Haley + Casey + Becky + Dave + Berlin + Prague = FUN!!!!

This past week, we were delighted to have a couple of Brad's sisters and their husbands come to stay with us.  Haley & Casey and Becky & Dave were here for about 8 days, and I loved every minute of it!  It was so nice to have family here in Germany. 

We've lived here now for about 2 months, and believe me, we've come a LONG way in that time.  Looking back, I am very glad that I never have to live those months again, because it was hard to get everyone settled in a place so different, especially when I felt intimidated by even the smallest hurdle.  Most of my time here has been spent learning the ropes of living in a foreign country, and the mental/emotional stress of that left me pretty worn out.  So, I didn't have much energy to finish putting our house together. 

But, there is nothing like having visitors come to motivate you to get your house clean and put together!  The day before Haley and Casey arrived, Brad and I whizzed around the house installing lights, hanging pictures, and giving everything a good scrubbing.  This included cracking the whip and getting the children to help, which didn't give us any points in the "fun parent" division (oh well, we gave up on that long ago).  So when Haley and Casey came on Sunday morning, and I was giving them a tour of the house, it was the first time it really felt like home.  Good feeling.

Becky and Dave arrived the next morning, and then the fun began!  Becky is awesome to travel with because she always wants to make the most of every minute, and comes with lots of ideas and information about the place she is visiting.  I purposely didn't make any plans for their visit, because I knew Becky would come with great ideas and we could all just tag along and enjoy the ride.  And, it pretty much worked out that way!

The whole reason this visit happened at all was because Casey had to come to Europe for work.  He managed to convince his boss that the company should pay for Haley's plane ticket, too, because he was going to save so much money by staying with us rather than in a hotel.  The down-side to this was that Casey had to be responsible and work sometimes, too.  So, Monday morning, he left us to spend a couple of days in Vienna with a client.  Sad.

Monday afternoon, after Dave and Becky had slept off a little of their jet lag, we climbed into the car and drove into downtown Berlin.  You can't come to Berlin without seeing Brandenburg gate and pieces of the Wall, so that is where we started.

Dave and Becky hold a rather grumpy Luke in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Haley and Brad try not to freeze.  It was pretty cold, and we didn't really dress well for the weather, so this trip downtown was fun and miserable at the same time. 

There aren't many chunks of the Wall left, but here they are in front of a small section at Potsdamer Platz.

Between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, we passed the Jewish Holocaust Memorial.  You can see our little faces above the concrete blocks if you look hard enough.

Uncle Dave saved Luke from walking miles around Berlin.  He also saved us from Luke walking sssooo slow and whining.

On Tuesday, Haley, Becky, and Dave rode the train into the city to do some shopping.  Brad and I waited until the kids were done with school, then we met everyone at the German History Museum for the afternoon.  We focused our visit on the section about World War II, which was interesting, although we all agreed that this museum is not a must-see.

Pepper, Becky, Adam, Dave, Jess, and Haley in front of the German History Museum.

On Wednesday, we had Casey back, and that is the day we went to see Sachsenhausen concentration camp.  We went while the kids were in school, which I think was a good thing.  It was a lot to take in, without having to answer all their questions, too.  Sachsenhausen was an all-male concentration camp, so there were very few women or children there.  Still awful.  The awfulness just kind of hangs in the air.

Here I am with Luke in front of the entrance.  I experienced a weird feeling standing there posing for a picture - I didn't know what to do with my face.  It didn't feel right to smile, somehow.

Hitler's cruel joke on the front gate.  Arbeit Macht Frei means Work Makes Free.  Who did he think he was fooling?

Only one of the barracks was preserved as it was during the concentration camp years.  Here you can see all the bunk beds crammed together.  We learned that eventually all the bunk beds were removed and straw was strewn on the floor for the men to sleep in.  Sometimes they were so crowded that one man couldn't roll over unless the whole room did so.  (No, you are not seeing ghosts.  There was glass in the doorway, and that is Haley and me reflected on the glass)

Common room of the barracks.

Barracks Washroom.  Just standing in this room felt creepy.  So, so bleak.

We all had headsets we wore as we walked around the camp, so we could understand what we were seeing.  Sometimes, there was an option in the recording to push a button to hear a personal account of someone's experience at Sachsenhausen.  There were a couple of times that I had to stop the recording because I couldn't stand to hear any more.  One story in particular is going to haunt me forever.  There was a "hospital" at the camp where doctors had liberty to conduct experiments on the inmates.  At one point, they brought 7 healthy children from Auchwitz and injected them with hepatitis so they could watch the disease progress.  Another inmate at the camp was an intern there, and he had to watch these 7 boys endure the ravages of hepatitis far away from their homes, parents, and any kind of comfort.  His story on the recording had details that I wish I hadn't heard. 

We also learned that there was a camp brothel.  Women inmates from other camps were brought in to staff the brothel, which serviced SS officers and the occasional inmate who had earned a favor.  I think there must be a special place in heaven for the women who had to endure that.

When we left Sachsenhausen on Wednesday night, we were very cold and somber.  As we walked away from the camp, we all wondered how all that could have happened right here in the middle of a cute little German town.  It was a surprise to me to see how close the camp was to Oranienburg, a little town just north of Berlin.  It was easily within walking distance of many houses and businesses.  It prompted me to buy a book at the gift shop entitled What We Knew by Eric A. Johnson and Karl-Heinz Reuband.  It is a series of interviews with people who lived in Nazi Germany, both Jews and Germans.  It has been fascinating reading these first-hand accounts of life at that time, and an eye-opener to me as I see that there were heroes and villians on both sides.  It also makes the point that the people who wanted to know what was happening were able to find out, but if you wanted to stay in the dark, that was easy to do, too.  I guess you can't judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their shoes, right?

Wednesday night, after our trip to Sachsenhausen, Becky & Dave and Haley & Casey rode the train back into downtown Berlin to see the Festival of Lights.  Brad and I stayed home with the kids and warmed up.

On Thursday, our visitors spent their morning shopping, then met Brad to go to a car place.  There is some warehouse in Berlin where owners of vintage/rare/valuable cars can store their vehicles, and it is open to the public to come see them all.  I think that was Dave's favorite place.  We got pizza for dinner, then Brad, Casey, and I went to my institute class while everyone else stayed home and caught up on the American TV shows we'd DVR-ed (yay Slingbox!!).

Friday morning was more shopping, then that afternoon we headed to Prague, Czech Republic.  Prague was a city that Becky was really anxious to visit, and it sounded like fun, so we loaded up the car and took off.  Casey had to stay in Berlin for work, and Brad stayed here, too, with Adam and Luke.  The Prague Group was Haley, Becky, Dave, Jessica, Pepper, and me, which made for a car-full for the 4ish hour drive to Prague.  We kept running into construction traffic on the way there, which was making me very grumpy, but eventually we made it.  I was very glad to see my little bed at the Prague Marriott.

Our Saturday in Prague turned out to be just about perfect.  We only had the one day to spend there, so we wanted to make the most of it.  Dave spotted a brochure for a 6 hour tour of the city highlights, so we decided to try that.  Best Idea Ever.  We had the cutest guide with the most awesome accent show us all over the city and cram our brains full of Prague and Czech history.  I think Jessica and Pepper were a little overwhelmed by all the facts and stories, but the rest of us just soaked it in. Prague is a fascinating, beautiful city.  It has been through many wars and occupations, yet the city itself is nearly all intact since the 1400's.

We started our tour at Wenceslas Square (or "squee-uhr" as our guide pronounced it).  Wenceslas was a ruler in Prague in the 1400's (I think), and he is now the patron saint of Prague.  He is the same guy mentioned in the English Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas", but we learned he was duke, not a king.  After our guide mentioned the Christmas carol, I sang it in my head for the rest of the day.  Too bad I don't know the lyrics - the first line got old.

Looking down Wenceslas Square.  Yeah, it was pretty cold and rainy.

This is Old Town Squee-uhr.  It was impossible not to take a million pictures - don't worry, I won't put them all here.

This is the famous clock tower.

This is a close-up of the clock.  It was made in 1420, and it still works.  Every hour, it chimes and statues of the 12 apostles pass in front of the windows while the statues on either side of the clock move.  It is THE site to see in Prague, so we made sure to come back at 6:00 after our tour so we could see it.

The tour included a boat tour, which was a perfect place to relax and warm up.  You can see the Charles Bridge through the window.

Yay!  We can feel our feet again!

After the boat tour, our guide took us through the Jewish Quarter.  The tan building is a synagogue that has been standing for 600+ years.  We learned that Prague put walls around the Jewish section of town back in the 14th century to keep the Jews separate from the rest of the population.  That wall came down in the 1850's, but then Hitler and the Nazi's invaded in 1939, so the Jews have never really had it easy in Prague.  Apparently it is an excellent place to see Jewish artifacts, though, because when Hitler was in power, he decided Prague would be a good place for his "museum of the extinct race."  So, as the Nazis ransacked Jewish homes and synagogues all over Europe, all the best Jewish artifacts were sent to Prague.

Our tour included an authentic Czech meal - which was delightful - and then we were back walking around the city.

Jess and Pep on the Charles Bridge.  You can see Prague Castle behind them.

Prague Castle is this HUGE complex of buildings that used to be a fort.  That is what makes it a "castle" instead of a "palace".  Right in the middle of it all is St. Vitus Cathedral, which is amazing.

They started building St. Vitus cathedral in the 14th century, but it wasn't completed until 1929.  This carving under the rose window is proof that it was still being built in the 20th century.  This is a little self portrait of the architects.  You can see they are wearing modern suits.

There we are in back of St. Vitus.  Don't we look happy?

Just a random shot of Prague.  It was such a fun city to wander around, because every street we turned onto had another picturesque view.  It was like walking through a 3-D picture postcard.

After a very full day in Prague, we climbed back into the car and drove home to Berlin.  Sunday was spent resting and recovering and playing Quiddler.  Then, we had to say good-bye to Becky and Dave on Monday morning.  Brad also left to go to Switzerland for work, so the house started to feel very quiet.

On Tuesday, Haley and Casey left, after a very stressful incident involving me breaking the only car key we had just as we were ready to leave for the airport.  Luckily, Brad saved the day from Switzerland when he called a taxi and Haley and Casey made it safely to the airport on time for their flight.  Whew!

All in all, that was my favorite week in Berlin so far. It was great to have them all come and see our life here.  Everyone was so easy to please and we really just enjoyed being together as much as seeing the sites.  It was also very good for me to see Germany through their eyes - it made everything seem cooler, somehow. 

Now that we have hosted our first guests, we are anxious for a repeat.  Everyone is invited - we've got room and lots of hospitality to share!