Adventure #255

On Adventure #255 we find Polar Bear and Barbie on a journey to Berlin, Germany. Our travels begin with a flight from Las Vegas to Seattle, Seattle to Amsterdam. We previously bought a zed fair with KLM to fly to Berlin. Thankfully we get seats on a very full flight, which is only a hour long. We arrive in Berlin in the early evening. We are about to purchase our bus tickets into the city when a couple of nice German ladies give us their bus tickets. Our bus ride is short and we get off a few blocks before our hotel. We are on the sixth floor and thankfully there is an elevator. We drop our luggage off and walk down the shopping street called Kurfurstendamm aka Ku'damm.

We eat dinner at a little fast food place. Bratwurst, curry wurst, and pommes frites. We are starting this trip off right.

The next morning we have a little pastry at the bakery on the corner of our street. We take the subway to the Brandenburg Gate, which was completed in 1791 and has an interesting history. Napoleon once removed the goddess of victory on top, the gate was badly damaged during World War II, and it is the spot where Ronald Reagan said his famous words, "Tear down this wall." The Brandenburg Gate is now a gathering area for Berliners and a symbol of peace and unity.  

After the Brandenburg Gate we walk a short distance to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial was completed in 2005 and is a labyrinth of 2,711 concrete slabs in a grid pattern with various heights.

We then take the subway to the Jewish Museum. The slanted hallways of the main floor provide a history of individuals during the Holocaust. The second floor is a history of Jewish Germans.