So, as I said several blog posts ago, the weekend that we were all in Barcelona together, we went to Figueres, Salvador Dali's hometown. We spent the morning in the epic Dali museum (Dad's comments: "So when did they lock him up in the loony bin?"), and the afternoon was split between lunch, a walk in the rain to a castle that was closed, and a train ride back to Barcelona. Figueres was very cute, and the Dali museum was INCREDIBLE, and the castle looked nice from the outside... it was no consolation to learn that it is the largest fortress in Europe after we learned it closed at 3 pm. We had dinner at an iffy restaurant by the cathedral after Mom and I did some more exploring (I had the joy of having rather undercooked shrimp in my risotto), and then I joined them at their hotel for breakfast the next morning before they headed off to Mallorca.
Flash forward now to Friday, when I met them in El Prat to catch a plane to Berlin! Germany started off with a bang when we schlepped out to the car rentals to find our lovely VW awaiting our arrival... complete with NeverLost (which has proved difficult for us in the past - "Please return to the highlighted route." "If possible, make a U-turn." bing bong! You're screwed! - are just some of our favorites). However, we made it to the hotel easily and quickly, and found that it was EPIC. Dad booked it, of course, and we both had "penthouse" junior suites. It was SO GREAT and I was so happy to have a room entirely to myself - I'm not going to lie, I talked to myself a little and sang along with my iPod a lot. We went down to the bar, where we rang up a sizeable tab (in price, not quantity) of mojitos, manhattans, rasmopolitans (best drink EVER) and long island ice teas, and Dad threatened to dance along with the two man band - a drum set and a synthesizer. Luckily, other people were already making fools of themselves so we were able to show him just what it would look like if we were to join in. Then, I took a shower AND dried my hair AT NIGHT, because I can do anything I want when I'm not sharing a living space with other people. I also left the bathroom door open. AND put my iPod in the iHome and fell asleep with James Taylor playing to the WHOLE ROOM.
The next morning, we began our fun-filled adventure with a walk through Tiergarten, the huge park, which brought us to the Brandenburg Gate. The park was AM
AZING because fall is the best season ever (when it isn't spring), and Mom talked to some random German woman on a bench, showing off her impressive German chops. On our way to the gate we stumbled upon a Russian monument to those killed in World War II - although confusing, since it was all in Russian, it was also pretty spectacular. The gate was pretty cool as well - Dad walked through the largest opening, his appropriate path, because in the early days of the gate, only royalty could use the widest one. I don't know if Polish princes counted as royalty in Germany though, Dad. From there we saw the German Parliament, or the Reichstag, and then headed down to the Holocaust memorial. Not before Dad stopped for some Gluwein though, which is hot wine and rum - I will remind you it was maybe 10:30 by this time. In his defense, I think we thought it was hot coffee with rum.The memorial was incredible - it is (literally) thousands of concrete columny things (they're square. Wikipedia says they are steleae. Refer to the photo for further information) in a grid in a city block, and the ground they're on slopes
up and down. It's wild, you get totally lost, and as Mom commented, there were hundreds of people in it but you would never know - it's silent even when people are yelling, and totally isolating. Creepy. Also ingenious. From there we went to Hitler's bunker. It is not open to the public, and the post declaring where it is was surrounded by British school children, so all I know is that there are apartment buildings over it now. Next we walked to the Topography of Terror, which is a section of the Berlin wall over the remains of some Nazi buildings, and a sort of outdoor museum about it. It was pretty cool, and it was the first part of the wall we saw. It was totally trashed, and didn't look that exciting. From there we walked to Checkpoint Charlie, where we saw some salvaged parts of the wall, signs indicating the entrance to the American sector, and actors posing as soldiers at the actual checkpoint. We headed to the former east side for a delicious lunch of currywurst for Mom and Dad and something schnitzel for me, followed by a big slice of chocolate cake. Reluctantly braving the weather again, we headed up to a square containing a German church, a French church of the exact same design, and an opera house between the two. From THERE (I'm just now realizing how long this day was), we walked to some more old churches, conveniently located next to Humboldt University, where Albert Einstein and the Brothers Grimm taught, and then up to the location of the old palace. It was destroyed several times for several different reasons, and now there's not much left but some bricks in the ground and cement staircases in the air. It was also across from a huge old church (probably has a name) and an art museum (presumably also with a name). We wandered through a little market before conceding defeat and heading back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Incidentally, here is where I first began to feel feverish - a theme that would continue for a while before leveling off into the worst cold EVER which is still hanging on as I type. 
We went to a wonderful little German restaurant where I had a giant roll of meat, then collapsed into bed.Sunday, I felt much better after a night of rolling around in my own sweat, and we started off with a trip to an old church which was severely damaged by the war. It has a big tower which is blown out and on either side is the new church which they actually have services in. It was really cool but closed on Sundays... can we discuss how ridiculous that is? Afterward we took a bus up to Sophie Charlotte's Berlin summer house (NOT in fact a castle), where we went on a tour of the old section and Mom and I made up a tour of the new section ("We are now entering the Green Damask room, called such for the green damask used to expressively color the walls. Please, remember not to lean on the door frames or touch the works of art."). Dad ditched us in favor of some apple tart, and Mom and I quickly wandered the grounds. Dad decided the afternoon would be better spent off of his feet (we did cover a lot of ground on Saturday), and we took a cab back towards the hotel. After dropping off Dad, our driver got very chatty and he and Mom started blathering about in German - IN FACT, Mom was so good that he asked her where she had studied German, and he DIDN'T BELIEVE HER when she said the US. He was sure she had studied at the Hague (we considered this a compliment, since Dutch sounds just like German to me), and told her she didn't speak German like most Americans do. She bragged about this for the next 36 hours - it may have continued, but I went to Scotland, so I'll never know. Anyway, he dropped us in town and Mom and I trudged on, successfully taking the metro out to the East Side Gallery, a section of the wall which artists painted murals on and then everyone else decided to be punks and graffitied on top of it. It was amazing, but also supremely disappointing that it was covered in names and dates and graffiti and a surprising number of "Catalunya no es Espana!" declarations. The Catalonians just can't leave a tender moment alone. It was really cool though, and we walked all the way down it and back, with the sun setting somewhere in that time. We went to Alexanderplatz from there and saw the giant TV tower which dominates the skyline from all directions, as well as some more old buildings. We also had bratwurst! Delicious. We walked partway home before deciding a cab would serve us better, and our extremely friendly driver took us by a bunch of landmarks which were lit up with crazy colors and light shows as part of the Festival of Lights. We had dinner in the hotel, and I savored my last night in a room all to myself. (I do have my own room in my host family's home, but the walls are like paper. Just thought I should clarify.)
The next morning, we drove to Hamburg, where I thought I was flying out of, only to discover that I was very, very wrong. After a bit of confusion, we ended up just buying a British Air flight through Heathrow for me, and I had two lovely flights - complete with free drinks and snacks - before arriving in the freezing cold city of Glasgow.
More may have happened... Mom and Dad, let me know if there are any stories I forgot (I already mentioned your awesome German skills TWICE, Mom). Next will be a similarly epic post on Scotland - sorry to keep you waiting, but this has exhausted me enough for today. Not that I didn't spend all day in bed with my cold and a box of tissues, but still - all this writing is really wearing me out.
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