From Erik

Our time in Berlin was about to come to a close, so we wanted to make sure to have a killer last day! As we hunted through our materials for a “sure thing,” we settled on Zoo Berlin. After all, how could we go wrong with a perennial contender for one of the top zoos in world? Did I mention the panda bears?! We were all ready to compare and contrast with our beloved Henrly Doorly Zoo back home.

I started the day by running down to the U-Bahn to purchase our transportation tickets for the day. Could I have easily done this on the bus that we were going to be taking that morning? Sure, but I thought I had to buy it from the driver (who generally appears grouchy), and later realized there was a kiosk right on the bus. Even at this point in the trip, I’m still learning new things!

We loaded the family up on the bus and after three stops we hopped off for our breakfast, at a family favorite, Dunkin’ Donuts! They had a ton of colorful options that I’ve never seen before, so we got a dozen and set about to sampling them all. What we noticed was that in spite of being an official Dunkin’ Donuts store, the donuts tasted distinctly different. Essentially, the sweetness level was dialed way back, which must account for the German palette (but not the Lilla palette).

After our breakfast we got right back on the bus and headed for Zoo Berlin. Immediately after we got off the bus, we were reminded once again just how amazing this city is. Directly across the street we gazed up on the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was extensively damaged in an air raid in 1943. Instead of rebuilding it to its former glory, they maintained the damaged spire, and the result had its desired impact. It’s one thing to read about the destruction of war, and it’s another thing entirely to see its effects 75 years later.

When we arrived at the zoo we were faced with a big decision – just a zoo admission, or admission to everything! That’s a really dumb question to ask this crew, because of course we want to see it all! Shortly after arriving, Katie discovered that there was lecture at the panda enclosure, so made our way over. Naturally this lecture was in German (which I warned her about), and naturally she was disappointed. We did, however, get to see the panda bears, some of which were really active eating their bamboo and scurrying across the ground. Not a bad start to the day!

Next we headed over to the American Bison enclosure, which is adorned with totem poles and Native American inspired structures. In my experience, Germans love the Wild West and anything to do with “Cowboys and Indians.” This was very evident by this display, and Liz and I were left wondering if this would fly back home. Either way, there was an adorable newborn Bison calf for us to check out!

As we wandered around the Zoo, we came to bridge, and Liz decided to throw Juliette into the water below. Well, not really, but as they were playing around a man stopped Liz and told her, “You’re not allowed to do that.” At first she thought he was serious, but it turns out he was not, and we were about to make our latest friend on this trip. Henrik found out about our trip and started asking the kids some loaded questions about their opinions on the German people.

“Do you think they are very friendly?” he asked, “and how do you find their sense of humor?” After some tempered responses, he shared with us that he LOVES the U.S. He has spent a lot of time in Michigan with his “American Family,” which is a cool story unto itself. Henrik’s grandmother ran a guest house that was occupied by predominantly by American soldiers. Well his grandma struck up a friendship with one of the soldiers, and when he returned to the states they stayed in touch. Incredibly, four generations later, the families are still very close!

Throughout our day we kept running into Henrik, his wife Jenny, and their two children. By the end of it all we were all fast friends, with the kids making the communication thing work, and Henrik offering to ship us anything we desire from the fine city of Berlin. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time we see these guys!

The next highlight, for me, was an elephant doing gymnastics! The elephants had a rather small enclosure, and as such had picked the ground quite clean of any vegetation. Their area was surrounded by a 4’ wide and 6’ deep moat, and on the other side all kinds of delicious grasses grew unencumbered. One of the elephants, in an effort to have a little snack, walked right up the edge of the moat, as if she were on a balance beam. She adeptly place her two front legs and one hind leg right next to one another, extended her trunk to the front, and counterbalanced with her remaining hind leg extended to the rear. In what can only be described as a beautiful display of grace and balance, the elephant got her prize of some fresh greens!

At the end of the day, in order to “see it all” we had to make it through the aquarium, which we did in a jiffy. Fish are fine to look at, but as a group we were all prepared to move and on and do something else. That something else was to travel halfway across the city in search of a hat that Charlie lost! Liz had bought Charlie an Ampelman hat while I was away in Boston, and then we added more value to the hat by placing a few pins on it. At some point in our journey he took it off and left it somewhere, and using her detective skills (viewing old photos) Liz was able to discern that he had the hat at the DDR Museum, so we would head back there to see if we could find it!

Long story short, they did not have the hat, and it is out in the universe somewhere, hopefully bringing joy to someone. A someone who firmly believes in the mantra “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” From the DDR Museum, we strolled through the Alexanderplatz and eventually found something to eat for dinner (Italian, again). We enjoyed watching yet another World Cup Game, and afterwards we headed back to our apartment one last time to neatly pack up all of our things so could leave Germany, and head to the Czech Republic’s capital city, Prague!