Joe's visit: Berlin

One of the perks of having visitors is that it gives us license to be tourists again. And that's what we've been doing for the last few weeks, while Eric's brother Joe was over. And no, it wasn't all about beer, though Joe did get to sample some of Germany's finest. We actually did see a lot and even have the photos to prove it. In fact it was a great excuse for us to visit all the places we have been putting off seeing. I guess once you live somewhere long enough you just start taking it for granted.
One of the things that I was glad to finally visit was the impressive Jewish museum. They had a number of interactive rooms which gave a sense of horror of the Hollocaust. Above is what they named the 'Hollocaust Tower', which was probably the scariest place I've ever been in, a cold dark room lit by only one window with the sounds of the street outside echoing inside. Very creepy.

This was another exhibit that consisted of thousands of metal faces that when you walked on made an awful scraping, clattering noise. I actually couldn't bring myself to walk over the eerie screaming heads. The boys though were made of stronger stuff.

We went to one of the three main opera houses in Berlin - Deutsche Oper - to see Puccini's Turandot, which we all enjoyed. I particularly liked Nessun Dorma (the only song I knew from it) though you can see why Pavorotti was paid the big bucks, particularly like he sang it at the World Cup 1990. Don't you think that Joe looks like he could be the conductor for a promo picture in this shot?

Of course we brought him around to see the usual tourist spots like Checkpoint Charlie...

and the Sony Centre building in Potzdamer Platz...

...as well as the DDR monuments in our area.

He saw a rake of museums including the usual suspects on Museum Island. I think he was averaging three museums a day at one point!

When the sun came out though we made sure to make the most of the rays by heading to Tiergarten.

Where Joe got to see the spot where Obama stole the hearts of the Berliners. Go Barack!

And when the going got tough, which it sometimes did (being a tourist is hard work!) we rested up and Joe, ever diligent, made sure to sample the house brew. All in the name of science and furthering his knowledge of beer of course. A dedicated brewmeister if I ever saw one.

When he left though there was still of huge list of things that Joe just didn't get to do. We hope though it will act as an incentive for him to visit again if we stay on. Always good to have a carrot on a stick.

Next post, pics of our trip to Dresden.