Walls in Germany

Last year, I did Oktoberfest with my N26 team in Berlin when I was visiting for work. Bucky didn't have the chance to partake, but I wanted him to have the experience, so I asked my work friends if they wanted to do Oktoberfest again! And they were all for it! There were about twenty of us who went to this cool locale discovered by my boss, Norbert. We enjoyed lots of beer, pretzels, beer, dancing, beer, singing, beer and schnapps. We also took some pictures as you can see below. It was LOTS of fun, but we definitely paid for it the next day. It was well worth it though! Prost! While Bucky and I were in Stockholm, Lucie and Quincy came to Berlin for their own Oktoberfest! Bucky and me! Prost! Bucky, me, Luana, Mihai and some random guy!!! Bucky, me, Norbert and Thierry!! Most of the N26 gang who celebrated together!

We wanted to do something special for Bucky's 70th birthday because turning 70 is pretty special. We decided to walk down memory lane and go to Stockholm. We hadn't been back there together since we lived there in 2001-2002.  We rented an Airbnb apartment ideally located on Djurgarden , an island in Stockholm that is home to Skansen, Grona Lund and the Abba Museum among other fun places!! We arrived in Stockholm on Wednesday evening, got settled in, walked around a bit and eventually decided to forage for dinner. We came upon a fabulous place called Slipen and had a wonderful meal!! We even made reservations to return on our last night because it was so memorable!! Our first stop on Bucky's birthday the next day was Skansen . Skansen is an outdoor museum that Bucky LOVES!! It is set up like Sweden in the olden days and you can go into the different buildings and see how things were done in the past. For example, they have glass blowing, silver making, a bakery, farms, etc. ...

So, this weekend we picked two more places from the book of 111 Places in Berlin That You Shouldn't Miss. Neither of them was amazing, but we did find a cool spot!  The first place we headed to was Berliner Balkon, "a balcony on the edge of the city." This was true. It is a big, open field that is probably covered in wildflowers during the summer, but when we were there, it was covered with birds looking for food! We walked around a bit, took the required photo and moved on to the second place on our list. The Spreepark was supposedly once the biggest fun park in the GDR. Since 2001, it has been abandoned and in the book, you see pictures of the old ferris wheel. We found it without much problem, after parking and walking a bit. Unfortunately, we could not access the actual park. It is only open certain hours to people who participate in guided tours. You have to book the tour online at least 24 hours in advance so we plan to do so another weekend. We decided to walk arou...

We had our first visitors in Berlin! This honor was bestowed upon Kimber Bougan and Brian Hendricks who joined us for a few days after a work week in London and then stops in Brussels, Brugge and Amsterdam. Kimber is a foodie so we knew she would like it here! And she was not disappointed.  I had to work during the days so they explored Berlin with Bucky. They visited Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall Memorial and Tiergarten where they stopped for a well deserved beer. Among our dining experiences, we had drinks at Madre , lunch at Datscha and dinner at Hangmee Exotiq Finest Asian Food and Il Moro . Not a bad one in the bunch. Thanks to Kimber and Brian for coming to visit us in Berlin! We loved having you!! You are welcome again anytime! Brian and Kimber! 

 After our emotional visit to Sachsenhausen, we decided to find a few other places from our cool book from the Mall of Berlin. We found a number of sites in the area of Pankow so we headed there. First, was a stop at the abandoned Iraqi Embassy. The book said that you could still wander through the place, but it was published in 2019 so we didn't expect that people could still enter willy nilly. We were right as it was boarded up and padlocked shut. We took pictures to prove we were there.  Then, we walked to Majakowskiring which is where the East German political elite used to live. It is a beautiful neighborhood of tree lined cobblestone streets and big old homes, some of which are empty and locked up, but many are lived in by families. On some of the houses are plaques noting the people who once lived there.  Our final stop on our tour of interesting sites for the day was Kinderbauernhof Pinke-Panke , a funky, family friendly petting zoo and play area in a beautiful pa...

Yesterday, Bucky and I had a sobering experience visiting Sachsenhausen , a concentration camp about 50 minutes north of where we live. I was surprised to see  a neighborhood right outside the camps doors, with lovely homes, playgrounds and schools. It just seemed so odd compared to what was beyond the walls, but I learned that the neighborhood has been there since even before the camp was built.  We opted for the audio tour (only 7 Euros for two devices and a map) which was a smart move. The camp is HUGE and it took hours for us to walk through it. The audio tour shared details with us about the buildings and spaces, but also the experiences of the prisoners. It was moving and quite overwhelming. I would love to write more about the experience but I will not do it justice. The entrance The original wall around the camp The gate into the main part of the camp Looking out as a guard would have A memorial