Cousin's Tour: Part III-Berlin

We all left our island village of Sylt on the 4th of July feeling refreshed and relaxed. We boarded the train to Berlin in preparation for a tour of the big city housing 3.5 million people. The gorgeous and modern Berlin train station greated us with people running every direction. We immediately realized we were back in a metropolitan area. The Wombats Hostel welcomed us warmly and soon we were back on a train towards the Brandenburg Gate to catch a 4 pm walking tour. I elected to sit the walking tour out, but heard rave reviews of the history of Berlin. Jen, Luke, and Bradee all enjoyed learning more about the history of Berlin/WW II in 3.5 hours than they had ever learned in any college world history class. It is truly an amazing city from a historical perspective. We ended the evening with Italian pizza and a few laughs on the rooftop bar. Thursday, our final day of touring, was a warm one. Thankfully a tour of the German capital Reichstag building allowed for a bit of a break and a very neat view of the city. We ventured to KaDeWe the shopping house of the west (http://www.kadewe.de/en/)and were amazed to find 7 floors of luxury goods. A very neat place! We introduced the gang to curry wurst, a Berlin specialty, and took them to the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz. The Berlin Wall Museum tour took us along one section of the wall that is still standing and allowed us to learn about how fast the wall was constructed. Once again the Ampelmännchen of East Berlin won over the tourist. These street light characters were introduced October 13th, 1961 at a time when the media had it's eyes on Berlin. Now they are everywhere and can be seen in the below pictures on two lawn chairs. They assist people today in Berlin with knowing whether they are in east or west Berlin. We boarded the 6:30 pm train headed west and just beat the rain. However, our sauna of a train car proved to be quite tiring for the remaining 3 hours to Osnabrueck. The good thing is that we all smelled the same so no one could argue. It had been a full 5 days of traveling and everyone agreed we saw three very unique and different cities. By Day 5 Jodi had cankles, Jen & Luke were showing signs of sunburn, and Ben still had the camera. Despite it all we had an absolute blast and there were no major injuries, arrests, or hurt feelings. Fun had by all!

Cousin's Tour: Part II-Sylt

I believe the vote was unanimous that the island of Sylt, the farthest northern point in Germany, was everyone's favorite. We took the train 3 hours from Hamburg to Sylt and crossed the 10 km bridge connecting the mainland with the island. We discovered a quaint 1970's luxury island where the rich and famous wondered with their sweaters draped over their shoulders. The main drag was a fashion runway filled with name brand clothing, expensive sunglasses, and a lot of white hair. As we strolled through with our backpacks we recognized that we were no longer in Kansas, however we held our own and brought a little youth back into the island. We spent two fabulous nights on the island of Sylt and were very fortunate to enjoy sunny weather. The sand on the beaches ranged from silky smooth to course, but was expected after seeing the high and low tide of the day. The water of the North Sea was cold, however that didn't stop the young at heart. Luke was the only one who officially "swam" in the North Sea out of the entire group. However, Jen and Bradee were the only ones brave enough to jump and flip on the giant trampoline with new friend Gus. It was truly one adventure after another as we toured the beautiful beaches, visited the famous Sansibar, and watched the sun go down over the North Sea. Ben proved to be the fastest biker, Bradee found a tractor, and Jen, Luke, & Bradee will never forget the beautiful calls of the seagulls at 5 am. The cocktails, mocktails, Gosch fish, and relaxing atmosphere made for a nice break in our 3 cities in 5 days tour through northern Germany.

Cousin's Tour: Part I- Hamburg

We enjoyed a visit from my cousin Jen, her husband Luke, and my cousin Joel's wife Bradee for a little over a week. It was an action packed week filled with lots of laughter. Thankfully my wonderful husband was able to assist in the tour as there were a few activities that I couldn't handle. Naturally the evening bar tours and beer tastings were well organized by him while I caught up on my beauty sleep. It proved to be a perfect combination. It was sad to see them go, but the memories will never die. Cousin's Tour Part I-Hamburg We enjoyed a harbor boat tour, visited St. Pauli and saw the original bar INDRA where "The Beatles" started their career on August 17th, 1960. We introduced Hostel living to our 3 visitors. Highlight of Hamburg: Our amazing Hostel shower!