Berlin

Alrighty, so in real life I am back home and have completed the Master Brewer Program. However, I am going to finish out this blog for two reasons. First, I would like to have a record of my experiences. Second, it all went by so fast that I want to go back and relive every moment! Starting back up with Berlin! Emilia and I spent three days in Berlin, so included below are the highlights in no particular order.

We were walking around the Tiergarten one day and stumbled on a Soviet War Memorial

By chance, we visited right after the annual VE Day when veterans return to this site to lay wreaths in honor of the Soviet soldiers lost during the Battle for Berlin

 The famous Brandenburg gate!

 We spent the better part of one day at the Berlin Natural History Museum

 Great collection of dinosaur skeletons including this Brachiosaurus

 It has the Guinness World Record for tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton!

Amazing T-Rex skeleton named Tristen. It has a very unique dark color.

Very strange hairy rock...

We visited the Berlin Wall Memorial

They keep some portions of the wall as a reminder of the past

It was crazy to think that the wall still separated Berlin less than 25 years ago

While exploring Museum Island we come across the Berliner Dom

We had to check it out and also why not go to the top?

Great views of the city including The Fernsehturm/Berlin TV Tower

Also got to see some of the sculptures and architecture up close

How could we go to Berlin and not try a Berliner Weisse with authentic Woodruff syrup?

We also decided to check out Stone Brewing Berlin. It is very controversial in Germany and it will be interesting to see how it is received once they open. One of the managers was happy to give us a tour although they were still completing construction. They just fired up the big system on the day we visited, but the pilot system had been used for flavor matching their recipes for a while.

We got to meet the Brewmaster, Thomas. He went to VLB and actually did his apprenticeship at Pott's Brewery, which if you recall was one of our stops on the study tour. It was interesting talking to a German Brewmaster at an American style brewery.

This is the Reichstag, which is the main government building and houses the parliament

We took a audio tour that guides you up the spiraling walkway and points out landmarks

All the way to the top!

Obligatory stop at checkpoint charlie

Had to try the original Budweizer

The Topography of Terrors is a history museum that focuses on Nazi era history and oppression. The museum resides on the site of the Nazi Gestapo and SS buildings.

This was an emotionally draining afternoon. Reading the stories and seeing the pictures really hits hard. It is important to acknowledge what happened and how it happened, especially in current times.

Beautiful sunset to bring our time in Berlin to a close. Next up is Amsterdam!