Waaaay back in June, we travelled to Berlin for an international aviation conference. While we had never been to Berlin before, we had travelled quite a bit in Germany and we'd been in other former Eastern Bloc cities. We thought we knew what to expect. We were wrong. We found Berlin to be unique and unexpectedly modern, green, and vibrant, yet also full of historical significance. What a great combination. Before the conference began, we had some time to tour the city. We made it to the Brandenburg Gate, the city's most famous landmark.
The gate was part of the Berlin Wall, and also marks the start of the main historic boulevard in town, filled with museums, restaurants and embassies. We visited "Checkpoint Charlie", a symbol of the Cold War and another element of the Berlin Wall.
There are still intact pieces of the Berlin Wall around town. At this site...
...we walked along the wall and also toured a museum devoted to it. Our hotel was near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which dates from the late 1800's but was heavily damaged during the bombing of World War II. They've left the church tower with it's collapsed steeple in it's post-war condition as a reminder of the devastation of war, but have added a new church building for worship.
This combination of war-torn and modern is one that we saw repeated all over the city. Right after WWII, the city brought in famous architects from around the world to design new and innovative buildings to take the place of those destroyed by bombing. They've continued to have famous architects design their public buildings and monuments, and the results are stunning.
Another modern addition to the city is the Holocaust Memorial -- a large city block filled with gray slabs set out in a grid, beneath which is a museum devoted to the Holocaust.
We walked amongst the slabs; it was very moving.
We toured the German parliament building, called the Reichstag -- an old historic building with a modern twist -- the post-war addition of a modern glass dome with both external views of the city and internal views down into the building. We walked up the ramp to the top of the dome and from there you could look back down through a glass canopy and directly into the main chamber of German Parliament. Very cool.
We spent time strolling through the city's vast gardens; within the city there are more than 2500 public green spaces.
All over town we found trees shedding a very cottony substance; it often looked as if it were snowing despite the abundant sunshine during our visit.
D could not help himself; just like a kid stepping in puddles, he managed to walk through every patch he could find!
Speaking of walking, the walk/don't walk signs in Berlin are iconic and I loved them. Doesn't the green walk guy look very industrious?
And of course, we found time to eat lots of great German food and sample Germany's finest beers. We went out of our way to go to this lovely restaurant...
...but just stumbled upon this beer garden on a walk the next day. What a find!
The trip was also a professional success for D, with some important contacts made. And the conference gave us both the opportunity to speak to a true American hero -- D and I each had opportunities to say hello to first-man-on-the-moon, Neil Armstrong!
He attended the conference and was presented with a lifetime achievement award. He is a very quiet and humble man, and we were thrilled that he was there and that we got to say hello. A friend of ours was also presented with a prestigious award at the conference, and we were so happy to celebrate that with him, too.
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The conference was capped off with an evening event held on the grounds of the old Berlin Templehof airport, the site of the famous WWII Berlin airlift.
D loves WWII history and was so happy to see this! We had drinks beneath the wings of one of the actual Berlin airlift Candy Bombers planes:
and dinner inside the (now closed) airport terminal, designed as a monument to Nazi power by Hitler.
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It was amazing to be there. We loved this trip and would recommend Berlin as a European destination.
Waaaay back in June, we travelled to Berlin for an international aviation conference. While we had never been to Berlin before, we had travelled quite a bit in Germany and we'd been in other former Eastern Bloc cities. We thought we knew what to expect. We were wrong. We found Berlin to be unique and unexpectedly modern, green, and vibrant, yet also full of historical significance. What a great combination. Before the conference began, we had some time to tour the city. We made it to the Brandenburg Gate, the city's most famous landmark. 
The gate was part of the Berlin Wall, and also marks the start of the main historic boulevard in town, filled with museums, restaurants and embassies. We visited "Checkpoint Charlie", a symbol of the Cold War and another element of the Berlin Wall. 
There are still intact pieces of the Berlin Wall around town. At this site... 
...we walked along the wall and also toured a museum devoted to it. Our hotel was near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which dates from the late 1800's but was heavily damaged during the bombing of World War II. They've left the church tower with it's collapsed steeple in it's post-war condition as a reminder of the devastation of war, but have added a new church building for worship. 
This combination of war-torn and modern is one that we saw repeated all over the city. Right after WWII, the city brought in famous architects from around the world to design new and innovative buildings to take the place of those destroyed by bombing. They've continued to have famous architects design their public buildings and monuments, and the results are stunning. 
Another modern addition to the city is the Holocaust Memorial -- a large city block filled with gray slabs set out in a grid, beneath which is a museum devoted to the Holocaust. 
We walked amongst the slabs; it was very moving. 
We toured the German parliament building, called the Reichstag -- an old historic building with a modern twist -- the post-war addition of a modern glass dome with both external views of the city and internal views down into the building. We walked up the ramp to the top of the dome and from there you could look back down through a glass canopy and directly into the main chamber of German Parliament. Very cool.
We spent time strolling through the city's vast gardens; within the city there are more than 2500 public green spaces.
All over town we found trees shedding a very cottony substance; it often looked as if it were snowing despite the abundant sunshine during our visit. 
Speaking of walking, the walk/don't walk signs in Berlin are iconic and I loved them. Doesn't the green walk guy look very industrious?
And of course, we found time to eat lots of great German food and sample Germany's finest beers. We went out of our way to go to this lovely restaurant... 
...but just stumbled upon this beer garden on a walk the next day. What a find! 
The trip was also a professional success for D, with some important contacts made. And the conference gave us both the opportunity to speak to a true American hero -- D and I each had opportunities to say hello to first-man-on-the-moon, Neil Armstrong! 
He attended the conference and was presented with a lifetime achievement award. He is a very quiet and humble man, and we were thrilled that he was there and that we got to say hello. A friend of ours was also presented with a prestigious award at the conference, and we were so happy to celebrate that with him, too. .jpg)
The conference was capped off with an evening event held on the grounds of the old Berlin Templehof airport, the site of the famous WWII Berlin airlift. 
D loves WWII history and was so happy to see this! We had drinks beneath the wings of one of the actual Berlin airlift Candy Bombers planes: 
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