barbie's dreamhouse + more in berlin, germany

The Barbie Dreamhouse Experiene

Susie and I lived every little girls fairytale by walking the enchanted grounds of the Barbie Dreamhouse. Head to toe the entire place was covered in pink! We were taken on a journey by walking through each room of Barbie's house, and were able to interact with things such as baking a cake, making a postcard and doing Barbie's hair. Her closet was like a make belief Carry Bradshaw closet - it's safe to say that we were in heaven. We finished our tour with a delicious pink sparkled doughnut!

The Berlin Wall

Although most of the wall has been taken down, there are still places where it has been preserved. We walked along a large chunk of the wall during our "Alternative Walking Tour" where we learned a few things. The city asked if the original street artists who originally grafittied the wall could come back and paint their artwork all over again. Turns out, if you are asked to do something which was once illegal but now isn't, there is no interest by the artists. Below is an image of the 'original' wall with the 'original' artwork.

There was a tree house we visited along our tour of Berlin which built while the Berlin Wall was being built as a peace initiative.  The man who originally built the home no longer lives there but does spend ever day in his garden watching the people walk by.

There was an all you can eat buffet for your eyes of amazing street art around Berlin!

Burgermeister

Have you ever eaten in an old mens public restroom? Neither had we until visiting Burgermeister! Hands down the best burger I have ever eaten and the most interesting place to say the least. This is Berlin's hidden gem and a very popular one. If you are interested in some "late-night eats", you will be expected to wait nearly an hour for a burger. Luckily we visited during the day so it was cooked very quick. Also, it is not over-priced!

Topography of Terror

Egyptian Museum Berlin

When I was in grade 4, we began learning all about Ancient Egypt which I was thrilled about. One of our assignments was to re-create something from that time period. Naturally, my artistic mother and I made the bust of Nefertiti. I might be a bit bias but I think we had the best project. Ever since then I have been dying to see the real deal in person.

While walking through the Egyptian Museum towards Nefertiti I was a mixed bag of emotions. My heart sank as I turned the corner and walked into a dark room with one light directing right at the bust. She was more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. There were no pictures allowed on the floor where Nefertiti was located, it was nice to be able to gaze at the ancient artifacts without being distracted and crowded by cameras. 

Holocaust Memorial

While being on this trip I quickly realized that there is so much I didn't know about the holocaust. Walking to the grounds of the Holocaust Memorial was dark and interesting - the entire property is covered in cement blocks which looked like tombs. 

Upon walking into the memorial, everyone is given an audio set which was helpful to be able to walk around and learn about the documents in front of you. The second room had lit up documents and postcards on the floor from people in the camps addressed to their relatives saying goodbye. All around the room are numbers of how many Jewish people were murdered in each of the countries in Europe within their 1937 boarders. One example was there were 2.9-3.1 million people who were murdered from Poland. The whole room was shocking. One letter which moved me is written below:

Dear father! I am saying goodbye to you before I die. I would so love to live, but they won't let us and we will die. I am so scared of this death, because the children are thrown alive into the pit. Goodbye forever. I kiss you tenderly. Yours J." 
Postscript by 12 year old Judith Wishnyatskaya. Found by a soviet soldier in byte, close to the eastern polish town of Belarus. The letter was written shortly before both mother and daughter were murdered not far from the pit.

Wombats Hostel

We had a great stay at Wombats. The location was good and safe with lots of restaurants close by as well as a subway station. The hostel gave us a free drink coupon for the amazing rooftop bar and patio overlooking the city. If you are looking to stay at a place with recent college grads and a young atmosphere, this is the place for you!

* They have wifi only in the lobby area and the rooftop bar + patio

Prost (cheers in German) to a great time in Berlin!

{Images by Sara + Susie}

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xo sara

munich, germany | a place worth visiting

Munich is Germany's third largest city and the largest city of the state of Bavaria. The city is covered with beautiful greenery with lots of great attractions and famous beer gardens, which are all worth visiting.

BMW Museum

Whether you love cars or not, this is a must see! You are taken to the beginning of BMW to its present and shown behind the scenes of how this brand came to be. You are able to sit in loads of today's hottest and fastest BMW cars as well as their motorcycles. The BMW museum is like a toy land for grown ups! They even have a section for Mini Coopers and Rolls-Royce!

This 1955 BMW Isetta was my favourite car in the museum!

 Augustiner Beer Hall
We arrived in Munich in the evening and naturally, were hungry for some food and beer. The hostel we were staying at recommended Augustiner beer hall just down the road which ended up being tons of fun! It felt like we were walking right into the Bavarian stereotype. Lots of Germans were wearing Leserhosens, singing and drinking big steins of beer. Of course, we had a delicious German meal - schnitzel, spletzlah and beer! We had such a great time trying to speak with the Bavarians who have a thick accent and don't understand English very well. They were pleasantly charming and made for a fabulous first night in Munich.

Hofbrauhaus am Platzl

This world famous beer hall is where Hitler first spoke publicly and came to be where the Nazis held functions. Today it is a bumping place with singing and laughter as the beer flows in and out of the hall and a great spot to get traditional German food. Coming here was unlike any other place - it was an experience on its own.

* Fun Fact: The Hofbrauhaus runs the second largest beer tent during Oktoberfest!

Munich Residentz

This stunning building in the middle of Munich used to be the royal palace of the Bavarian monachs. Today they have opened their doors to the public so we can experience first hand the glitz and glamor of what it would be like to live here in the early 1300's. You are able to walk the grounds of the 10 courtyards and 130 exquisite rooms. The detail on the walls, ceiling, floors, drapery, lighting, jewels, etc was truly like walking right into the past where people lived in utter luxury!

Glockenspiel

Come join heaps of tourists and fellow people of Munich daily at 11am to see the figures in the Glockenspiel dance around and play a tune in the center of the city in Marienplatz. You will see scenes of horses and brave men jousting, people dancing and a royal wedding which are all part of Munichs history. This glorious daily tradition lasts about 15 minutes.

Dachau

* This section is graphic, please read at your own disgression 

We visited the first Nazi concentration camp called Dachau which was built in March 1933 as a prototype model for other Nazi concentration camps. The site is very overwhelming and I'm sure like most people when they visited, were not prepared for what they were about to see. We were taken back to a time that doesn't make sense. The reasonings behind why the Nazis did what they did is so beyond awful it was hard to understand.

The entire camp was kept spotless and if it wasn't, you paid the price. Each person was sectioned off into groups and if one person was out of line for example not making their bed perfectly or having dirt under their nails, the whole group was punished. Punishments ranged from being beaten, breaking limbs or being hung by the hands from behind so your shoulders snapped. These were done in areas where other prisoners could see and hear the victums as a warning. 

While walking through the buildings of where people slept, some weren't even open to the public due to health and safetly regulations. The Nazis would lock up the prisoners at night forcing them to use the floors of their shared bedrooms as their bathroom. There were faux bathrooms which were never hooked up in the buildings so when health people would come by to look at the camp, they say that the prisoners were "given the appropriate facilities" to use.

Upon arriving to each concentration camp, your fate was determinded on if you looked healthy enough to live and help run the camp. This is where people were divided into two lines - the ones who went into the gas chamber and the ones who didnt. The common question was "how did the people not know that they were going into a gas chamber?" Before arriving to each camp, you were shaved and stripped down then sent to the showers to be sterilized. Hygiene was so important in these places. The Nazis disguised the gas chambers as showers so when the prisoners entered, they didn't suspect anything. These rooms were so compact with people that when they died, they were still standing. After this, they were thrown into fire pits and burned.

Below is a gas chamber with faux showers. Walking through the gas chamber was a feeling I can hardly explain - it was a mixture being nautious, sad, confused and I had a million questions running through my mind. I caught glimpses of what it was like to be there over 50 years ago. Never again.

Below is the room which held dozens of prisoners and by todays health and safety code was not safe for us to go into.

Below are outlines of gravel and cement of where the building stood which housed the prisoners.

Much more happened at this camp and I really do recommend you visiting and discovering more if you visit Munich.

{Images by Sara + Susie}

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split, croatia | the zoo, views + markets

This beautiful place is covered in marble, has a stunning waterfront and loads of shops and delicious restaurants. During our time here the weather wasn't the warmest or dryest but luckily we had our MEC rain gear to help us trek around town!

We walked up the steps to Marjan which leads to the zoo and has magificent views of the city all the way up! The zoo was 10 kunas and we got to see a lion, an ostrich, monkeys, a bear, goats, reindeer, lots of birds, lambs, bunnies and much more. The bunnies were so cute and there were so many both babies and mamas and papas! It didn't look like they had any food so we fed them a leaf or two or ten.

Just a bit further up from the zoo is the highest point along the path to Marjan. 
 Here you will find a beautiful view of the city!

There is a massive market in the middle of the city! You can buy fresh cheese, meat, vegetables, fruit, flowers, olives and nuts! We got a few things to make our own charcuterie plate! It was all so fresh and delicious accompanied with a glass of red wine!

Happy birthday to my friend Cam in Toronto! Hope you had a good one!

 

{Images by Sara + Susie}

It was tempting to do sail Croatia while we were over here. Have you done it or plan on going this summer?

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