Touring Central Europe - Day 1

Stop 1 - Flea Market at Rathaus Schöneberg: After arriving in Berlin the night before, we got up early the next morning and headed to the flea market at Rathaus Schöneberg. We found a desktop calendar from 1950 for the boy's bedroom.

Stop 2 - Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe:  After visiting the flea market we headed to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The weather was miserably cold and rainy, but Maeli was a trooper and had fun playing hide-and-seek in the maze of giant concrete pillars.

Stop 3 - Brandenburg Gate: Being the history enthusiast that he is, Ryan requested that we make a quick stop so he could see the Brandenburg Gate.

The famous Ampelmann

Stop 4 - Mini Public Library: Next, we headed over to one of Berlin's mini public libraries to exchange a book. The kids enjoyed getting to open up the flaps of the various shelves and leave their copy of "Peter Rabbit." Although none of the books were children's books and all of them were in German, the kids insisted on taking a book for themselves. We ended up with a cartoon book filled with strange cartoons. (Needless to say, the book was donated to our local thrift store as soon as we returned home.)

Stop 5 - Berlin Wall: After leaving our book we drove over to the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. Ryan left a message of peace from our family and Maeli became upset when we wouldn't let her leave a message of her own. After a small tantrum, we gave in and let her leave her own message of peace.

Stop 6 - Military Hospital in Beelitz Heilstätten: After a quick lunch we left Berlin and headed towards the city of Prague. On our way we made a stop at the abandoned military hospital in Beelitz. The hospital was used in both World Wars and was the location where Hitler was once treated while serving military duty. We had seen pictures of the interior and were hoping to get inside but were unable to gain access as it was being used for a 'semi-nude' photo shoot at the time.