Dec 6 Dad left for Atlanta this morning – I really wanted him to stay, and will miss him a lot. Lazed around more, and spent the afternoon browsing and running errands (in German!).

Dec 5 Lazed around Helga and Reindi’s beautiful apartment in the morning. We then went for one last day of Western European museums. At the Pergamon, we saw a very famous Egyptian bust of Nefertiti, and then had another great dinner with Helga.

Dec 4 Today our friend and guide, Helga, took us on a tour of Berlin. We went to breakfast at the German Reichstag (ParlIament), and we saw them in session, which I thought was really cool. Then we walked around and saw the famous Brandenberg Gate, and went to a Holocaust Memorial. It was rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of big, gray, coffin-shaped stones, varying from 5 to 15 feet high. Then we went to a cool German Xmas market ´which had many kinds of wurst and marzipan and sauerkraut and other German goodies. We went a Xmas concert with a boy’s choir who sung in German (which I didn’t like!).

Dec 3 Today we got up, and my Mom went off to the Picasso museum – she said it was filled with 100s of fantastic pieces. After a while, we packed up and set off to the Metro. While we’re waiting for the Metro, my dad proclaims “we left the duffle bag in the apartment!”, but there was nothing we could do about it because the keys were in the apartment, so we set off for the airport. Unfortunately, it was the wrong airport! We didn’t have enough time to take the Metro to the other airport, so we had to jump in a cab, which cost more than my dad and my plane tickets to Berlin, combined! What a morning! The flight was usual, and when we got there, we were greeted by our host, Helga. We then went to an incredibly fancy, diverse market (Ka De We -- you say it like "Kaa Day Vey") to pick up dinner, and then we went to bed .

Dec 2 We all went to the Rodin museum. I ate a great waffle smothered in nutella and sugar, and saw the famous sculpture, “The Thinker”. Then we went to a War Museum, where I saw the beginning of automatic weapons, and the history of grenades. We saw the only M1 Grand rifle I’d ever seen, and learned about WWI and II. Napoleon’s Tomb was pretty amazing for one guy who did a lot of bad things. Then I went back to the Eiffel Tower with my Mom, and we climbed up to the 2nd floor, and took the lit to the top where there was a great view, and we blew bubbles. We were thinking about eating up there, but then we saw the prices for the menu – it was $100 for a normal restaurant dessert, like 2 scoops of ice cream! On the way home, we stopped to see the Arc de Triomphe and the fancy Champs Elysees.

Dec 1 My Mom went and gave a lecture in French, and my Dad and I went up the Eiffel Tower. It was foggy and we couldn’t see anything. Then we met my Mom at Notre Dame Cathedral – it had awesome stained glass windows. Mom and I then went to the Louvre, which is strangely connected to an underground shopping mall (with a very good food court!). Speaking of food, there were these weird looking Egyptian dried foods (pomegranates, nuts, dates, etc.) that were left in the tombs, that didn’t go bad because it was so dry, and there weren’t bacteria to break it down. The Mona Lisa was cool – it looked like her eyes were following you wherever you went. There was a big crowd around it, but we fought our way to the front. It was also really weird -- if any of you reading this blog know the cover of Cold Play’s “Viva La Vida”, the original painting by Velasquez is in the Louvre.