Alex and I spent the last two and a half weeks exploring Central and Eastern Europe. The weather was a bit colder than we've been used to, but the cities we saw were amazing. Here are our top takeaways.

1. The Holocaust, World War II and post-war Communism have really impacted these countries in a meaningful way. From the killing of innocent civilians to economic hardship, we definitely felt the lingering effects as we explored. We made a point to see many of the museums / monuments dedicated to these horrible times in our history along our trip and they left a lasting impression on us.

2. That said, we found it a bit jarring that in each place we went there seemed to be a competition of sorts about who was worse off during and after the war. Obviously each country wants to tell its story, and there were absolutely atrocities that occurred in each place we went, but we would've preferred to hear the history without the "Oh, you think Poland had it bad, let me tell you about Hungary!" attitude - it felt like some tour guides were unintentionally minimalizing the experience in other countries to highlight their own.

3. On a lighter note...wine is really cheap and the "house" varieties are quite good! Most people probably think more of beer in this area - which is definitely popular - but we continued to find that the local wines were great (and about $2 per glass!).

4. Meals are hearty and perfect for cold, dreary days - comfort food perfected! We loved the meat and carb-heavy dishes after a long day of walking around outside. And it went well with the cooler weather we had in each city!

5. Architecture is stunning and charming - the castles are straight out of Disney movies and fairy tales. Even walking down a quiet street we were in love with the old buildings (Mama Foster would be proud!).

6. While not as obvious as in India, there are definitely people aiming to take advantage of tourists. Taxis were our biggest problem but after our first unfortunate incident we were always on the lookout.

7. Waking up early for the sunrise has many benefits - not only did we get to enjoy beautiful scenery, but virtually no other tourists were in sight. We were then able to walk through the most touristy locations alone - very different than during the day!

8. All the cities we visited were very pedestrian friendly. Not only were the urban areas condensed enough that walking around wasn't a problem, but we found that motorists almost ALWAYS stopped to let pedestrians cross at crosswalks. A similar courtesy would not be extended in New York City!

9. Train travel in Europe puts everywhere else (except Japan) to shame. Our trains were very clean, ran on time and had top-notch amenities. Our sleeper car from Prague to Krakow seemed like the Four Seasons compared to our overnight trains in Thailand and Vietnam (though that's not really a fair comparison...).

10. English is everywhere. We thought that when we got to Europe we'd have to fend for ourselves with the local language more often, but so far everyone we've encountered has spoken at least some English. Makes it incredibly easy to get by!

Peak: Budapest. A completely unexpected gem and our favorite city in Central / Eastern Europe. HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking to take a trip to Europe!

Pit: Cab scams - be prepared for a hassle in each of these cities (though to a much greater degree in Budapest and Prague).

Next Stop: Amsterdam

Sarah and I arrived in Berlin around mid-day on Thursday. After taking a cab to our hotel, the first order of business was a late lunch at Muse. We'd read that there are a lot of Brooklyn-type hipsters in Berlin and, based on the scene we found at this restaurant, we understand why the city has the reputation! The food was great and we had a good time lingering for an hour or so...even if we were the least cool people in there.

Once we were done with lunch, we set out to explore the neighborhood a bit. However, almost as soon as we left it began to rain. When the drizzle turned into a downpour, we ducked into Weinberg to try a glass of local wine and wait it out. Fortunately there was a break in the rain shortly thereafter so we hightailed it back to our hotel.

The weather was pretty strange - only a few minutes before Sarah snapped this picture it was pouring. Guess the clouds rolled out quickly.

As swiftly as the rain had cleared, however, the weather again turned nasty. Since we had three more full days to explore Berlin we decided to rest and take it easy, keeping our fingers crossed for better weather over the weekend. After a quick dinner in the hotel we called it a night early and planned out the remainder of our time here.

Our hopes for better weather were fulfilled on Friday morning. We woke up to mostly sunny skies so we bought a bus ticket and headed into the center of town. Our first stop (unintentionally) was Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, also known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The monument is a series of uneven slabs of varying heights...meant to represent the disorder caused by the Holocaust. It was an interesting monument, but both of us were a little horrified by the giggling tweens taking selfies at what is supposed to be a somber reminder of a horrible part of Germany's history.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The view from "inside" the monument. The slabs are of varying heights so towards the middle it feels more like you're walking down a hallway than through an open plaza.

Our next stop (and intended first stop) was Brandenburg Gate, arguably Berlin's most recognizable tourist attraction. Because Friday was May Day in Germany (most businesses were closed) there was an outdoor festival set up nearby with lots of food and drink stands. So I'm sure it was even more crowded than normal!

There was a pavilion set up for tourists to take photos of the gate. It took us about 10 minutes of waiting to get up to the top, but it was worth it to get this picture.

At this point we were ready for lunch. Given the May Day celebrations, though, finding a place that was open proved to be a bit of a challenge. We eventually stumbled upon Dada Falafel and helped ourselves to big portions of, what else, falafel. From here, our next stop was the Reichstag - about a 20 minute walk from lunch.

On the way to the Reichstag - here's the view from behind.

We knew that we had to register to get inside the Reichstag. After all, it is the actively used parliamentary building for Germany. We didn't realize how long the line would take to actually register though. We waited for almost two hours but finally were able to slot ourselves in for Saturday. It was a bit of a waste of time to wait in line for so long - you can reserve a time online, but only at a minimum of five days in advance - but we both wanted to make sure we saw it. We'll be back for sunset tomorrow!

From here we walked south to see Potsdamer Platz, the Topography of Terror and Checkpoint Charlie. The Topography of Terror was very informative and pretty easy to navigate quickly - the outdoor timeline presented the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in a concise (and chronological) format. On the other hand, Checkpoint Charlie was a little disappointing. Not much to see nowadays...and the primary attraction was a photo op with actors dressed as US Soldiers. We passed. There was an interesting (and we assume somewhat scandalous) banner nearby condemning Putin's annexation of Crimea though.

Haven't seen anything like this before...

As the sun started to get lower in the sky, the temperature cooled down a lot so we decided to grab at seat at Solar and take in the views of the city. Once we got hungry, we took a taxi to Pasternak, a Russian restaurant close to our hotel. As we expected, the food was very filling - lots of meat and potatoes! - but it was the perfect end to our day.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Berlin Cathedral, en route to the Winterfeldtplatz Market. This market is set up a couple days each week and offers produce, baked goods and local foods prepared fresh. So we decided that would be a great way to snack on a bunch of different foods for lunch. We weren't disappointed! We shared a giant sausage with mustard, currywurst, Russian dumplings, Turkish meatballs and cherry strudel. Good thing the portions were small!

Sarah's favorite building in Berlin - we passed this on our way to the market, sandwiched in between two much bigger, and much uglier, condo buildings. — Sarah's favorite building in Berlin - we passed this on our way to the market, sandwiched in between two much bigger, and much uglier, condo buildings.

After feasting at the market and wandering around the shops for an hour or so, we walked north to see more of Tiergarten Park and the Berlin Victory Column. The park is beautiful and the victory column is pretty impressive - definitely worth a visit.

Some locals enjoying the spring weather in the park.

For what will probably be our last World War II / Holocaust related activity of the trip, we tried to find Sarah's grandmother's house that she abandoned as a child to escape the Nazis. Unfortunately, it no longer exists - some large, boxy condos were built there sometime in the 80s (we think). Too bad we weren't able to see Hannah's old house...

We strolled around the city lazily for the next couple hours, killing time until our appointment in the Reichstag. Even though we were both a little bored in the afternoon, the decision to book a time later in the day turned out to be a good one though - we had excellent views of the city just as the sun was beginning to set.

The path to the top of the dome is a circular ramp that provides 360 views of Berlin. Not a bad view as we listened to the history of the building on our audio guides.

The afternoon light reflecting off the center of the dome was really cool.

After our (completely free!) tour concluded, we took a taxi to dinner at Umami, an Asian place not too far from our hotel. The food didn't take long to prepare - but we had to send it back because there were peanuts in half the dishes (even though I specifically requested no nuts, obviously). Once the food did come it was delicious...worth the extra wait time for the kitchen to remake it.

The focus of our day today was to see the East Side Gallery, a collection of murals painted on the Berlin Wall after the end of the Cold War. After a long brunch at Betty'n Caty Café we hopped on a tram over to the gallery. The art ranged from serious to funny to bizarre, but all was related to freedom and the end of the war. It's more than a kilometer long so we took our time strolling by the artwork, snapping some pictures of our favorites.

That's about all we have to report from Berlin. We were both feeling tired so all we spent the rest of the day relaxing. Tomorrow we fly very early to Amsterdam and have four days to explore the city and its canals!

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