Wir Sind Drei Berilnern!

Saturday we decided to travel a little north to Berlin for a chance to visit one of Janae’s former mission companions, Sophie Kühmstedt (Reiner), and see everything that we could fit into one day. With Sophie as our able guide, we fit a lot into one giant day. Ainslie was good. The weather was good. It was a great day on all accounts. We especially enjoyed spending the day with Sophie and the chance to meet her husband Thando. They were very kind to spend so much time with us, and Sophie insisted on sharing the chocolates we bought for her to say thank you.

After a delicious breakfast, Sophie showed us where we would be heading. Here’s a few glimpses of the things that we saw:

The Berliner Dom was beautiful inside and out. We had to pay a bit to get a look at the interior, and we were surprised to see a wedding ceremony being performed when we walked in. (Last week we weren’t able to get into the Frauenkirche because there were weddings all day. ‘Tis the season . . .) The were more than enough seats for all of the wedding guests to sit up front while all of the tourists watched from the back, and we all got to enjoy the organ music at the end of the ceremony. (The couple even looked like Nelson and Meri James, some friends from home).

We originally thought from the extravagant décor that this was probably a Catholic church, but the statues of Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin “reformed” this mistake.
We were impressed with the facilities for the Humboldt University Law School. Looks a little nicer than the windowless building were Josh spends all of his Saturdays (maybe they should get some statues on the roof at BYU).
We had heard that Berlin is a very modern city, and it definitely is. But, we were impressed with the number of old churches and other buildings that have been preserved/restored.
On our way to Checkpoint Charlie, Sophie took us to a fantastic chocolate store that had chocolate replicas of many of the famous buildings in Berlin.

(above) Reichstag – the government seat

(left) Memorial Church – left unrestored as a memorial after the bombings

(above) Brandenburg Gate – an icon of the Berlin wall

At Checkpoint Charlie Janae and Sophie entered the American Sector (for a bottled water), and we read a bit about the history of the wall.

At the Reichstag, Ainslie worked her charm and got us all to the front of the line to climb the ramp in the glass dome on the top of the building.

The dome was great, but from the looks of it, Ainslie was probably the biggest fan of being on top. We were all big fans of hers for getting us to the front of the line.

Although the glass dome doesn’t really match up with the rest of the architecture, the glass ceiling and mirrored column symbolize the way that government should be visible to the people. Nothing should be hidden. We couldn’t see any government functions happening below, but we were able to keep an eye on the snack counter without any problems.
Sophie took us to the KaDeWe, the best mall in Berlin. Of course, Janae wanted to visit the top floor for the views . . . and the specialty foods. The cheese sector was especially tantalizing.
Later in the day Thando joined us for a walk around some of the famous courtyards in Berlin. Nowadays, they are popular hangout spots with restaurants, shops, and beautiful apartments.
With all of the great things we saw in Berlin, it was easy to forget that the city was once divided. Now, there are only a few remnants of the wall around, but we did get to see this old tower and a section of the wall.

All of the sightseeing, history, and time with friends made for a long day, and at the end everyone was pretty worn out. But, we had a great time. Thanks again to Sophie and Thando. Maybe if they're ever out in Utah we can return the favor some time . . .