So, we took Berlin...

Clearly, the time in Berlin got away from us. We tried to cram as much as we could into the few days we had...and it wasn't nearly enough! A few highlights from our last 3 days there...

Thursday was my birthday (I think I like this habit of spending the day somewhere new!) So Mr.Q took me to a castle:

 Where there was even a Knight in Shining Armour:

 And a ballet performance:

 Then we went down to Museum Island, and looked at some really cool buildings, including the Berlin Cathedral:

 Mr.Q's German was not up to the task of translating the warning sign on the elevator at the train station:

 So we've decided it means: "Do Not Use Elevator When Giant Space Slugs Attack! Achtung!"

Finally, at the end of the day, the band had a show at a really cool pub. The bartender was a sweet, funny Willie Nelson look-alike, and when he heard it was my birthday, he gave me a bunch of silk roses and a glass of sparkling wine:

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Friday, we went to Potsdam to poke around, but were SO tired and overwhelmed that we ended up on a bus tour. It was perfect, actually, because even though it was pretty quick, and we didn't have a lot of time for exploring - it got us to some places we wouldn't otherwise have seen. (For next time!) Including a windmill:

And the summer palace and gardens at Sanssouci:

 Back in Berlin, we wandered for a bit around Oranienburger, where we saw (and just missed entry into) the Neue Synagogue, an absolutely stunning building:

And Mr.Q found the Ramones museum:

He didn't actually go inside, as he wanted to make sure he had enough time to go for some "real" German food, which he enjoyed immensely:

Saturday, our last day, we spent wandering around, saying good-bye to the city. We stopped back at the cafe we'd discovered on our first day, for another Nutella Dream coffee:

Then found ourselves on a boat tour of the Spree river - a German tour, but we didn't care; I just wanted to see part of the city from the water, and they served us beer & gluhwein. Happy-making!

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We wandered around a bit more, and I sat on a bench and knit outside Humboldt University

While Mr.Q rummaged through the used books for sale on the sidewalk. (He only bought one! Impressive restraint!)

Then the band's last (and best!) show, where a lot of German teenagers listened attentively to (and maybe made out to) the tunes...

And that, as they say, is all she wrote. Up at a ridiculous hour to tidy our rented flat, take a taxi to the airport (we did NOT like Schoenfeld Airport...NOT the best airport ever! We're quite lucky in Vancouver!) Now in Venice, woken up several times last night by the silence. Took me awhile to figure it own, then I was like: Duh! NO CARS!

Now for breakfast & an explore of some of those twisty, narrow cobblestone paths!