get a nice dinner in one of the more exclusive areas of Berlin and then call it a rather early evening as our train leaves at 6:44 AM tomorrow.

Our hotel in Prague is set up, and looks great! For only 44€ we'll have a deluxe double room with a queen bed, en suite bathroom, hairdryer (this is important to me, okay!), and free internet! Prague is supposed to be amazing, and we're really looking forward to exploring the castles there.

I'm sorry I haven't replied to comments, I'm not sure how to reply to a specific comment, without just adding another comment to my own post. LiveJournal seems more user friendly in the comment area. But thank you all for reading, and I'll eventually figure out how to individually reply.

Now, off to ramble around the Egyptian Exhibit in one of the many amazing museums here! Tchuse!

Second Post

9 AM, the morning we leave. I'm stressed out, giddy, I barely slept last night, and frankly I'm now positive that many things I wanted to get done before I leave just plain won't get done.

So how better to knock the list down than posting a tentative itinerary? Makes perfect sense to me!

• Fri, Sep 14th: Leave for London
• Sat, Sep 15th: Arrive London--Briefly tour London, England
• Sun, Sep 16th: Leave for Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Mon, Sep 17th: Enjoy Amsterdam
• Tues, Sep 18th: Leave for Berlin, Germany
• Wed, Sep 19th: Tour Berlin
• Thurs, Sep 20th: Enjoy Berlin/Leave for Krakow, Poland
• Fri, Sep 21st: Tour Krakow
• Sat, Sep 22st: Krakow/Auschwitz
• Sun, Sep 23rd: Day in Prague, Czech Republic
• Mon, Sep 24th: Vienna, Austria
• Tues, Sep 25th: Tour Vienna
• Wed, Sep 26th: Leave Vienna for Perugia, Italy
• Thurs, Sep 27th: 1st day of Feast of Tabernacles in Perugia, Italy (Holy Day)
• Fri, Sep 28th: Tour Florence, Italy/2nd Day of FOT
• Sat, Sep 29th: Sabbath in Perugia, Italy/3rd Day of FOT
• Sun, Sep 30th: Tour Rome, Italy/4th Day of FOT
• Mon, Oct 1st: Tour Assisi, Italy/5th Day of FOT
• Tues, Oct 2nd: Tour Vatican City/6th Day of FOT
• Wed, Oct 3rd: Tour Torgiano, Italy/7th Day of FOT
• Thurs, Oct 4th: Last Great Day in Perugia, Italy
• Fri, Oct 5th: Pompeii, Italy with Mom & Dad
• Sat, Oct 6th: Pompeii with Mom & Dad
• Sun, Oct 7th: Venice, Italy with Mom & Dad
• Mon, Oct 8th: Venice with Mom & Dad
• Tues, Oct 9th: Milan, Italy
• Wed, Oct 10th: Turin, Italy
• Thurs, Oct 11th: Day in the French Rivera/Monaco
• Fri, Oct 12th: Madrid, Spain
• Sat, Oct 13th: Touring Madrid
• Sun, Oct 14th: Gibraltar (owned by England, on the southern tip of Spain)
• Mon, Oct 15th: Tangier, Morocco (AFRICA!)
• Tues, Oct 16th: Geneva, Switzerland
• Wed, Oct 17th: Munich, Germany
• Thurs, Oct 18th: Touring Munich
• Fri, Oct 19th: Bonn, Germany
• Sat, Oct 20th: Rhine River Cruise
• Sun, Oct 21st: Paris, France
• Mon, Oct 22nd: Touring Paris/The Louvre
• Tues, Oct 23rd: Brussels, Belgium
• Wed, Oct 24th: Take the Chunnel back to London, England
• Thurs, Oct 25th: Tour London
• Fri, Oct 26th: Tour London
• Sat, Oct 27th: Tour London/Leave for America

Yeah, that doesn't look exhausting at all!