Berlin is a city we’ve desired to visit for years. We’ve heard so many good things, so we are eager to make the most of our five full days here.

We get up before 8 for the first time in awhile and eat breakfast at the small table in the kitchen. I love an eating space in the kitchen.

There’s no internet here (even though there’s supposed to be), so I’m able to coax Stefan out of the house sooner than usual. We decide to follow Spot’s Day 1 walking tour of its 72 Hours in Berlin. It seems to hit the major spots in the city center, so we’ll get a good idea of what we want to do the rest of the week.

We take an Uber to the first stop, the Reichstag. The taxi can’t get through many streets because the Berlin Marathon is tomorrow. Streets are already cordoned off, and pedestrian traffic is congested. We walk from the Brandenburg gate (stop number 2 on our walking tour). Our first observation is a Starbucks! Lillian is super excited to enjoy a kids’ vanilla steamer, and Oly claims he’s hungry. He’s always hungry. We grab muffins and drinks and walk through the Brandenburg Gate.

We arrive at the Reichstag. It’s a large, pretty parliamentary building. We can only visit the dome, which is modern and glass, with a ticket, so we just look at the building from outside. The kids want a pretzel from the local vendor, so we have them count out the change from their pockets. They love counting money, but even more so they love paying for things on their own.

We walk back by the Brandenburg Gate, with the crowds of people, and get to listen in on a tour guide discussing we are standing in the no man’s land between east and west. It’s strange to imagine how different things were in this exact spot, not that long ago. We walk on to the third stop, the jewish memorial. 

The Jewish memorial is fantastic! Large blocks of stone stick up out of the uneven ground. It begins short, at our knees, but as we walk deeper into them, they reach far above our heads. The kids have a great time walking around among the stones. It’s a solemn place for considering the millions murdered by Nazis, but my kids don’t see that. We mention that it’s a memorial for people who died, so they should not be loud. But they don’t need to understand the true gravity at ages 3 and 5. I actually like the contradiction of the heaviness of a place with my children’s lightness. I don’t look forward to us growing out of this phase. 

Walking down a wide yet empty street, we reach a huge square with the concert hall and other beautiful buildings surrounding it.

Lillian is disappointed we don’t want to pay 6 Euros to go up in a church dome, but she’s quickly assuaged by the guy blowing bubbles in the square. Both kids chase bubbles for 20 minutes. No kidding. We are there forever. It’s so much fun. The two musicians playing gorgeous music nearby makes the whole experience beautiful.

//Stefan: picture of the trip and yes it was good

We go to lunch nearby at Augustiner am Gendarmenmarkt, a brewery founded in 1328. The beer is good, and the crispy pork knuckle and roast pork are amazing. The kids have sausages again. I’m pretty sure they could eat this every day, like gnocchi.

We walk past many museums and a memorial. It all feels a lot like Washington, D.C., but not nearly as pretty or clean. The next stop on our walking tour is the place where thousands of books were burned by the Nazis. Now there is a small memorial. You look down through glass to see empty bookshelves. It’s a great way to remember an important moment in history. 

We’re headed for museum island when we pass the German History Museum. It’s a beautiful modern building, and we decide it could be really interesting. I don’t know much about German history beyond Nazi Germany in WWII. Sad but true.

This is a great museum. But it’s huge. Definitely too much to take on with kids. For some reason, ours are pretty incredible throughout. I have no idea how that happens. We meander through thousands of years of history. Before we can even begin WWII, we have to take a break. Oly is asleep again, and we’re all a bit tired.

The museum cafe is large and nice. Nothing special, but the chocolate cake is great. We play 20 questions and chat. It’s really nice down time.

Oly wakes up just as we’re getting ready to resume our museum visit. They are kind of over the museum by this time, but we push through the last bit. There’s interesting information about the political climate leading up to WWII and even a piece of the Berlin wall. It’s a good museum. I can’t believe we spent 4 hours here!

//Stefan: museum was really interesting.  Germany from 1860s to now has been full of everything 7 times.

We go home to relax for an hour before our dinner reservation. Lillian graciously does my hair and gives me a massage. It’s awesome.

Dinner is just around the corner at Schneeweiss, a fancy-looking place in the midst of this dingy neighborhood. The food is very good and so is the service. The kids get special juice which keeps them happy for quite a long time. They’re very well-behaved tonight, which is great because I am totally beat.