Herzlich Willkommen, Vati!

Whew, what a week! Before I start talking about my dad's arrival in Berlin, I want to continue on the cafe review from last post with a picture from Sunday. Susie, Emma and I had a nice work day before Susie had to head back to Munich. Emma and I tried a new church in Schöneberg, right down the street from Baltos Cafe, and then we all studied together for a few hours. It was a cool cafe, modern looking and with plenty of outlets, and the side of the cafe was a window that could open, so the cafe was open to the street.

Studying ith Susie and Emma

And now the most exciting news: on Tuesday my dad arrived in Berlin! I had a lot planned, and by keeping a quick tempo and walking miles and miles we've managed to cover a lot of ground. I picked Dad up from the airport Tuesday morning and we went to check in to his hotel and drop his bags off. From there we headed to hit the highlights. We bussed to Potsdamer Platz and walked along the Tiergarten and through the Mahnmal für die ermordeten Jüden Europas, or Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, a fairly new Holocaust Memorial. It's over 2700 stone steles and not only are they different heights, but the surface of the pavement rises and dips so it's pretty interesting to walk through.

Mahnmal

We also saw the Brandenburger Tor, of course, and walked along the main street downtown to the Museum Insel and the Berliner Dom before I had to head to class. After class we met up again, and we visited KaDeWe (the 7 story megastore) and Schloss Charlottenburg, where we didn't go inside but we enjoyed wandering through the beautiful blooming gardens behind the castle. We sat by the pond, watching well-fed pigeons, sparrows and ducks beg for bread crumbs before heading towards Zoologischer Garten, where my dad's hotel is, to find a delicious dinner of pizza and beer (we each had different kinds so I could introduce my dad to as many kinds of German beer as quickly as possible!).

Proving he is, in fact, in Berlin

In the gardens of Schoss Charlottenburg

But the day wasn't over after dinner! Oh no. We rested for about two hours, caught up on email, napped, then at 10:30 pm we headed back out into the city! What for? For the HARRY POTTER 7 midnight showing! Wait, you may be thinking, I am a dedicated fan too but I thought HP came out on the 15th! If you live in the States, you are right. But here in Germany it came out at 12:01am on the 13th. We joined a few of my friends for the 3D midnight showing at Potsdamer Platz, and had a blast. I won't say anything about the movie except that I really really enjoyed it! And not only was Dad willing to stay up to watch HP, but he was also willing to go with Emma and me to Schwarzes Cafe, one of only a few cafes that's open and serves food 24hrs a day. It was just around the corner from his hotel, so that helped. We celebrated HP and Dad in Berlin with a delicious B&B (breakfast and Bier) of eggs and Augustiner.

ND kids outside HP (Mark, Emma, Maria, me, Michael)

Wednesday was also a full day! After picking up my final grade in my literature class I met Dad, and after a quick detour to pick up his passport from the hotel we headed east. We checked out the East Side Gallery, walked around the Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz, the Dom again, and then we headed to Ritter Sport to make our own Schokokreations. While we were waiting for our individual creations to be made we hopped down to Checkpoint Charlie to snap the obligatory photos there. We picked up our chocolate and still had time for dinner at Vapiano's before seeing "Salome" at the Komishe Oper. "Salome" was...very strange. A very modern interpretation. We did not like it, but now Dad has seen first hand how German theater tends to shock and alienate the audience.

At Checkpoint Charlie

So much chocolate! Counteracting the 14 miles we walked on Tuesday.

But the night didn't end with the opera! Hilary's mom has been here for a week, and they went to the opera, so we both planned to take our parents up on top of the Reichstag afterwards. Seeing Berlin at dusk, all lit up, from the roof of the parliament building was amazing.

In front of the dome of the Reichstag

I would say it's been a pretty successful start to Dad's visit! Today he's on his own for most of the day because I have class. He's here till Sunday morning and there's plenty planned for the rest of the week, so come back in a few days to hear about the rest of our adventures!