Ich bin ein Berliner.

Last month (I know...I am SO behind with this post!). But regardless, last month my brother, Daniel, flew all the way to Germany from Delaware. He turned 30 this year and thanks to J's ridiculous miles balance, we gifted him a flight to visit. Dan has traveled a bit throughout the US, but has never been to Europe and I was really SO excited to share a bit of our Euro Life with him. We whisked him off to Berlin mere hours after he arrived and we spent the weekend sightseeing. This was our first trip to Berlin and we SO did not have enough time there.

But we made stops at a few of the historical sights and delighted Daniel with some traditional German fare! We actually did one of those super-touristy-tour-buses this time around. We knew we didn't have much time and the hop-on-hop-off buses are actually a great way to get lots of information about the city AND act as your personal chauffeur service. We didn't want to tote our massive car seat around so taxis weren't an option, but the bus tour was the perfect alternative to get us to and from the main attractions.

Of course we stopped at the Berlin Wall. Parts remain standing and have been turned into a monument. It was interesting, but also humbling to realize that just a few inches of cement separated such different ways of life. And I can only imagine what fear, dread and heartache just seeing that wall caused to so many. We also stopped to see the famous US Allied Checkpoint Charlie.

ALSO: Anytime you're in a city that offers a boat tour, if the weather's good, you should do it! We got to see Berlin from a totally different perspective and it really is a city with SO much to see.

After Berlin, Daniel just kind of hung with me and Asher. I took him to some of our favorite towns and, of course, to our favorite restaurants. PLUS, Dan is a baker so we did some local bakery hopping and did some cookie-making of our own at home.