Berlin

one of the many perks of living where we live is that we get to take time to travel to some pretty amazing places. this past weekend was labor day and joel took a little leave, paired with the holiday and we went to berlin for a short 3 day trip.

for the amount of time we were there, we saw a lot, but if we had to do it over, we would have stayed another day or two. it was such an awesome experience.

whoever said, "it's about the journey, not the destination" has never traveled with small people, during a german summer.

what. a. nightmare.

according to google maps, berlin is a short 5 hour car trip from here on the autobahn. now, i don't know what your knowledge is of the autobahn, but it is not a highway of limitless speed. there are sections where you can go as fast as you want. but that means everyone else can too. and when you are driving your volvo at 100 mph, these german made cars will pass you like you are standing still. and then you hit traffic.

our journey was kind of....insane. the girls were actually very good, and we only had one issue with a diaper which was only vaguely reminiscent of the time bella had a blow out. both times, the girls were in disposables..... coincidence?

our journey was full of stuff like this....

people throwing stuff on the road? there is a first time for everything, and this was the first time i have ever seen such an odd message on our gps....

and these were just kind of incredible

windmills were everywhere. they are all over in general, but we passed a stretch where we maybe saw 100 of them in one area. it was kind of amazing and could send me on a tangent, but i won't go there right now...

there are so many pictures and highlights of our trip-berlin has surprisingly been one of my favorites, so far. i say surprisingly because, while i know it is steeped in history, i didn't think it would have such an impact on me.

our hotel on the right, next to a giant climbing gym. 

Berliner Dom

Gates to the city at Pariser platz.

pieces of the wall on display

joel and bella at checkpoint charlie

isn't she cute? just before this picture, she took 7 or 8 steps on her own. of course, i didn't even get a picture of her standing up, but you'll just have to trust me on that.