Berlin, Germany aka Ber, Ger

Since we live in Germany, we thought it was about time we start investigating our own country a bit. What better way to get to the heart of a country than through its capital? Berlin, here we come!

The drive to Berlin was a blast. We sang, danced (yes, that is possible in the car), laughed, and talked the whole way there. Driving with lightning fast speeds on the autobahn (over 100 mph), we made it to Berlin in great time.

Once we settled in to our hotel we headed for the metro to begin exploring the city.

Waiting for the metro

Since we were in a big city, we decided to venture out and have some Thai food. Though not a typical German food, it was delicious, and we hadn't had sushi in for-ev-er, so it hit the spot.

After fueling up, we wandered around the corner to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. Checkpoint Charlie was the only crossing for foreigners between the American (West Berlin) and Soviet (East Berlin) sides that used to be separated by the Berlin Wall. The museum had countless stories of ways people tried to or did escape from East Berlin, along with stories of life back then, people that tired to help, and those that hindered progress, all the way to the final fall of the Berlin Wall and Soviet control. It was a bit overwhelming to take in all at once, but very informative.

This is the actual sign that was on the Berlin Wall,
"Leaving the American Sector"

This is a replica of the actual sign,
but this is the exact place the sign was before the Berlin Wall came down

The back of the sign,
"Entering the American Sector"

This watch tower still remains

Upgrading Berlin with no Wall and a McDonald's

After the museum we saw a Starbucks and decided to end our Friday night with a taste of America.

Chai lattes and carrot cake :)

Drinking lattes, watching the streets of Berlin, no big deal

On Saturday morning we had a yummy German style breakfast at our hotel- cheese, meat, bread, butter- and then headed to the metro for a ride to see what is still standing of the Berlin Wall.

The metro took us over the Oberbaum Bridge and then we walked a little ways to see the East Side Gallery, as the Berlin Wall is now referred to. The wall is now painted and somewhat like an art gallery. There are many peace, love, unity, and war ending messages painted and written throughout the wall. 

The Oberbaum Bridge in the background (red looking castles) and
the beginning of the East Side Gallery

A unique painting

There was a small section of the Wall taken out,
and we found a nice view of the Oberbaum Bridge

A section of the Wall representing Denver, Colorado

Seeing both sides of the Wall,
Left = Soviet-East & Right = American-West

Next, we walked back to the metro and rode to Alexanderplatz.

A fountain in Alexanderplatz

We walked to Berlin's tallest structure, Fernsehturm, which is also the second tallest structure in Europe. It is basically a television tower.

Fernsehturm

Continuing our walk we came across the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) and Neptunbrunnen fountain, where we are pretty sure we gave some euros to "deaf" kids that were just taking us for a ride.

Rotes Rathaus

Neptune Fountain

During our walk we also came across several beautiful churches/cathedrals, including the famous Berliner Dom.

Marienkirche

Nikolaikirche

Marstall (used to be Royal Stables for the kings)

Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom

Lustgarten and Altes Museum

We continued our walk, where Justin fell prey to some true Berlin street gamblers, but that's not my story to tell. Let's just say he learned a very valuable lesson ;)

After losing on the streets of Berlin, we walked to Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate.

Brandenburg Gate

Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate

We continued strolling through the gigantic Tiergarten, heading to the middle of the garden, which seemed to take ages. Along the way we found a World War II memorial. When we finally made it to the middle of the Tiergarten we saw the Siegessaule or Victory Column.

I'm sure you'll agree with me the victory column with the gold on the top in the background doesn't look too far away, but trust me, this walk took a really long time

World War II Memorial

We (finally) made it to the Victory Column

The whole Victory Column

Our last stop for the day was to the Charlottenburg Palace. It was too late to go inside the palace, but it was beautiful to see from the outside. Again, it was a long metro ride and walk to the palace, but well worth it.

Charlottenburg Palace

We finished our night off with wine, pizza, and some German soccer (we watched from the windows of our restaurant). And our Berlin souvenirs joined us for dinner too!

Glass 1 of many that night

Warm at last

Bears represent Berlin, so we bought some Berlin Bears

On Sunday, as we were driving home we decided to stop for lunch. We saw these signs as we were leaving the lunch area. The perfect end to a wonderful trip together!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...Venice, Italy

We took a bus trip to Venice during the Carnival of Venice 2013. Our hopes were high that we would see lots of costumes and people in masquerade attire. However, the rain downpour kept all those pretty costumes hidden inside. 

Despite rain, Team DeLeon knows how to have a good time. We made the best of our 1 day in Venice by starting with a boat ride into the heart of the city.

Our first sight on this cold and rainy February day

Warm gear and umbrella: check

We took a short walk heading toward Saint Mark's Basilica and found our first waterway street.

Venice at its finest

 And we found this cool looking statue and our family business.

Statue

This must be the Italian way to spell DeLeon

Next, we stopped by the Ducale Palace and decided it was too rainy and cold to wait in line to see the inside, so we headed to St. Mark's Square instead.

Ducale Palace

St. Mark's Square

We were able to go into St. Mark's Basilica and into the treasury room. It was really pretty inside, but no pictures were allowed.

Outside St. Mark's Basilica

In St. Mark's Square we also saw this famous Clock Tower.

Clock Tower

After our fill of the square we headed to the Rialto Bridge. First, we stopped to warm up though. We had some excellent Italian pasta (yummy) and wine (which really did warm us up). Once we made it to the Rialto it truly was everything Shakespeare said it would be :)

Rialto Bridge with a Carnival of Venice 2013 sign

On the Rialto Bridge

On the Rialto

Once we saw the Rialto we realized we forgot to take pictures of the Bridge of Sighs, so we headed back to St. Mark's Square and the Ducale Palace to see the Bridge of Sighs. On the way we bought another umbrella because one just wasn't cutting it for us any more.

The other side of Venice (we didn't make it over there)

The bottom of the Bridge of Sighs

The top of the Bridge of Sighs

A blurry Bridge of Sighs at night
(clearly we were having bridge picture taking issues)

Legend has it if you ride under the bridge in a gondola with your lover then all of your dreams will come true. Too bad it was so rainy that no gondola's wanted to take us for a ride :( 

Once we saw all of these main sights we headed to another restaurant to warm up. This time we ordered pizza with our wine. Again, the food was really delicious and so was the wine. We walked around for a bit more, but it was just so rainy and cold that when we saw the Hard Rock Cafe (even though we weren't hungry), we made our way to a tiny taste of America.

The Hard Rock Cafe in the distance

After spending several hours in the Hard Rock a drunk German couple sat by us and insisted on Justin wearing their Carnival mask. So naturally, we took a picture.

Justin and his Carnival of Venice mask

Finally the time had come for us to part ways with Venice. So we headed to the boat that would take us back to our bus for the 9 hour ride home to Grafenwoehr. Before leaving we said good riddance to our Paris umbrella (sad day) and the other cheap umbrella we bought from a vendor, because they were so beat up from the wind and rain. 

Peace out umbrellas and Venice

As you can see there were a lot of other people who had to get rid of their umbrellas too. There were even ruined umbrellas lying all over the sidewalks. What a trip!