"If you buy these, you are euro"

Yesterday was a slow day. It was 102 degrees again so we spent a good chunk of the morning inside hiding. But after a while Sam and I thought we should be more productive, so we went out on a walk to find the Stasi museum by Matt's house. After walking around for 15 or 20 minutes we finally found it, but unfortunately I couldn't go in because I told Matt I would meet him at 4:30 for a workout and the tour was just a little too long. However, Sam went and said it was pretty intense and he doesn't want to go back. I can't really say more than that though since I wasn't there. But I thought the outside was pretty scary looking.



Other than that we didn't do much yesterday. Today was better though. After an early morning workout, Sam and I met up with Ingo and he took us into down town Berlin. After eating a quick lunch we discovered there was a whole other part of Berlin we were missing out on. Good thing Ingo took us there- it had all the good shops! The Original Adidas and Oakley were my personal favourites. The Adidas store was great. We found this hilarious full zip sweatshirt thing, without sleeves and a full zip hood. Sam said I looked like a tennis shoe when I was wearing it. The Oakley store was awesome, too. No, nothing was in my price range :( but it was sweet because upstairs they had a little Oakley history museum type thing. A little time capsule. There were glasses from 1980 to now. We also found a Birkenstock store for Sam (since he has completely worn his out), and all the shoes are MUCH cheaper here then they are at home! Which is the first for anything. Ingo said the sales tax here is at 19%. Ingo also pointed out these golden bricks in the ground. He said on them are everyone's name who were taken from their home and put into camps. The bricks are outside of the house they were taken from and they stay there as a way to remember them. After walking around and shopping a little, Ingo dropped us off at the train station and we were off to the Olympic Stadium (Thank you Ingo for a fabulous tour!).





Since Sam and I are now pros at public transportation (and with a little help from Ingo) we were able to easily find our way to the Olympic Stadium. It was amazing. The inside where the track is is beautiful. Apparently they still use the soccer field for a team they have here (which is really popular.. although I can't remember it's name..). The more popular use was in 2006 for the Fifa World Cup. It still looks amazing though. Outside we found another running track, a bell, some monuments, and a bunch of other neat things. However, Sam's favourite part was the swimming pool with all of it's diving boards and diving platforms. It's really cool! They let you swim and dive in them and everything. Unfortunately we didn't have swim suits.. But that didn't stop Sam. Off he went to jump in! He wanted to go off the high one, but it was closed by the time he got there, so he was stuck jumping off of the shorter diving board. He said it was still really fun though. I couldn't go in without paying, so I stood on the outside, took pictures of his jumps, and met some locals. Sweet :)





Oh! I forgot to mention that while we were in the soccer team's gift shop we decided to act out the world cup final (Netherlands vs. Spain). If you saw the game, you will understand this picture.



After Sam's little swim we hopped back on the train and headed back to Matt's. We were going to go to a restaurant that sold everything I should try (such as crocodile..), but prices had doubled since he had been there last, so instead we headed to one of Ingo's favourite restaurants and ate a bunch of good Italian food (we needed a break from A la turca).

I am so blessed to be here experiencing this. I really hope you're all enjoying these posts so far.
I miss you all so much <3

Wish you were here..