“Where are we?”
“I think we might be in Leipzeig”
“Lets ask Katie, she speaks German, maybe she can figure it out.”
“We’re in Berlin guys”
“Are you sure we’re not in Hamburg?”
“No, we’re in Berlin”
“How do you know we’re not in Budapest?”
“Because we didn’t go through Polish customs”
“But you said ‘I think we’re on the outskirts of Berlin’ like four hours ago, shouldn’t we have passed it by now? Could a city BE that huge?!?”
“I don’t know, I still don’t think we’re in Berlin. There wouldn’t be signs with ‘Berlin’ on them if we were in Berlin.”
“Yeah, maybe we should ask somebody. Hey Katie, ask somebody if we’re in Berlin”
“…we’re in Berlin”
“Hey! That lady’s giving out free coke!”

And so we arrived in Berlin. Or wherever.

After check-in and our now-habitual siesta, we followed Rick’s walking tour from the Reichstag through the Brandenburg Gate and down Unter den Linden. Definitely a lot of construction going on, including a new US Embassy right by the gate. We passed by the famous Hotel Adlon, Neue Wache (the unknown soldier and unknown concentration camp victim’s memorial), and the site of the Nazi book-burning, to name a few. Long ago, Unter den Linden was the main drag, and it’s making a comeback from the East Berlin days.

Hoping the line would be shorter, Katelyn and Greg went back to the Reichstag to climb up the dome at sunset. Well, the line was actually longer than 4 hours ago, but the view was marvelous. The controversial dome was designed with mirrors to reflect light into the parliament building below and also provides a spiral-ramp observation tower (and home to very large spiders, beware).