Nothing is ever boring around here. I got home from Indiana on Monday afternoon and felt awful. By Tuesday morning it was almost unbearable. Jackson had a flight at like 5 a.m. that morning and I could not even get out of bed to take him to the airport so he took an Uber. He had to be in Asheville, North Carolina for work for a few days. He really likes it up there and I wish I could join him on trips more often, but I have work and a puppy so that is not always possible.
Anyway, I gave up the fight on Tuesday and called in sick to work to go to the doctor. I hit a CVS Minute Clinic and tested negative for strep, but had a major ear infection. To be honest I had no idea that adults got ear infections. I always hear about people's kids having them. I got some medicine and had high hopes that this illness would be gone before we got on an 8+ hour flight to Germany. (Spoiler alert: modern medicine sucks and I was still sick.)
Wednesday afternoon I took MacKenzie to Aunt Kathy's about an hour up the road and then headed for Orlando. Jackson would be flying into Orlando that evening from Asheville and would meet me at the hotel. Jackson's new schedule of having to be at the Orlando airport every other Thursday has proven to be kind of a treat when it comes to traveling. I got to the hotel at around 10 that evening and Jackson arrived at around midnight.
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MacKenzie will be hanging with Aunt Kathy
in North Ft. Myers |
Jackson had to work early in the morning so while he did that I got my nails done. What? I was already on vacation. HA! When he got off work we had intended to head straight to our flight, but our quick connections from Orlando to New York had been delayed. This meant we had time to eat at the Chuy's near the hotel and airport. SCORE!! The idea of getting to have an insanely delicious meal before a long night of flying was just amazing and Chuy's did not disappoint.
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| Chuy's? YES, PLEASE! |
We parked our car at the long-term lot and headed to catch our flight. The delay wasn't all the bad and soon enough we were in NYC for a quick run through the airport to catch our international flight. We made it with just a few minutes to spare and found that we had the seats on the plane with just two in a row. This made me so happy because I planned to sleep and kick this ear infection to the curb!
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| And we're off! |
My idea of sleeping didn't work out so well, but the flight was still super easy and soon enough we were in Berlin. We grabbed an Uber and headed to the Intercontinental Berlin to check in for a few nights. I'd only ever heard about Berlin being a huge city, but the quick ride from the airport made it feel kind of small. It felt very typically European and we were excited to explore.
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| YES. |
Jackson has high status at Intercontinental hotels so we got to check in quite early. We were so excited for a quick nap. By this time Jackson had caught my little bug and was losing steam, too. Upon check in they noticed that Jackson had just had a birthday and they made a big spectacle of celebrating him. It was very sweet and much appreciated.
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| Quite the warm greeting! |
We crashed for a good three hours before decided that we had to get out and explore Berlin for at least a little bit. First we stopped in the club room that we got access to due to Jackson's status for some snacks.
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| Cappuccino and cookies? Sure. |
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| Trying their tower of snacks |
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Jackson braved another menu
that I didn't have the stomach for |
Once we'd had our fill of free food and bottled water (free cold water? YES!!!), we headed out to find the local Hard Rock Cafe to get my mom her guitar pin that she collects from our travels.
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| The "city pissoir" was illustrative- ha! |
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| A cathedral in town |
We grabbed mom's pin, did a little window shopping and some additional exploring before giving up and deciding to just go back to the hotel to relax. We seriously went through the box of tissues in our room in one evening with our running noses. It was probably the sickest we'd ever been on a trip. What a bummer!
Our hotel was known for its sauna facilities and that is something we can get behind whether or not we are ill. It was awesome. They had cold, wet and dry saunas. We were the only ones utilizing them at the time so I didn't even have to deal with the typical European nudes!
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I tried to get money from this.
It is a cigarette machine, not an ATM. Whoops! |
We woke up the next morning resolved to push through these massive man colds (ha!) and see the city. We got breakfast at the hotel's buffet which was actually quite nice before heading out to see some sights.
As we prepared for this trip, I'd often quote JFK and say "Ich bin ein Berliner" to Jackson. This annoyed him and delighted me. As you'll recall, "Ich bin ein Berliner" is the well-known quote from a speech by President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is widely regarded as the best-known speech of the Cold War and the most famous anti-communist speech. This was pretty much all I knew about Berlin's history going into our visit. I kept meaning to brush up on things and just didn't get to it before we traveled. Luckily, the city had a ton of plaques and things to help me learn just what happened.
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| We walked down to the river |
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| Checked out parliament |
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| Went to see the Brandenburg Gate |
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| Jackson and the Gate |
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| Me and the Gate |
The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin's most famous landmark. A symbol of Berlin and German division during the Cold War, it is now a national symbol of peace and unity. It was here that on June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan issued his stern command to his cold war adversary admonishing him with the words: "Mr. Gorbachov – tear down this wall!" Jackson remembers this all happening as he was 10. Since I would turn 3 just a few days later, I do not recall. Regardless, it was really cool to see such an important landmark.
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| The U.S. Embassy just inside the gate |
We stopped in at a mall to use the restroom and found that it had a free slide in it. Listen, I'm all for fun but the idea that the slide was free and I had to pay to pee was a bit annoying! I honestly think the idea of making someone pay to use the restroom should be criminal across the globe. It is a bodily function!!! (Can you tell that I had to scramble to find Euro coins in order to pee? I'm still annoyed.)
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A slide in the mall
Naturally, Jackson went down it 3 times |
We walked across town to the remainder of the Berlin Wall. Again, because I was quite young when all of the East versus West Berlin stuff was going on, I found this all fascinating. The fact that this was pretty recent history and such a sharp divide was just shocking to me.
We learned (or were
reminded as Jackson would swear he knew all of this already) that the Berlin Wall was built in order to prevent people from fleeing East Berlin. In many ways it was the perfect symbol of the "Iron Curtain" that separated the democratic western countries and the communist countries of Eastern Europe throughout the Cold War. It stood from 1961 until 1989.
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| Remnants of the Wall |
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| The brick is crumbling today |
We walked down to see the famous Checkpoint Charlie (or checkpoint "c") which was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. Today there are locals dressed up like soldiers willing to take tourist's money for posing with them. I found this super annoying as you could not get close to the buildings without these guys hassling you.
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| Checkpoint Charlie |
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| The Soviet soldier staring you down was creepy |
We wandered around the area for a bit before deciding that we were too tired and too sick to walk all the way back across town to the hotel. We called another Uber (you can tell Jackson was sick as he doesn't usually spend money so freely on calling for rides) and headed back for a nap.
We had tickets to enter Reichstag Building (Germany's parliament) for a tour of its dome, but we were just feeling terrible so we missed our entry time. We took naps and felt a little better so we grabbed yet another Uber (so spoiled!) and headed back to the area to see if we could get later entry tickets. It turns out that the Germans, known for their dedication to rules and timeliness, took pity on us and let us in later with our original tickets. I was shocked. Jackson could sell ice to an Eskimo at this point.
This morning we stuffed ourselves at the hotel's buffet before heading to the train station. We loved the Intercontinental Berlin. Their staff was beyond helpful and super friendly. The hotel was huge and luxurious. I'd come to town again just to stay there and hit the saunas! Berlin ended up being nicer than I had expected it would be based on reviews from other travelers. It is just a big city, but one with a ton of history and a lot of lessons to offer if we'd pay attention.
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