On Sunday, Heather had to go back to school but kindly arranged for a driver for us for the day because this was PYRAMID DAY! We were up and out the door before 8:00, meeting our driver in time for more traffic. Just over an hour later, we pulled in to Dahshur, a quiet park about 25 miles south of Cairo. And it was here that we laid our eyes on our first pyramid.

The Red Pyramid is believed to be the world’s first “true” pyramid and one of the oldest pyramids still standing. Not a bad place to start! Our driver stopped and told us to run around and come back in about 20 minutes. We weren’t really sure what “running around” meant, but there was a set of steps leading up into the pyramid so we started there.

So, let me set the stage: It’s hot. The sun is beating down. And we’re climbing up 200+ steps in the middle of the Egyptian desert. When we got to the top, I was only expecting a good view. Silly me! Instead, at the top was a passageway, less than 4 feet tall, and at a steep incline. Apparently, they wanted us to stoop over at an awkward and uncomfortable level, and descend into this pyramid. Ok, sure. So of course we jumped in without a second thought!

This should give you some idea as to the size of the passageway:

Once inside, we could traverse between chambers. It was really cool - we were in the CENTER of a pyramid!

Not wanting to test our driver on the 20 minute time limit he’d given us, we worked our way back up the ramp/stairs to the door. WHAT A WORKOUT. If I did that every day, I’d be in some seriously good shape. (Our quad muscles in our legs hurt for FIVE DAYS afterward if that gives you any indication of the workout.)

After that, we drove a short distance to the nearby Bent Pyramid, which was kind of like a big old ancient “whoopsie-daisy” at the time it was built. It was meant to be a true pyramid, but then the builders realized the math wasn’t working out right and they had to make some adjustments to make sure it would hold the weight.

We wandered around a bit and posed for some pictures.

What we didn’t realize at the time was that each of these nice, friendly “guards” also seemed to make quite a bit of money in tips. Sure, they’ll take your picture, or let you pose with the camel, or tell you the complete history of the pyramid. But can’t you help out, just a little? We soon ran out of change and we had to adjust our sightseeing strategy to avoid these “helpers.”

We left Dahshur and headed towards Saqqara. It was after 10 a.m. now, and things were starting to get crowded. We entered another pyramid (another hike down steps, but a much shorter and easier one than the Red Pyramid). No pictures were allowed inside, but I snuck this while the “helper” wasn’t looking. Then we ran out before he asked for money.

It was called the Lost Texts or something similar. I was definitely lost trying to comprehend it.

In this same area was the Step Pyramid, which was under a bit of restoration work, so we couldn’t get close.

but we did take a self-portrait:

We wandered around this area for awhile, but it was much more crowded, had more “helpers” wanting money, and it was also getting really hot so we probably didn’t fully appreciate everything.

Back on the road again, this time to the famous pyramids of Giza (which our driver pronounced as “Jeez-a”). The drive between the sites was pretty scenic, as well. Ok readers, let’s play a game. Close your eyes (kind of hard to close your eyes and continue reading, but try your best) and picture the pyramids, how you think they must be. Desert, camels, sand, heat, all of that right? Green is NOT one of those things in the picture. However, we saw quite a bit of green land as we drove around from place to place.

It was really pretty, in a dingy, dusty sort of way.

Finally, the moment we’d been waiting for - our arrival at The Great Pyramid.

And indeed, it was!

Tours of the inside of the pyramid are limited to 100 in the morning and 100 in the afternoon, first come, first served, and since we were there at 11:30 we kind of missed out on both. But I think after seeing the Red Pyramid, we had gotten a good taste of interiors, and descending down another set of steep, stooped steps was not something I had in my mental agenda anyway.

We wandered around the pyramid for awhile, and I was amazed by the number of people climbing on the outside in spite of the “Do not climb” signs.

There were camels and horses everywhere - available to take you around (for a fee, of course) and you had to be quite careful to watch your step.

Our driver took us to a good vantage point for a scenic view of all three pyramids.

Next up was a visit to the famous Sphnix.

It was pretty cool to see this famous landmark!

By the time we were done, it was after 1:30 and we were, in order: hungry, hot, sweaty, tired, and thirsty. One of Heather’s friends said we had to go to top floor of Pizza Hut for the best Sphinx view, and we took her advice. This was taken looking out the window from our lunch table - probably the best Pizza Hut location in the world! (I like how Travis framed it, too, to make it look like the pyramid is sponsored by Pizza Hut. :))

The pizza was tasty and we rode back to Heather’s (in more traffic, of course) getting home around 4. We freshened up and then had a nice Valentine’s Day dinner (just Travis and his two wives!) at an Egyptian restaurant. It was a wonderful day!

Saturday, our first destination was breakfast at nearby City Stars, a gigantic mall that, after some research, I’ve since discovered is about six times larger than Cherry Creek Mall in Denver and almost twice as large as the great Mall of America in Minnesota. The place is MASSIVE.

City Stars is pretty close to Heather’s house, and has a Fuddruckers. Amazing! Not only are there no Fuddruckers in Germany, there aren’t even very many in Colorado. It was delicious.

Next, Heather wanted us to experience some public transportation. Seeing as we’re kind of an expert at public transportation in Europe, we thought this would be easy. The ticket was 1 Egyptian pound, or about 20 cents. As we waited for the train to pull up, Heather explained that she would ride on the women’s car and we were instructed to take the men’s, because as Travis’ wife, I was expected to ride with him - but since Heather is single (and NOT his wife, contrary to their speculations), she rode with the ladies. She told us the stop we’d need to get off at and we went our separate ways.

I can’t overstate how awkward and uncomfortable the next 30 minutes was. We were packed in the train car getting stared at, looked up and down - one lady even shook her fist and yelled something at us after she got off the train. If we had felt somewhat out of place at the market the day before, that was NOTHING. I was more than relieved when the train finally got to our stop.

I should backtrack a bit and mention that although it was about 80 degrees there (and gets MUCH hotter), no one wears shorts. Showing the knee is a bad, bad thing. I was prepared for this and wore jeans the entire time, but wasn’t aware that also showing elbows is apparently a bad thing (but not bad, bad). Everyone had on jackets and heavy coats in spite of the heat. Also the fact that I wasn’t wearing a head covering made me stand out as “Western” and therefore, the enemy. Travis also stands out in a crowd - literally, at 6′5″ - and being blond ensures he doesn’t exactly blend in with the locals.

We got to our stop, elated to be off of that horrible, hot, sweaty, cramped experience with all of the eyes on us and met back up with Heather. We were at Coptic Cairo - the Christian area. Hooray!

Heather told a story about when she first got here last September and it happened to be Ramadan. During that time, the Muslims fast during daylight hours, and even non-Muslims are expected not to eat or drink in public. Add to the fact that it was 110 degrees, and Heather said she and her friends got to Coptic Cairo and just chugged an entire bottle of water because it was a “safe” place to drink.

Our first stop was The Hanging Church, and this is what Wikipedia says about it: The Hanging (The Suspended) Church is named for its location above a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, the Roman fortress in Coptic Cairo (Old Cairo); its nave is suspended over a passage.

It was gorgeous, and Travis took this picture of Heather and I inside.

We wandered the beautiful cobblestone streets and alleyways and went into a number of churches, and even one synagogue.

It was a warm day, and we decided to stop for a coffee/water break at a local tea house before continuing. Travis had insisted that we would not be riding the train again - taxis from here on for us - but Heather promised it would be a better ride since we were only going three stops. We trusted her, but this time I let Travis take the men’s car alone and I rode the women’s with Heather. It was much more peaceful - I even secretly took this picture to document it.

Travis said his ride was better, too, thankfully.

Our next stop was Maadi, the area of Cairo that Heather will be moving to in June. Her friends apparently call it Honky Town, after all of the expats that live there, but to us it didn’t seem to have THAT many whites.

We stopped at an alabaster store for some souvenirs, picking up a few small gifts and trinkets for ourselves. Heather had a meeting that evening at 5:00 and we realized she’d forgotten something back at the house, so we hailed a cab (no, no, and NO to the train idea) to run back to her house, get it, and return. And what an ordeal that was! With the traffic - which is everywhere, all day, all the time - I think the entire round trip took us about 2.5 hours. Travis caught this video from his front seat perch, which I think is awesome but it’s hard to see things like the two lane road being turned into four, the cars swerving in and out and honking, and all of the other chaos.

Driving in Cairo, Egypt from Iamyourleader on Vimeo.

On the other hand, I tried to shoot my own video from the back seat, and because I am a white woman, I was trying to be a little incognito about the whole thing. Mine is much shorter, but take note of the horns.

Untitled from Iamyourleader on Vimeo.

THE HORNS! The entire weekend in Cairo, what I will remember most is the horns. There was never a full minute that was horn-free. It absolutely drove me batty.

We made it back to Maadi in time for Heather to shove us off on a Felucca boat and make it to her meeting.

For about an hour, we sat on the Nile in a boat and enjoyed the scenery and sunset (and honking, from a distance though, so that was better).

While we were perched out there, we noticed a TGI Fridays in the distance, and decided that’s where we’d head for dinner. Another thing we don’t have in Germany.

It was probably one of the best meals of our trip!

Heather met up with us, and since it was a Saturday it meant it was a school night for her - she teaches Sunday-Thursday, with Friday and Saturday being the weekend (Friday the holy day). We took another cab home (more traffic, but not AS bad), and Travis and I got some sleep so we’d be ready for our big day at the pyramids on Sunday.

Our next stop was a visit to the Egyptian Museum. This place is absolutely unimaginably huge. No cameras were allowed inside, so we don’t have any pictures of the experience, but I did read this article yesterday on King Tut, which I thought was pretty cool since we had just been in his “tomb” (or tomb room) and seen that very same mask pictured.

We spent hours wandering the museum until we were all pooped and in need of a break. Since we were doing an early dinner, we skipped lunch but felt a snack was in order. Heather took us to a nearby watering hole where we grabbed a not-so-healthy bite to eat:

We weren’t the only ones resting up there, either.

Heather then took us to the Marriott Hotel, which had formerly been a palace. We wandered around, imagining the life of royalty, and Travis and I even took a spin in the ballroom.

The view of the hotel grounds was pretty spectacular.

Then it was off to birthday dinner with two of Heather’s friends. We went to a restaurant called Sequoia, which sits on the banks of the mighty Nile River. We watched an amazing sunset and had a yummy dinner.

What an unforgettable birthday!

Our flight was a bit delayed on Thursday; we weren’t allowed to board until an hour after we were already supposed to be gone, and then we sat on the plane for another hour while we waited to takeoff. Heather, waiting for us on the other end, knew we were delayed so it wasn’t a big deal, and she was waiting patiently for us at the airport when we eventually arrived.

Having just been in Turkey two weeks ago, I thought I knew what to expect from this predominantly Muslim country. But this glimpse of the flight information on the plane should have prepared me that it is a lot less “Western” than Turkey.

When we arrived, we stopped at Heather’s to drop our stuff off and then walked to the British Club, where we planned to eat. Notice I said “walk” - just another, ordinary, every day activity, right? Not in Cairo. There are no stoplights in the city - I mean NONE - so finding a good corner to cross at is important. Then, you just have to take the first step. If you run, it shows weakness. Hold a hand out (kind of like you’re a superhero with the power to stop speeding vehicles with the palm of your hand), walk briskly, and cross. And hope their brakes work.

The second challenge of walking in Cairo is the fact that there are no sidewalks. Okay, there are SOME sidewalks, but they’re either covered in trash or blocked by parked cars that it’s actually a lot easier to walk on the street. As much as my instinct told me to walk on the sidewalk and away from the crazy drivers, I’d get to the sidewalk only to see it impassable.

The final “interesting” thing I noted about the drivers was that it was now almost 10:00 at night and less than half the cars had their headlights on. I asked Heather about this, and she said they think it is rude to drive with lights on.

Okay, so now we have: no crosswalks, no stoplights, no sidewalks, crazy drivers, and no headlights. Not a good combination for pedestrians.

(This should give you an indication of how the rest of the weekend went. I am surprised that anyone actually LIVES in that city. And by “lives” I mean not just breathing, I mean surviving.)

We got to the British Club, and thanks to the delayed plane the kitchen was no longer open. We met a few of Heather’s friends and played a few rounds of pool before going to Hardee’s for a late dinner.

Hardee’s. We don’t even have those in Germany!

The next morning, we took a cab (which may be scarier than walking, if that’s possible) to the Khan, or market. Heather snapped this picture of the inside of the cab - you can see that Travis and the driver almost didn’t fit together in the front seat.

But, no matter how chivalrous Travis wanted to be by offering Heather the front seat, that is not done in Egypt. Heather said that a woman sitting in front is an offer for sex. Needless to say, Travis rode shotgun all weekend.

The Khan was a really cool experience, and we took a short walk up to the ancient wall of the city.

Because it was a Friday, the Islamic holy day, we were there when a lot of people were getting ready to attend service.

We walked through the market, doing some casual shopping. Things are really cheap there, and we were disappointed about not buying anything in Turkey, so we kept our eyes peeled for a good deal. However, the only good deal we had was when someone offered Travis two camels for one of his wives (me or Heather). Everywhere we went, he was called “Cassanova” and people asked him, “How can you afford two wives?” The thing is, they were serious.

By the time we were done window shopping, service was going strong.

We decided to have a break for tea, and Heather took us down a quiet little street filled with shisha (flavored tobacco) smokers.

The sun was out and we relaxed with our hot, minty tea.

And I tried - without much luck - not to burn my fingers on the delicate little glass.

Our first taste of Cairo.

When we originally booked our flight, I selected a 7:00 p.m. return to give us two full days in Istanbul. But the airline canceled that late flight and automatically put us on an 8:00 a.m. return. That gave us only a day in Istanbul. I wasn’t happy! I called them and we were able to get it switched to a 3:00 in the afternoon, which at least gave us a little more time. But our day was still cut a little shorter than we intended.

Our first stop was to return to Hagia Sophia for a tour. I can’t say enough about how awesome this place is. It was built in the year 532 as a Christian church, and then about 1,000 years later it was converted into a mosque. About 500 years after that, it was converted into a museum which is how it is today.

Did that sink in sufficiently? This building is over 1500 years old. It’s mind-boggling!

When the church was converted to a mosque, the Islamics did their darnedest to cover up anything “Christian” inside. But now they’ve been able to recover a lot of things, and the work is amazing. The mosaics on the upper level of the church are some of the most beautiful works I’ve ever seen. It’s impossible to describe how each tiny piece glints and glimmers like gold, so keep that in mind when viewing these pictures.

The level of detail was just awesome, all the way down to the folds in the robes.

Although there was a good deal of construction going on (see above re: 1500(!) years old), it still was a magnificent place.

And it was unique seeing both the Islamic writing and the Christian symbols in the same place.

There was a story about a farmer who was working in his fields and he he found three large marble urns, all carved from a single block of marble. When he tried to move them, they were impossibly heavy. They were all filled with gold coins. He covered them and hurried to the Sultan to reveal his discovery. The Sultan said, basically, “Thanks buddy, and as a reward, you may keep one of the urns.” The farmer refused, saying he would only keep it if it was empty of gold, because he believed that was the intention of God’s gift.

There is also a portion of the church called the Weeping Pillar, said to have cured Constantin’s headache when he leaned against the pillar once. There, people now line up to try to stick their thumb in a hole and rotate in a complete circle. Supposedly your wish will come true if you’re able to complete the circle. I was so busy concentrating on completing the circle that I forgot to wish!

I had planned on wishing for my feet to stop aching (a byproduct of all the walking), but after I’d made a circle and practically dislocated my arm, I no longer had pain in my feet… just my shoulder So maybe it works!

Our final stop was another guidebook recommendation, a mosque that promised a superb view of the city. We meandered our way in that direction, and then when we arrived, circled the outside of the mosque trying to find the entrance. Unfortunately, we found out after walking around for miles, the mosque was under renovations and temporarily closed to the public. All that walking for nothing! We weren’t even able to get access to the courtyard for the promised view. This was as close as we got.

We returned to the area of our hotel and ate a light (and not so great, but it sure was expensive!) lunch before taking a car back to the airport. We had a wonderful time in Istanbul, and it’s high on my favorite cities.

Here are my pictures as well as Travis’s.

After lunch, we walked around the Bazaar some more thanks to a placemat map from the restaurant we lunched at. We (somewhat) easily found the restaurant we’d originally intended to eat at, and it looked nicer than what we’d had, but that’s how it goes.

The waiter at the cafe we ate at had given us easy directions to the Spice Bazaar, basically, go out “that” door, and follow the streets. Well of course nothing is ever that easy, and after we’d wandered around indoors, we could no longer find “that” door and just wandered out the first one we saw. Using Travis’ sense of direction, we tooled along for a little while not really sure where we were going, but enjoying the scenery nonetheless.

Something didn’t feel right to me, and I got out the map on my phone which told me we were heading nowhere near the right direction. Knowing we’d never find the Spice Bazaar now, we decided on Plan B which was a cruise of the Bosphorus River which separates Asia from Europe. Travis was still convinced the river was the other way, even after I showed him on a map, and luckily he started listening to me and we made it.

I should note that usually we are quite the opposite with him knowing the right way and me questioning it, so I kind of liked this change

The cruise was really awesome and we got to see a lot of the city spread out around us.

We even pulled up to the Asia side. I wanted to get out and wander around, but the boat was out before we even realized what was going on. So, I still haven’t set foot on that continent. Yet.

After traversing under the sixth-longest suspension bridge in the world, we continued on for over an hour and a half, seeing lots of great scenery on the way.

There was even some nice real estate on the river front.

After the cruise we were starting to feel a little tuckered, so I suggested a quick pit stop at the hotel for rest/shower/nap/reading and Travis - to my surprise - agreed. But we didn’t want to retire before trying these nut-like things that we saw street vendors toasting everywhere.

I didn’t think I would like them, but they were really good, and kind of tasted like a potato. On the plane home they passed out hazelnuts, and the packaging had a photo of a smaller version of the same thing, so we think that’s what they must have been.

And then back to the hotel we went. We were both pretty exhausted from the four hours of sleep and enjoyed a solid 20 minutes of sleep before afternoon prayer time started again. Another prayer wake-up call! This proved a good kick in the fanny to get back out on sightseeing duty. I’d now located where the Spice Bazaar was - ON A MAP - so I knew we could get there. And it happened to be right next to the New Mosque, or Yeni Cani, which isn’t really all that new as it was built in the 1500s.

We didn’t go in this mosque because we thought it might be too close to a service, so we just wandered around and took pictures.

The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning rose colored.

Right next door was the Spice Bazaar. It was SO packed with people, I think it made both of us a little uncomfortable. I snapped this shot to prove we’d been there and we scooted down two aisles and out the side door.

Our plan was to walk back across the Bosphorus to Beyoğlu, or “New” Istanbul, even though it is hundreds of years old. Go figure On the way, we happened to catch a spectacular sunset.

Once across, we rode the funicular (one of the oldest public transportation lines in the world) to the top of the hill.

It put us out into a really ritzy area with tons of people and shops for what must have been two miles or more. My guidebook recommended a boisterous restaurant where we’d get our fill of Turkish pop-music (gypsy-style) and sing-along crowds. We decided to check it out.

Apparently 6 is a bit early for dinner in Istanbul, as we were quite lonely.

The food was great, and came served in multiple courses. We had hummus and some kind of big giant white bean for appetizers, lots of warm pita bread, a Turkish stew and chicken dish for the main course, and a big plate of fresh fruit for dessert. It was all absolutely FANTASTIC and some of the best food I’ve ever had! We even stretched dinner out until 8, forcing down a complimentary Turkish coffee (I’ve had better sand).

After dinner, we walked along the crowded streets of “New” Istanbul and took another funicular back down to the river.

Our plan was then to go back to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia for some night time pics. This picture was taken from the exact same place as this one.

After a few more pictures, it was back to the hotel. We were in bed before 10:00, completely exhausted.

Note: I’m breaking Istanbul up into multiple parts because there was a LOT that we saw, and if I tried to sit down and write an entire day at a time I could be here for hours.

We started Saturday morning a little earlier than I expected. The alarm was set to go off at 7:30, but at 5:20 (Frankfurt time, which was an hour earlier) and after only four short hours of sleep, we were awoken by the Islamic call to prayer. I knew they prayed five times a day, but didn’t think about it being so early - or so loud. It was kind of spooky, because it was piped over speakers throughout the city, and I laid in bed listening to it. I guess it is kind of a nice reminder to think of God and the fact that everyone in the city is thinking of Him at the same time is kind of neat. But, I’m a crabby pants in the morning, especially at that time, and I had a little bit of trouble falling back asleep after it was over.

When we got up at 7:30 and I realized it was really 8:30 Istanbul time (and that the prayer had been at 6:20, not 5:20) things made a little more sense. We hurried down for breakfast at the hotel. They had a giant spread of bizarre things, like big bowls of unidentified glop, but for the most part we were able to get some good stuff in our bellies from the extra-large spread.

As Travis popped back upstairs for the umbrella, I made a new friend in the hotel lobby. (I’m pretty sure he was flirting with me, always saying “Hello” and whistling.)

We’d read in our guide book that it was best to visit the mosques in the morning to avoid prayer time crowds, so we made the famous Blue Mosque our first stop. Our hotel was just a block or so from the tram line

Before entering a mosque, it’s required to remove your shoes. We did this and padded in. I sure wished I’d worn my thick woolen socks - even with the Turkish carpet, the floor was cold! The Blue Mosque is named such after the more than 20,000 blue tiles that decorate the interior. Most of them were too high for us to photograph well.

There was an area called the Women’s Section that I was able to sneak into (as a woman - though I don’t really know that it was sneaking). There I was able to get this picture of the tiles a little closer.

The mosque was really beautiful but different from anything I’d ever been in, and very different from Christian churches. Note the lack of pews, just a few benches off to the side. I guess that’s not needed when everyone kneels! (And I guess that’s also why the shoes must come off, so you’re not kneeling in dirt.)

As I stood there with my own cold feet, I thought about how funny it was that we were all crammed in there with cold tootsies.

After the mosque, we slipped back in to our shoes and went across the courtyard to the Hagia Sophia. We decided to come back for a tour later, and just took pictures outside.

Our guide book suggested a stop at the Basilica Cistern next. It’s basically a giant underground water tank from the 6th century that’s been reopened for tourists. It was one of the coolest things ever! We had no idea what to expect and almost didn’t pay the $4 entry, but I’m so glad we did.

They also had big giant Medusa heads (one upside down and one sideways) and apparently no one really fully understands why they’re there.

After the wonderful walk through the Cistern, we wandered off in the direction of the Grand Bazaar. We may or may not have gotten a little confused wandering around. We thought it would be easy, seeing that the Bazaar is one of the largest indoor markets in the world. How could we miss it, right? Finally we found it!

Unfortunately we weren’t in the mood for rugs or tea or fancy lights, so we didn’t do any shopping, but we wandered around a bit.

It was really cool. There was a restaurant mentioned in the guide book, but with 58 streets and about 6 street signs, we were mostly wandering around with our heads on swivels, ignoring the calls of “Hey lady, do you want to spend your money here?” (Someone actually said that to me!) We didn’t find the restaurant that we were looking for but we did find a restaurant, so we sat down and had some ok, but not amazing, Turkish food.

We are back from Turkey, and I will start the update with the easiest day first, Friday! Our flight was delayed but only an hour and a half or so, and we hung out in the airport lounge and ate a good (free) dinner there. Then we also got food on the plane, but that food was almost barely not edible so we were thankful to have already eaten.

After stopping and picking up our visa (good for 90 days for $20), we went through passport control. With no luggage to pick up, we shot through quickly. The hotel we booked (a really great hotel in Istanbul for anyone needing one, the Sapphire, which had free breakfast, an awesome Turkish bath, and a perfect location) also arranged for a car service, free of charge, to pick us up at the airport, and in the throngs of waiting people outside, the guy holding the “Erin Hess” sign was front and center. I felt bad because it was midnight their time and the poor guy had been waiting for us for a long time, but I guess that is part of the job.

He took us to the hotel and on the way drove us by two of the city’s most famous night-time sights, Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. They were gorgeous at night, all flood-lit and beautiful.

When we got to the hotel, the front desk staff was AWESOME and spent about 15 minutes talking to us about what we should do. The only problem is that it was so late, and I was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was sleep! So we soaked in some of what they said and went to bed, planning on hitting the pavement early Saturday.

On Sunday snow was forecast, so we decided we’d do indoor things. We wanted to see Checkpoint Charlie and the Jewish Museum, figuring the time was best spent in a warm museum instead of outside on the cold street.

Checkpoint Charlie had a really cool museum that had great exhibits from the East. We saw how all kinds of escape methods, like modified cars, a personal submarine rocket, and hot air balloons were used over the years to escape to the west. One lady even stuck herself into two suitcases, joined together, and was carried out - all 154 pounds of her!

We killed a couple of hours in the museum, a bit longer than we intended to, and discovered we didn’t have as much time as we wanted for the Jewish Museum. So instead we walked a little distance to where the only real portion of the wall still stands.

It is surrounded by fencing so that no one can go up and take out chunks for their collection at home, but I took this picture of our hosts to give a perspective as to how tall the wall is.

I’d heard somewhere that Berlin was known for Mexican restaurants, and by this time we were getting a little hungry, so I looked on my phone and there was one less than a mile away. We started off walking that direction - so much for the idea of being inside on this cold, snowy day - and when we got there we discovered my source must have been out of date, because there was no restaurant nearby.

Not to be deterred, I looked up a second one and I made sure it had good reviews before heading that direction. Two subway lines later, we walked up to this:

Yeah, that sign that says “Open?” Not so much.

By this time it was almost 2:00 and our train left around 4:00, so we decided to go back to a Mexican place near Shaun and Mindi’s house. It turned out to be very delicious and we had no complaints. Then we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station.

Shaun had been telling us all weekend about this big bear exhibit at the train station and kept saying we had to get there early so we could see it. The bear is the symbol of Berlin and is everywhere in the town crest. Every country of the world had a bear painted and on display in one large room. It was kind of creepy and yet kind of cool at the same time. Here’s Travis’ picture of the Bolivia bear.

We got on our train with minor problems, that being that the train was a “replacement” and not the train we had expected, which meant it was completely oversold and there were people laying in the aisles and sitting in the bathrooms. Every space inch of space was jam-packed. We weren’t even able to get up to our first class seats! But we did find seats, so it worked out ok, and afterward we complained at the ticket counter and they say they’re going to refund our money for that portion. Since we got such a good deal on first class (it was actually CHEAPER than second class) I’m not sure what will happen, but Travis thinks they’ll charge us The situation turned out ok - it could have been much worse!

We had a great weekend in Berlin and I’m glad we finally got to see the city before we leave.

Ok, enough excuses, here it is!

We left Friday night on the 6 p.m. “Sprinter” train and enjoyed first class, which meant some kind of cold pasta dish with a weird piece of meat and a cup of pudding.

When we got to Berlin, Shaun was waiting for us and we hopped on the train to his place where we met up with Mindi. Berlin is so huge that it took us an hour to get from the train station to their house. We were all pretty exhausted from the week and hit the hay early.

In the morning, we got on the city bus which took us all around the “sights” of Berlin. A lot of people call it the tourist bus, so I guess that was perfect for us.

The first thing we saw was the bombed church from WWII. It was left standing as a reminder of the destruction. Both of these pictures are from the dirty bus window, so I apologize for the quality.

We drove on past the Brandenburg Gate and didn’t hop off until somewhere in East Berlin, when the bus stopped and we were told to exit. East Berlin was different from the west in a few ways, but mostly I noticed all of the construction. Twenty years since the fall of the wall and it’s finally being revitalized.

We walked a few blocks and stopped in some shops (Mindi needed gloves, I needed a hat) and eventually worked our way over to Museum Island. We were starting to get a little cold, so it was perfect timing for us to duck into the Dom. It was beautiful!

Once inside, we found some stairs to walk up

and then some more stairs

and before you knew it, we were at the cupola, looking out at the snow-covered city.

We walked around and took it all in, and then visited the crypts in the basement which were cool but very hard to photograph, and then ate a really great pizza lunch.

A friend in Frankfurt had recommended we visit Tacheles, an artist community in East Berlin. What a strange, interesting place that was. Everything was covered in graffiti and at first we wondered what kind of place we were getting ourselves into.

A good question was raised:

And I found some art that I liked.

Mindi and Shaun even purchased some prints to get framed.

After whittling away our afternoon admiring the art and reading everything in the hallways, we stopped for a coffee before leaving.

Now that it was getting dark, we thought it would be a good time to see the Brandenburger Tor, or Brandenberg Gate.

The gate was on the East side of Germany when the wall was up, and is now a symbol of the reunited country.

We walked through the Jewish Memorial across the street, which was really cool. It made you feel lost and overwhelmed when you walked through the display.

All of the stones were of varying heights and it had a really cool effect. It also protected us a little from the cold and wind.

In all this time, I still hadn’t seen any of the wall. I knew that it was for the most part down, but there were a few pieces of it scattered around. But in the ground, somewhere under all that snow, they’d laid two rows of bricks to mark where it had been. We just hadn’t been able to find it yet! As we waited at the bus stop, we looked down and there it was.

We toured a little more of the city, and then went to the “best Turkish in Berlin” (according to our guidebook, anyway) for dinner. And it was delicious! We also saw a little bit of the wall on display.

Back at their house, we had a rockin’ few games of cribbage before bed. We were all pretty pooped from 14+ hours wandering around in the snow and cold.