Tour of Berlin

Today we took a bus tour of Berlin.
It was a great way to get a brief look at the city and it's famous monuments, buildings, and sites. I learned many things about Berlin. For example, I learned that the colored pipes you see going over the streets near construction sites are not, according to our tour guide, to bring beer to the construction workers. They are actually to pump ground water away from the construction sites. I also learned that there are a lot of ducks in Berlin, in the summer there are a lot of Turkish barbecues in the Tiergarten, and the man who was in charge of building the new train station stopped construction before it was finished because he wanted to watch the world football (soccer) tournament on television. (To this day, the roof does not reach all the way across the walkway the passengers take, so many get rained on.)
On our tour we saw:

Remnants of the Berlin Wall

Stones have been placed around the city where the wall used to stand.

Brandenburg Gate
Until my 6th grade year (1989), I would not have been allowed to walk through this gate. The wall was directly behind it stopping travelers from going between East and West Berlin.

The Tiergarten

Checkpoint Charlie

We saw many other buildings and monuments as well.

Ellie gets home from kindergarten at about 12:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Helping her get ready for nap time after she gets home has been a fun treat. We read a book and sing a song - usually "The Alligator Song" (where I get chosen to be eaten for lunch) or "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" (sung in several styles, including "SUPER fast" and "CRAZY!").

Brittney took Casey to a spa today to celebrate his birthday which is on Thursday. Emery and I got to babysit the girls. Peyton is a pretty fussy baby. She just has tummy trouble that makes her uncomfortable a lot of the time -- something I completely understand. :) She is absolutely adorable, though, so I didn't mind babysitting at all, but clearly it was an exhausting day for us both.

Later that evening, Casey took Emery and me to look more closely at a few of the sites:

The TV Tower

The Egyptian Museum
which houses the bust of Nefertiti
(By the way, a bust is a statue from the shoulders up.
Confusing for some, I know. ;)

This is our "casual conversation" pose.
Casey's facial expression is the best. Very casual.

The Berliner Dom
(The Berlin Cathedral)

The Holocaust Memorial

After our exploration, Casey bought us Doner Kebabs for dinner. They are another famous food item here because of the large Turkish population in Berlin. Tasty!

Harley is always hoping you'll drop some food for her.

We ended the night babysitting again so Casey and Brittney could enjoy a nice birthday dinner together. It was a great day!