'Ich bin ein Berliner!'

It's about time Sarah and I write about our latest adventure to Berlin! We had been wanting to visit for awhile so we could visit my brother's girlfriend, Kira, while she was studying there. We finally found cheap enough flights through Ryanair (including a night sleeping on the ground of the London-Stanstead airport.)
Kira was nice enough to pick us up at the airport and took us to a wonderful breakfast cafe. We missed big breakfasts after only eating toast in Sevilla.
After the hearty meal we were ready for a tour.

Lego Giraffe! My favorite part is the girl looking at Sarah,
almost like she knew she was messing up the picture.

The weather was a little gloomy the first couple days.
It was way colder than what we were used to.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was very intense.
There were no markings or writings but it still spoke so much.

Brandenburg Gate.

This is one of the archives where Kira does a lot of her research.

Site of a massive book burning

Sarah needed a rest in front of the cathedral.

Museum Island behind us. We were beginning to realize that we had a lot to see!

The Spree river running behind the cathedral

For lunch Kira took us to a phenomenal burrito place that totally fulfilled our Chipotle craving. I was able to get habanero salsa on it, which also took care of my hot food craving. Sooo good.

Later that night, after we had a nice siesta at Kira's apartment, we continued our magical food journey to a famous hamburger joint called The Bird. We met Kira's friends from Las Vegas that were staying with her for a few weeks and also met some other Fulbright students who had become friends of Kira. Their burgers were amazing but I went with the patty melt because it had been too long since my last.

The public transportation was really great. We figured it out how to get around pretty fast.

After dinner we found our couchsurfers home in a different part of the city. They were a really nice couple named Andrea and Birk and had two cute cats.

They had an extra room for us which was huge.
The next day included a lot of rain, so we managed not to take any pictures. We met Kira at another great food place that served great pastas. That night we watch Iron Man 2 at the Imax.

The next day we began exploring on our own while Kira worked on research.
Fountains!

Everyone was enjoying the little bits of sun that shined through.

This kid got nailed by a stream of water right after this picture. It was almost like the fountain knew what it was doing. In the background it seemed like they were filming some sort of music video around the other fountain.

Someone scored some big points by carving a heart in the grass.

We went inside the Berlin Cathedral, which really isn't a cathedral. It's called the Berliner Dom and is actually a protestant church. The inside was very beautiful and very different than the cathedrals we had seen in Spain. We got a chance to hear the organist practice a little while we were inside.

Then we headed to the top to get some good views of the city.
It was pretty windy up there but it was beautiful.

Here's a good shot of the television tower.

Next we headed over to the Pergamon Museum. We only had time for one museum on the island so we picked the one that is most popular.

The Market Gate of Miletus

The Pergamon Altar

The sun was out so we took some time laying in the grass. This gave Sarah enough energy for a good jumping picture to make up for the last one.

Our couchsurfing hosts directed us on a short walk from their house to the East Side Gallery. Its a section of the Berlin wall that has been preserved to be used as a canvas for 100's of artists around the world.

They get updated or redone all the time.

My favorite was the Pink Floyd section.

Our last amazing food treat from Kira was some amazing kebabs at a little stand on the side of the road. They were by far the best kebabs we have ever had. At this point we had to say goodbye to Kira as we were leaving early the next morning. We were so glad to have been able to see her while she was on our side of the ocean.

With a recommendation from Profesora Ana Llamazares at Acento,
we headed to the Jewish Museum. I loved the design of the structure and it was one of the most interesting and interactive museums I have ever been in. To enter into the building, you have to enter the building next door and take an underground stairway.

Mmmmmm... kosher gummi bears.

Not exactly sure what the meaning of this was.

But who doesn't appreciate a good mustache

There were lots of somber parts as well.

Lot of powerful stories

After the museum we headed to the market to buy some food supplies to make dinner for our gracious couchsurfing hosts on our last night together. We decided on our gourmet mac and cheese recipe. They seemed like they really liked it.

In the morning we were off to London. We decided on the way home we would spend one night in London in a hostal and enjoy the city for a day. I enjoyed using the big lens for my camera to see the people riding the London Eye.

Sarah loves Big Ben

Thames

The next day we had to return to the British Museum because when we were there with the Africa team we had very little time to see everything. Most of all we wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, which we had completely missed last time.

We spent the last part of our time in London enjoying the atmosphere at the Convent Garden market. Their was a street performer whose bit was to escape from a straitjacket. After we saw him painfully pop his shoulder out so he could escape, we thought he deserved a couple pounds.

We will post more about our summer in Sevilla soon.