Americanized Berlin

June 28th—Today we experienced a lot of American things in Berlin. We first started off by visiting Checkpoint Charlie. The old Allied checkpoint was not named after a person, but named because it was checkpoint number three (as in Alpha, Bravo, Charlie). Charlie was most famous because it was where most foreigners would pass. After taking our picture with actors playing American guards, we went into the Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie. The museum contained lots of interesting pictures, artifacts and stories about life during the time of the wall. After leaving the museum, we stopped off at Snack Point Charlie and went to Subway for sandwiches. We ate our sandwiches while following the cobblestone path to see a surviving stretch of the Wall. Right next to the Wall was a hot air balloon ride. The kids really wanted to do this so up we went. It wasn’t quite the same as a normal hot air balloon ride because it was tethered to the ground and just took us up 150 meters and then back down about 10 minutes later. Nevertheless, it still gave me a feel of what it would be like to take a hot air balloon ride and I think I’m out on it. It gave me the same fear as flying. Although, we did get some great views of the city while up in the balloon. After getting off the balloon, we walked to Postdamer Platz. Postdamer Platz is described as the “Times Square” of Berlin with a lot of skyscrapers and the Sony Center. CineStar is a movie theater located within the center and plays movies in their original language. So, we bought our tickets to see the Hannah Montana Movie. Everyone really enjoyed the movie. It reminded Mike and I of a kids version of“Pure Country”. After the movie, we went to eat at Hard Rock Café and got a really cool pin marking the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. From here, we walked back to our hotel and got ready for bed. The kids got all hyper from watching a special on Michael Jackson (MTV was playing his top videos) and dancing to the music. It was Mike’s turn to end the night talking to his mom on SKYPE in the bathroom while everyone else slept.