First Time through Europa

In our last day and a half in Berlin we walked around a bit and were actually surprised that everything was closed. This was because it was Sunday and we did not know that on this "holy" day everything shuts down. Good thing the trams and metros don't shut down.

We did manage to buy some new Birkenstock's for Jessa and I. My mother decided not to get any for her, but she was really happy to get some for us, as she really wanted to buy these famous shoes from the country they came from.

Here's a picture of Jessa with a clown/mime:

We also went to see Beethoven's 7th symphony in the Chamber room of the Philharmonic in Berlin!!

The ceiling was incredible!! So was the conductor!

I was really impressed with all the musicians.

Later that day we decided to walk along "the wall" (some of it is gone and all that remains is cobble stones in the ground) towards check point charlie. On the way we got to meet a famous painter who makes paintings for auction in charity for the "East Side Gallery."
(Check out their website: http://www.eastsidegallery-berlin.com
We had actually been to this gallery the day before so we were all really excited to meet this painter. My mom, in particular, had fallen in love with a certain painting, and it was a neat coincidence to find out that he was, in fact, the one who painted it. We took a picture with him:

His name is: Kani Alavi and his website is:
http://www.kanialavi.com

This is a picture of a really neat statue that we found:

Then we had an easy night and the next day we went out to buy some postcards, and took the train home.

The following day, which was yesterday, we traveled to a smaller city called The Hauge (Den Haag).
Here's the train:

We took the tram to a place called "Madurodam" which is a miniature version of the Netherlands.

Jessa also got into the big "Klompa"

Then my mom stood by the power source and tried to electrocute herself

My mom and aunt had a blast as they both love little things. They kept saying, "oh, how cute!!"

Then we went to the beach (Scheveningen). It was beautiful. I have been here before and it was windy and cold. Yesterday the sand was warm and there was no wind. We all had a blast looking for sea shells. It was a big deal to touch the water of the North Sea!