We had the opportunity to go to Berlin a couple weeks ago. We spent about 3 days in and around the city. We were blessed to meet and to stay with new friends who are missionaries to college and university students in the city. They welcomed us, fed us, and we enjoyed wonderful encouraging conversations getting to know one another and recognizing the work of God in each other's lives.
In case you didn't realize, a Berliner is a jelly-donut but also a way to say you are a citizen of the city of Berlin. So we enjoyed a good little chat about that word while we were there. Nathaniel is always interested in puns and funny words. President Kennedy spoke the famous words "Ich bin ein [I am a] Berliner..." when he visited the city.
While in Berlin, we went for several hours to the Legoland in the newly built Potsdamerplatz. (Nathaniel thought he was in heaven!) We also saw the typical historic tourist sites: remains of the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag building with the grand glass dome, Gendamerplatz, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (this also has a new glass prism-like structure built around the bombed original church), the Brandenburg Gate, and the Rittersport Chocolate factory/museum. Berlin is a well-restored city. What hasn't been restored was torn down and replaced by lots of shiny glass modern architecture. It was uncommonly sunny during the days while we were there. It was hard to imagine that it was ever a cold, grey, communist, war-torn city, as it is so carefully and beautifully built up.
We certainly enjoyed our time in Berlin and the boys have been asking and pretending with various vehicles to drive back to Berlin again!
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