Berlin....on a whim

Five days ago we boarded a train in Interlachen, Switzerland with every intention of changing trains a few stops down the tracks and heading to Munich.  But while we were riding along we realized that the train we were already on went straight to Berlin.  So, we made an impromptu decision to stay on the train and go to Berlin.  This is the beauty of the Eurail Pass, you can pretty much go where ever whenever....(it was a great deal when my parents gave me one 27 years ago when I was a college student and it is still a great way to travel in Europe even as an adult with three children!)  Of course this decision increased our train ride by about 4 hours but it was well worth it.  The boys got a good deal of schoolwork done and they were excited to learn that trains have dining cars on them!  Until this train we had just been buying snacks at the market before we got on the trains  but that night we walked to the dining car and ate.

Fast forward five days....Tonight is our last night in Berlin and I can say that all five of us are very happy with our decision to come here.  What a fabulous city and so full of important history.  We did two guided bike tours with a company call Fat Tire Bike Tours.  The first was the Berlin City Tour and  the second was the Third Reich Tour.  The guides were great.  The boys got their history lessons and had fun at the same time!  I highly recommend these tours!  Of course we have enjoyed exploring Berlin on our own as well:

Checkpoint Charlie

Pieces of the Berlin wall that have been painted 

At the Brandenburg Gate

A beautiful Berlin sunset ...this was taken from our hotel room

Levi peering into the memorial at the sight of the infamous book burning in front of Humbolt University(the memorial consists of empty bookshelves)

Our bike tour stopped at the site where those involved in the 1943 attempt to assasinate Hitler were shot.