The weekend

Lucy arrived on Saturday morning, and we started our adventures on Saturday afternoon!  The weather was freezing, about 10 degrees with the wind chill, and when you're walking around outside all day that is truly frigid!!! But we learned our lesson on Saturday, and on Sunday we wore under armour leggings under our jeans!

Our first stop Saturday was the East Side Gallery.  That's a 1.3km section of the east side of the Wall, and in the 1990s the German government had artists from around the world paint murals on it (because the east side of the wall was completely empty, as they weren't allowed to go up to the wall, unlike the West - that's how you can tell what side is which; the west always has graffiti/writing on it and the East is [was] empty).  It was really cool to see all of the famous murals, but I look forward to going back in the spring, because we walked really fast since we were so cold!

I am in Berlin

this is on the bottom of the quebec license plate - it says "I remember" - very fitting

Lucy and I found an Invisible Children sticker - it's one of our favorite organizations, and it's in front of my favorite mural! 

After that frigid walk, we took a short ride around the city to see all of the main sights.

me and the Reichstag

the brandenburger tor in the sunlight, and an obnoxious tourist who, despite my staring at him, insisted on ruining my photo.

After all this cold exploring, we met up with Devon and Elizabeth and all had the most delicious and hygge (if you'll allow me to use some Danish) traditional German dinner! Yes, I have been in Germany for 3 weeks and had not had German food yet.  That's what happens when you're a college student on a budget! Obviously I got my favorite dish - Käsespätzle!!

spätzle is pasta dumplings, and käsespätzle is those with cheese and caramelized onions in it.  the most delicious and unhealthy dish ever.

On Sunday, since there isn't much to do in Berlin, we explored in the cold some more and then went to the Prenzlauer Berg flee market.  Flee markets are huge here, and sell all kinds of things from food to crafts to old crap that you don't need.  Unfortunately this one was mostly old crap that we didn't need.  But it was in Mauerpark, which is a park in the middle of the city that has the Wall running through it.  That park will be really cool to see in the spring (I feel like I'm saying that about everything...)

Frozen, we decided to look for a place to get lunch.  Obviously since we're in Germany, we decided to go to an Indian restaurant!  It was inexpensive and delicious.  Unfortunately since you have to pay for glasses of water, we had to ration our beverages while we ate this spicy food, and it was a true test to my taste buds - holy smokes!!!

After this delicious meal, I met up with Elizabeth and Devon and we went to church, and the service was really great.  We are joining a young adults community group, and this Wednesday night is our first meeting (dinner party)!  I'm so excited!  It'll be awesome to connect with people our age from around the world.  I didn't come to Germany to hang out with Americans all the time!