Berlin, again? And some in Hamburg

In planning my parents' visit, we had tried to coordinate a trip to Scandinavia.  However, it was difficult to see most of the sights in either Sweden or Norway (since I had already been to Copenhagen).  At the last minute, we still had no plans and Dad really wanted to see the Berlin wall, so we went to Berlin instead.  This was my parents' first trip (obviously MV's too), and my THIRD. 

Since I did not have much interest in touring around again, I did work in the hotel room for most of the days that we were there.  They stayed in a Hilton right across from the Deutscher Dom, so I had a pretty view from the room even if I didn't go out much.  We did do some walking around and touring at night, and dad and I went to see the (alleged?) site of the Hitler bunker.  There was only a explanatory sign at the site, which said that the Russians destroyed it when they took over by blasting it twice.  Based on descriptions, the city was pretty sure the site was correct.  In much less depressing touring, we also went into a chocolate shop that had models of the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, etc.

Some updates from Hamburg:
-I did not mention this earlier, but the school hosted an election night watching party.  It was fascinating talking to people from all over the world who are knowledgeable and interested in U.S. politics! Although I did go home about ten minutes too early, so I missed when they called Obama as the President, and thus most of the celebrating.  But it being 6 am at that point, I wasn't too disappointed to just read it on twitter and go to sleep :)

This was supposed to be candid but I think my photography made them laugh

-Dad, MV, and I went to the MiniaturWonderland in the warehouse district here in Hamburg.  It was SO COOL.  I thought it would be a few little train sets, although I did hear the detail was fantastic.  They had reproductions of Hamburg, Las Vegas, Scandinavia, "Middle Germany," and a whole airport scene.  Throughout the exhibit were little buttons that could make things happen within the scenes.  For example, one button started a "fire" in a castle, complete with major amounts of smoke, and the little fire trucks drove up the hill to the castle to extinguish it.  This is HIGHLY recommend:

As for restaurants in Hamburg, I would suggest the one underneath city hall for a little bit of a touristy thing and something cellar right near there as well, which I will figure out the name of later. Mom, dad, I know you read this, want to help me out here with these names?

Whew, 2/3 done with my updating!