Better Late Than Never! Part One - (no german translation because they are always so punctual) Teil Eins

I contemplated for way too long about when and if I should go to the bathroom. I was sure I would miss them if I did, but I had forgotten to find the bathroom on my early morning train ride to the Düsseldorf airport. My family’s flight was right on time, but customs and baggage claim put them over an hour behind. Finally, I saw my brother’s hair coming from the international section and felt such a sense of relief that they were actually in Europe and I could now use the restroom. Immediately we fell comfortably into the American role with coffee from McDonalds, followed by a train to downtown Düsseldorf, a tram ride uptown, and a short walk to our beautiful mansion-style hotel. 

Our lovely hotel in Düsseldorf

Our rooms were not ready, but we left our bags and started out on a day that seemed to last 90 hours. My poor jet-lagged family members were such great sports as I dragged them around through Christmas Market after Christmas Market, to the Old City (and a very delicious German restaurant) and up to the top of the Rhine Tower. 

Where my family had their first German food.

The Rhine Tower being lost in the snow storm.

After sitting and admiring the view of Düsseldorf that increasingly became more minimized and hazy, we walked into a huge snowstorm that pounded my tired family in the face until the tram finally arrived. The day concluded with my dad wiping out on a giant sheet of plastic hidden under snow, goulash soup in a Christmas Market, a tram that wasn’t running, and a taxi ride to take us back to the hotel. I think my brother was asleep before 6:45, but my mom and dad made it until the unruly hour of 8pm. 

The amount of snow that accumulated on our deck overnight.

Things moved understandably slower on Monday morning, and even though both of the airports we would be using to get to Berlin were closed over the weekend due to the terrible snowstorms that pounded Western Europe, our flight looked good to go that afternoon. After a brief panic of not being able to find the one 8 1/2 x 11 sign in all of Düsseldorf with information about our airport shuttle, we took the one hour bus ride to the middle of absolute nowhere and happened to find a small airport there. Waiting for our chaotically arranged flight, we saw the grid of fifty or more slept-in cots and were extra thankful that we picked the single time to fly in Europe that weekend where we wouldn’t be spending the night in the airport. 

A very abrupt landing put us in Berlin, and we wound through the maze that is Berlin-Schoenefeld Airport, where my mother was concerned by the machine guns held by your run-of-the-mill and very average security guards. We followed the usual pattern of taking a train to a tram to our hotel. We checked in to the hotel, were excited to see Aunt Fran, and headed to the dinner reservations I made for the evening. I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce to my family to Germany by eating at the restaurant at the top of the center of the German government: the Reichstag. 

We ate there! Top right!

Our taxi driver dropped us off at the beautiful building and there were more machine guns, this time up close and personal as we were asked by security to show our passports and lead into a small building, where more security stared at us in silence. We stared back. They asked us to show our purses and open our jackets, and we were herded out of the small building and into the Reichstag for more security checks. An elevator took us to the famous dome and the delicious restaurant, and we laughed the rest of the evening about exclusivity like none of us had ever experienced before. 

Even though we had three days and three nights in Berlin, the time flew by in a whirlwind of historic and very cold sights. Due to temperatures of -5˚C we opted for a bus tour to take us to all of the main sights including: 

Checkpoint Charlie

The East Side Gallery (the largest portion of the Berlin Wall)

The Brandenburg Gate

Palace Charlottenburg and my dad's head.

and also Potsdamer Platz, the Jewish Museum, Unter den Linden and many, many more. The next day brought us to the Holocaust Memorial and Museum, and the emotions that the memorial evoked, from deliberate disorientation to hopefulness, were particularly emphasized with the snow.

Holocaust Memorial

Aunt Fran had to leave a day early, so we said our goodbyes and finished the day with the Cathedral of Berlin (which you have to pay to enter and that is absolutely ridiculous), the largest fish tank in the world, the DDR museum, and our final Christmas Market. 

The Original Berlin Christmas Market

Things remained just as entertaining as they did cold in Berlin with more than few people who mistook my blond hair, blue eyed brother as German and also with a unique subway performance of a particularly round, santa hat wearing 7-year-old, who played a mouth powered piano and had middle-aged, saxophonist sidekick. 

Trying to warm up with Glühwein!

We drank mulled wine, strong coffee, and sampled all the beers. We ate curry wurst, schnitzel, candied almonds, great pizza, and breakfast that was labeled American. We met friendly Germans who were more than willing to lend a hand, and got an up close and personal view on Thursday of some more German citizens on the train ride to my town...