Easter in Berlin

Guten Tag!  We spent a very chilly Easter in Berlin.  Jase had been there several times for trade shows with work, but I had never been there before.  We were tossing up on whether to go to Vienna or Berlin for Easter, but given the weather forecast was pretty grim everywhere, there was no 'warmer option', so we opted for Berlin.  We had a great time, and it is a really interesting city to visit.  We stayed right in the centre of Berlin, so everything was pretty much in walking distance.  On the first day we were there it snowed!  Man it was cold!  In fact, I don't know if I have ever been colder - you will see from the photos that I was dressed as if I was heading to the ski slopes!  It was freezing!  Jase was in Berlin in February, and said it was -10 to -15, so this weekend was actually quite an improvement at 3 degrees!  It was the wind that was the killer!

Some of the photos above show parts of the Berlin wall that have been preserved.  One section of this had a huge memorial timeline of all the historical facts regarding Hitler, the war, the Olympics in Berlin, the Holocaust, etc etc.  Was really interesting.  The photo of me in front of a whole lot of concrete blocks is the Jewish Memorial.  There is also a photo of 'Trabi-world'.  Trabants are plastic cars that East Germans had to pay for in advance, and wait in some cases up to 10 years to get!  Then the wall came down, and they could buy what ever they wanted - and some had only just received their Trabants - gutted!  Jase said they are 600cc's - man that is worse than my justy!! 

We also went to the Berlin Zoo.  Neither of us had been to a zoo for years, and since it is the oldest zoo in the world (created in 1844), we thought we should go and pay a visit.  Saw the lions and tigers being fed which was pretty cool, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for them all caged up.  I also enjoyed the monkeys - especially the chimps!

Our hotel had a buffet breakfast - yum yum yum is all I can say to that!  The Germans sure know how to put on a huge spread, and they do the best bacon in the world if you ask me.  It was so delicious that I arrived back to the table (much to Jason's amusement) with an entire dinner plate full of bacon!  Not exactly healthy, but I didn't know when I would get to eat bacon this delicious again!  In hindsight, it was a bit much - so the next morning I was a bit more conservative, only half fulling the dinner plate...

We drove back to Prague on Monday afternoon, and then Jase and I went for a mtb in Divoka Sarka park.  I showed Jase some new tracks and took him down to the monument that overlooks the city - great views... I will have to remember my camera one day, and take some shots while I am down there.  I am going riding with a group of Cz mtb marathon racers in the park this week, so it will be fun to ride with some locals and learn where all of the tracks are.  My shoulder is improving as I strengthen it, but I will just take things carefully as it still doesn't really like the bumps too much.

Well I hope you all had a great Easter - I hear the weather was fantastic.  I soooooooo hope it warms up here soon - I think I have become a bit soft in the cold!

Jeanette