Sunday: We arrived on time and went through passport control and customs. Soon afterward we found a taxi minivan and completely stuffed it with luggage and people. We went straight to the hotel and thankfully were able to check in immediately. Our room is in the northwest corner of the Estrel Hotel on the 9th floor. We have a fantastic suite with views of the city and two bedrooms, one of which has a large open area for the children. We slept until about 2:30 or 3pm.

Monday: We got out of the room by about noon and took the bus to Potsdamer Platz, then walked by the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. 

We have recently noted that Everett’s body is growing faster than his coordination and he has become uncharacteristically clumsy: while running through the memorial he tripped and skinned a knee, both hands, his cheek and his forehead. It took him a while to get calmed down, then he limped for a while, but by the end of the day he was back to his normal self.

After the memorial we walked to Brandenberg Gate,

then through the Tiergarten

and finally to Sony Center for a stop in a cafe before we headed back to the hotel.

That night the babies staged a revolt: around their bedtime Gwen started screaming and wouldn’t stop. Eventually she woke up Teddy, and then he wouldn’t stop screaming either. Chris took both of them on a long walk. Then more screaming. Then we got Gwen down but Teddy wouldn’t quit. Chris took him on another long walk and finally in desperation we put him on his carseat on the bathroom floor with the shower water running. We got to sleep around 3am. Rough night for everyone.

Tuesday: We went on a day outing to Humboldthain and then to the Berlin Wall Memorial.

Then a picnic and a visit to a nearby cafe for a warm treat. We stopped at a park before heading home so that Everett could get a few extra wiggles out.

Wednesday: We went to the Lego Museum

and then to the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park.

Chris had a work dinner that night and got home late.

Thursday: This was a work day for Chris. We ran into Chris’s colleague Jens at breakfast who remarked “You look tired.” Chris gave a talk around lunchtime, then had meetings the rest of the day. We note that the hotel does not provide irons, but does provide a single room that is set aside for ironing. Based on the size of the room and number of ironing boards (only two were visible) we are guessing that these guests iron about as often as the Barbers!

Friday: we packed our things, picked up the rental car and left Berlin about midday on our road trip to see Carrie and Armin in Anthering. Our families have now grown so much that we can’t all fit in one car together. And we eventually determined that the best way to get to Anthering was to rent a car in Berlin and return it in Salzburg. We debated whether to drive the entire distance in one day, but eventually decided against it. In retrospect this was a wise choice for two reasons. First, it takes much longer than usual to travel with three children. Second, it turns out that Everett is starting to experience motion sickness. We discovered this about mid afternoon when he told us he wasn’t feeling well, so Melissa handed him a plastic bag in case he got sick. He successfully used the bag, but we didn’t realize there was a giant hole in the bottom of it. We had to evacuate the car for about 15 minutes to get things cleaned up. Both babies were screaming, all the doors of the car were open, and Everett was changing clothes in the parking lot. It was quite a sight.

We were pretty worn out by the time we got to Regensburg that night. We ate dinner in the hotel and had a great hotel room for our needs – plenty of space, pack-and-plays for the children, and a kitchenette for feeding the babies.