Day of Rest Germany Day 5

Bike tour through Berlin learning about the struggles of East/West Berlin during during the early 1900s & world war 2. Saw how the parents sent their children on the trains to England to be adopted by others & change their names never to be found again. It was heartbreaking to think about. I couldn’t begin to imagine what that was like. Complete desperation.

Saw Checkpoint Charlie which housed Russia & USA in same territory during the Cuba missile crisis and they were both on opposite sides. So many East Berliners died trying to escape. The whole area was an outdoor prison. It was emotional for Lauren and I to think about the children/ mothers with families as they struggled through that war.

This is me standing where the wall was with one foot in West Berlin and the other on the east side

Our leader Jeff from EI guided us on the entire bike tour and educated us along the way.

At one point we stopped near an old spot that had the remains of a church frame that was destroyed in the war by a bomb and there was a large sculpture next to it. Jeff challenged us all to climb the structure and whoever was successful would win an ice cream. There were about 20 of us there. I , Lance, at 38 years old, did it along with with two other guys in there mid 20s. FYI – I had the quickest time. That’s right. Representing for the “old dads” out there. Boomsauce

Had lunch in a beautiful square with beautiful buildings in a huge outdoor square.
Continued our ride to presidential house & tiergarten berlin (where the president would hunt). We relaxed in the cool grassy shady area and others played frisbee.

By 3pm we were able to go our separate way to shop for souvenirs! Fun time exploring with Lauren. She has a list ready & knows exactly what she wants for all the kids. I love that about her. She has serious organization skills and I have zero. We’re a good team. We even made our way to a Christmas store for an ornament (its tradition. we buy one from every major trip we take together). I bought a couple of shirts because the one I had on all day was completely disgusting and put one on immediately in the dressing room. When we were checking out I had to sit on the counter so they could take the security device off the new shirt! LOL

On our way back to the train station (by ourselves mind you, first time navigating on our own) we hop on the S25 train but going in the wrong direction!! We recognized our mistake & were able to get off at next stop & hop on the opposite direction train. We ran through the stations & made it to our dinner group reservations just in time but seriously overheated and sweaty. Yuk. It was a little nerve racking but exciting, funny thing is we did the same thing in Norway 😂 we are hopeless. Ha

Had an amazing steak dinner in the cool night air patio table. I was talking and sharing stories through the whole dinner and before I knew it, everyone was finished and it was time to go. But I hadn’t finished my steak!!! So I wrapped it in a napkin and took it with me and gnawed on it during the walk trek back to the hotel. Needless to say I got some strange looks from people 🍖🍖😁
😳