WEEKEND IN BERLIN

Karen lives in Bonn, Germany, and we hosted her when she was a student at Reed College in 1989.  We have always maintained contact.  We visited them in 1997 and they came to Oregon in 2006.  When she heard that we were coming to Poland, she worked very hard to insure that we could get together while we were here.  She secured an apartment in Berlin and we drove there to meet them.   What a wonderful weekend of visiting, site seeing, and eating.  We drove the German Autobahn from the border about 90 kilometers west to Berlin.  Along the way we stopped for lunch in a rest area.  We left our car in a long term parking lot at the Berlin Shonefeld airport and they picked us up there.  Our first stop was afternoon dinner at a restaurant near a lake on the east edge of the city. 

    From there we headed down town to take a boat for sight seeing up the Spree River through the heart of Berlin.  We boarded near the “Jimmy Carter Smile” building.  This is what the Berliners refer to it as.    We passed by many buildings that I can’t remember the name of, but of significance was the Bundestag and Reichstag which are newly built since reunification.     Here are some of the others.              

            

Berlin has changed since we were last here.    The East German symbol, the TV tower is still prominent on the skyline, but the downtown is now a mix of refurbished old and spectacularly new architectural concepts.       The main train station is a prime example. 

The apartment we stayed in belongs to Karen’s sister-in-law, Sonia.  She leases it out to tourists and business people who are looking for more than a hotel room.  We found it very comfortable for 4 people.  If you are interested you can make arrangements through www.homelike.de.vu .  This website shows the apartment we used.  We had the master bedroom and Karen and Guenter used the living room.

  Here’s the view from the balcony.    Sunday we met with Karen’s brother and his family.  We had Thai food and enjoyed meeting the boys.            

Karen had brought presents for her nephews.  As you can see, legos are loved by boys all over the world. 

Football practice starts early here.    This weekend was a special highlight of our trip. 

Thank you, Karen and Guenter, for all your gracious hosting.