Day 8--Berlin (last day in Germany)

(I know this is way past due, but life, and the Olympics, have gotten in the way of my blogging time. I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles for the last couple of installments of our trip--or not. Anyway, here is the second to last day of our adventure.) (Oh, and stay tuned for one more post about our day in Paris.)

By this part of our adventure we were tired! We wanted to make to most of the time we had left in Germany, but our bodies just wouldn't cooperate. Needless to say, we got a late start on Tuesday, our last day in Berlin. We headed out to Charlottenburg Palace, and since it is a bit outside of central Berlin, it took a little time to get there. Once we were there, it was well worth it. I think this was one of my favorite places we visited. Maybe because we had audio guides to tell us about the history, people, and furnishings. Maybe because of the beautiful setting. Or maybe just because it was so elegant, but not completely over the top (like Versailles, but that's a story from my past for another day). Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the palace, so we only have a couple of shots from the outside. This was built as the summer palace for Sophie Charlotte, wife of Friedrich III (who later became the first king of Prussia). If we had more time that day and the weather had been nicer, we probably would have explored the lovely gardens behind the palace, but we had to settle for glimpses from the windows.

After leaving the palace, we decided we really needed currywurst one more time. We found a currywust restaurant not far from the train station and had the most delicious lunch. Next on our agenda was the Pergamon museum in Central Berlin. We were excited to see the large exhibits they have there (large meaning actual size, not the number of items in them). We saw (among other things) the Pergamon Altar, a market gate of Miletus,  part of an Assyrian palace, a paneled room from a merchant's house in Aleppo, part of the facade of the Mshatta Palace, and my favorite, the Ishtar Gate from Babylon.

One side of the Pergamon Altar
(Pergamon was an ancient Greek City in modern-day Turkey)

Market gate from Miletus, a Roman town in Asia Minor

Market Gate with people in front to get an idea of the scale of this display

That's Carson on the right side, so you can see just how tall this structure really is!

More Roman stuff on the opposite side of the Miletus Gate

Maren and I looking cute :)

A paneled room from a merchant's house in the Syrian city of Aleppo

A fragment  of the southern facade of the Jordanian Mshatta Palace

(with a person to give it some scale)

A miniature version of the Ishtar Gate and the roadway leading up to it

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon (from the next room back to show how tall it really is.
But the arch cuts off the sides of the gate so you can't really see it's full size.

Along the road leading up to the gate

One of the side mosaics of the Gate

Here's a man walking through the gate--gives you an  idea of just how large it really is

More of the side mosaics

After the museum, we had a little tourist shopping to do before finding a tasty pizza restaurant for dinner. We had to call it an early evening because we had to (sniff, sniff, tears form in eyes) pack for home. Yes, we did have one more day, but that would be spent in Paris, not Berlin.

I wish we could have had more time in Germany, but realize that the end has to come at some time. I am so grateful that we could take this trip and see this part of Germany where Aubrey served as a missionary. It's given our family lots of memories that we'll never forget.

Day 7--Berlin

We began our Monday by returning the rental car and buying transport passes for the trains and buses. It was actually really easy to get around without a car, and I wouldn't want to have to find parking everywhere we went. We headed off to the Siegessaule (Triumphal Column) at the edge of the Tiergarten. This column was built to commemorate 3 Prussian victories in wars against Denmark, Austria, & France. It used to stand in front of the Reichstag, but was moved in 1938 by the Nazi government to its present location. I stayed on the first level looking at the mosaic frieze while the kids climbed up the stairs to the base of the gold statue of Victory. It was pretty windy and cold on this day, so at the top of the column, it was REALLY windy and cold (part of the reason I didn't go up!)

Maren, Aubrey, and I are near the bottom right corner

 Views from the top of the column

  

We walked over to the Tiergarten church, just so we could see where it was.

Aubrey in front of the Tiergarten church

Then we headed over to see the Gedachtnis-Kirche (Remembrance Church), but it's all covered in scaffolding while it's being reinforced. Here's a picture from Wikipedia of what it looked like in 2006.


And here's a picture from Wikipedia of what it looks like now (I don't know why we didn't get any pictures of it). If you really want to know more about this church you can look at the Wikipedia article here


This church is located on the Ku'damm, Berlin's main shopping street. We found a cool fountain there, along with this broken link sculpture (It's called Berlin and it was commissioned to celebrate the city's 750th anniversary. It symbolizes the broken link between West & East Berlin and is a reminder of the city's painful past). We decided we should document the soccer mania that was in Germany by taking a picture of one of the giant billboards there on the Ku'damm. I also decided we should document the giant pretzels that we ate so often while on this trip. I think it was Carson's favorite food of the whole trip :)

Yum! These are SO good!

Next we were on a quest to have some doner at one of Aubrey's favorite doner laden (shop), Balli Doner. It was somewhat near our next destination, so we had planned in advance to eat our lunch there. The food was pretty yummy, and the portions were large!

After filling our tummies, we headed over to the Germany Berlin Mission office to see President Pimentel and his wife. I have to say that my most favorite part of this trip was seeing Aubrey's face when he gave his president a big hug. I really wish I had had my camera out, but I didn't, so I will have to rely on memory. I know it's a real mom kind of favorite, but, I am a mom after all :)  We were able to spend a good chunk of time chatting with them. They were so gracious to let us visit when they were so busy getting ready to go home since their 3 years of service was up in just a few days.

After leaving the mission office (where Aubrey was able to talk to one of the missionaries he had trained), we  headed over to the part of town where Aubrey had lived the last part of his mission. While in the train station,  he was able to call Elder DuPaul for a few minutes. (This is the other missionary that he trained.)

Using the train station phone to call Elder DuPaul

At the door of his missionary apartment in Marzahn

Marzahn missionary apartment building

To end our day, we headed over to have dinner with one of Aubrey's investigators who had so graciously invited us to her apartment. She had made a ton of food, and it was all really delicious. None of the people there spoke too much English, so Aubrey had to translate for us. I'm sure we missed most of the conversation, but that's okay. While we were there, another former companion (Elder Pauli) was able to call and talk to him. It was a day full of good memories for Aubrey and the opportunity to make new memories for the rest of us.

Day 6--Sunday in Berlin and Potsdam

Aubrey wanted to attend church in the Marzahn ward, the last place he had served before coming home. Luckily for us, sacrament meeting wasn't until 10:50, so we didn't have to be up super early. We were there in plenty of time and Aubrey was able to talk to a couple of people who remembered him. After church we had been invited to lunch/dinner at a member family's home. They lived quite a ways out, so I'm glad we still had the rental car. We were able to enjoy a pleasant afternoon with the Gartner family and one of Aubrey's investigators who has since been baptized. The grilled sausages, chicken, kebabs, and all the fixings were so yummy!

Since we still had our rental car, we had planned to spend the evening in Potsdam at San Soucci (about 40 minutes outside of Berlin). We got there just in time for the rain to start, but it wasn't too cold, so we enjoyed as much of the grounds as we could before we decided we were just too wet. San Soucci is actually a large palace compound  (700 acres) that belonged to Frederick the Great. The Schloss, built in 1747, was his summer palace.

In front of the steps leading to the Schloss (palace)

With a little of the fountain

At the top of the steps, part of the palace

Leave it to Maren to find the animals wherever we go :)

The Orangerie, complete with statue of a naked bowman
 (we did discuss at length why you wouldn't want to be shooting a bow and arrow if you didn't have any clothes on...)

Statue of Frederick the Great himself

A copy of  Thorvaldsen's Christus
 located in the courtyard of the  Friedenskirche (Church of  Peace)

  

At the back of the palace you can look across the street
 and see this fountain and the fake ruins in the background

Don't you like my smiley face umbrella?

more gardens

another building, but I don't know which one anymore :)

Carson at the park gates

Maren at the park gates