Berlin, Germany- J&S 1st Year Wedding Anniversary Celebration

May 20-22, 2016

First trip to Berlin, Germany with our great friends, Chris and Elizabeth Brown to celebrate our first year of marriage! A 4 hour road trip with traffic landed us in the wonderful city of Berlin.

Day 1- First stop, the Reichstag building. Must book online before to visit the glass dome with panoramic views of Berlin as well as an audio guide tour offered in all languages. The guide was very informational and a great over look of the city. http://www.berlin.de/en/

Day 2- Started on the hop on and hop off bus offered daily with 30 stops along the route and an audio guide tour while on the bus. The route stops at many of the tourist stops that we hoped to see and since Berlin is so large and spread out the bus was the best option for us to accomplish all sights in one day. First for us would be lunch, we stopped along the famous Kurfurstendam street at the Hard Rock. The Hard Rock has the guitar on display with remains from the Berlin Wall. Great food and drinks out on the patio while crazy soccer fans prepare for the match by drinking and live music outdoors next door.

We got back on the bus at the end of Kurfurstdam street right in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The original Church was built in the 1890s but was badly damaged by bombings in 1943. The rebuilt church stands tall keeping the original damaged spire. The memorial church is a landmark in West Berlin, nicknamed by Berliners as "The Hollow Tooth" ("der Hohle Zahn"). This Church is gorgeous from the outside and full of history once you step inside. We also really enjoyed this Church since we are currently living on Kaiser Wilhelm Ring.

The hop on and hop off bus also stopped at Checkpoint Charlie, Bradenburg Gate, Memorial of the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, Hitler's Bunker sites, Tiergarten, Berlin Cathedral, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Victory Column (Siegessaule), Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg), Soviet War Memorial, Humboldt University, Rotes Rathaus, St. Nicholas Church, just to name a few. We enjoyed this way of seeing the city since it is large and spread out which makes it difficult to walk to all landmarks.

Day 3- Started off with lunch at Pirates Berlin restaurant on the river with close views of the Oberbaum Bridge (Oberbaumbrucke). It links Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg boroughs, formally divided by the Berlin Wall. This bridge now symbolizes the unity between East and West Berlin. This is a two story bridge, the lower deck is a roadway with a pedestrian walkway and the upper deck carries the Berlin U-Bahn.

After lunch we walked along the longest standing remaining part of the wall known as the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a monument to freedom of expression. The remains of the former wall stretches 1.3 km long reflecting painted patchworks. Numerous artist display there graffiti and paintings on the wall. This is the largest open-air gallery in the world with over 100 paintings by various artist. First created in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the same artist restored their paintings in 2009.

After touring the Gallery we made our way to the famous Sunday Flea market (Flomarket) in Mauerpark. After reunification of the former death strip of the Berlin Wall between the districts of Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg became a public park. A 300 meter strip remains on the far side of the park covered in colorful artwork. Hundreds of booths are lined along with food and drink stops. Every Sunday this market is held, with people shopping or relaxing in the park on a beautiful day. Highly suggest checking out this market, lots of treasures to be discovered! We will be back to Berlin again one day.

Barcelona, Spain- Girls trip, tapas, sangria, and Antonio Gaudi

May 8-14, 2016,

Barcelona and Girona, Spain

Once again, Barcelona was an unforgettable trip! This was a girls trip, since our men had to work, too bad for them... We had a direct flight from Nuremberg to Barcelona and explored more of Gaudi's work. We purchased the skip the line Sagrada Familia English guided tour and entrance. It was stunning. Bianca had previously gone 10 years ago and they have made massive advances since then. The light, detail, and scripture were amazing on the inside. So incredible that this building has been under-construction since 1882 and will continue for at least another decade.

We also were fortunate enough to tour the inside of La Pedrera, formally known as Casa Mila. A great petrified wave, built from 1906-1912. Known as La Pedrera for its rough outer appearance, reminiscent of an open quarry, with sinuous curves and forms inspired from nature. It comprises two apartment blocks, linked by inner courtyards and a common facade. UNESCO declared the building World Heritage in 1984.

Girona, Spain day trip- The Temp de Flors, or the time of flowers, festival of flowers! May 7-15 which happens to be the same dates were are visiting Spain the flower festival is in full motion. We hopped on the early morning train to Girona, approximately 1 hour from Barcelona. We arrived in a smaller, charming town full of tourist in search of the flowers. Exquisite and unique floral arrangements were placed throughout the entire city of Girona. Maps were given at the train station in order to see as many of the exhibits as possible.

Finally the sunshine is out and not a cloud in the sky.. so Liz and I head for a beach day on the Mediterranean Sea! When we arrive there are many beach-goers basking in the sunshine with towels and chairs lined up along the water. We find our spot and enjoy the sunshine and reading for a few hours, soaking up some color after a very long winter in Germany.