Berlin, Day 4

Hello again, hope your Saturday is totally wonderful, mine has!! We woke up this morning, and then headed off to visit the central Mercedez-Benz dealership here in Downtown Berlin. Now, the funny thing today was it is Christopher Plaats day, which is a Gay Pride Day in Berlin, and there was a HUGE festival downtown and a huge parade, and it really threw everything off. It's funny, just when you think you've escaped it in San Francisco, there it is again...

Well we went to Berlin's dealer for Mercedez-Benz here and it was absolutely amazing.... take a look at this...
Ok... so this is a convertible... on a ROTATING ISLAND!!! INSIDE THE CAR DEALERSHIP!!! I'm not sure they have THIS at the Fremont Auto Mall.. but then again, I haven't been there for a few years...
This is one of the balconies in the dealership... yes... BALCONY!!! Behind me is one of the 2 climbing walls, and illuminated waterfall...hahaha.... it was unreal.... oh yea... surrounded by palm treas and jungle ferns....
This was the video game section, where you get in an actual race car, to play a race car game... haha.. it was totally awesome, but really hard to drive... Mom tried, but wasn't very good...
So... I think this was the Mercedez S 65... but I honestly don't remember... but I DO remember the price... it was over 165,00 US Dollars... I could buy a HOUSE for that much.... funny thing is... a car this expensive still can get crashed into as easily as my '92 Cherokee... from Craig's List... haha...
This is the view from the 4th floor balcony... ya... I couldn't believe what I was seeing either....

This is a video from the Mercedes-Benz dealership with Uncle Dave... totally awesome....
This is me overflowing with excitement to go on the 3rd Reich Walking Tour, which started right at the Brandenburg Gate... I learned so much, I finally feel very prepared for my WWII Test in Sophomore World History.. haha... only like 5 years too late...
This is the center of Germany's Parliament... I won't type you the name, since I can't spell it. But what I learned about this place, was it's basically the site that Hitler rose to power, and became the Fuhrer... They said that Hitler never officially broke any government rules in his rise to power. He bended them a lot, and used loopholes to his advantage, but he played the game by the rules, which is scary. This building was burned by the NAZI's who blamed it on the Communists, which was a huge catalyst in thrusting Hitler to the top of the German Government... you may have remembered this picture from when the Soviet's Captured Berlin at the end of the war, it's taken at the top of this building....
Anyway, It was really cool to learn all of the History that went with WWII, and to be able to see it in person was just totally cool...
This is mom and I after our 4 hour walking tour of 3rd Reich sites, at Alexanderplatz, a huge square originally in East Berlin, next to the famous TV Tower... There were tons of goths here... it was like their meetingplace or something weird like that... Mom doesn't LOOK happy, but she is... haha....

After our tour, we headed back to Dave's apartment, and picked up Mitchell, who was feeling a little bit under the weather, and went to Uncle Dave's office, in the Diamler Financial Services Building. His office is on the 19th of 20 floors, and has an AMAZING view... it is so cool.... and the best part... ENDLESS DIET COKE (Yay for mom and Cameron.... hahaha)
This is me pretending to be Dave, in his office, looking out at Berlin, contemplating how to solve the financial problems of the world....haha... Is it evident why I will never be a CFO?

Ok, so on top of all that fun, today I found my favorite German food... ok well, honestly, it's not even German, it's Turkish, but THAT'S OK!! Berlin is full with TONS of Turkish people... so it's totally legit... haha.. it's called a Doner Kebab, and it is a sandwich made with lamb meat... let me introduce you to this....
This is the guy that serves it to you. First there is this huge chunk of lamb, that's already been cut, and put back on a skewer, and then he shaves off some for your sandwich. Then he gives you this amazing sauce on your toasted bread, throws some fixings on it, and BOOM! you get...
This actually doesn't even do the sandwich justice at all, but it is basically my favorite thing ever, I could eat it until I die... haha.. once a week that is... i NEED variety in my day-to-day life....

Anyway, things are going amazing, I have learned a ton, and am not getting so nervous talking to people. I've learned a few German phrases, and it helps that basically everbody understands English, even if they dont' speak it. Tomorrow we are headed to the only English ward in Berlin, and that should be qutie the experience... haha.. I'm actually most anxious to talk to the missionaries... I wonder why...

Well, I Love you all, good bye from Berlin!!

Love, James