Willkommen in Deutschland! (Welcome to Germany!)

Germany was absolutely amazing!!! We first went to Berlin, then to Gransee (my grandpa's hometown where he grew up), and finally to Hannover. We were completely exhausted by the end of our trip, but we loved this country!
These are just a handful of pictures that I took during our weekend trip.

Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate)

Reichstag building (and dome on top)

Berlin's main train station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof)

Question, how exactly does this sculpture stay upright?

Checkpoint Charlie

Me in front of parts of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer). Fact: Chapman University (where I go to school back in the states) has a section of it.

= )

Waiting in line to go into the Reichstag ("Dem Deutschen Volke" means "To/For the German People")

These little birds kept us company as we waited in the entrance.

We to the lift all the way up to the top. It was really really really cold!!

Me in front of the Dome at the top of the Reichstag.

Kate and I taking our pictures in the reflection inside the Dome.

At the top of the Dome.

The spiraling walkways going up and down the Dome overlooking Berlin.

We made our way to the Sony Center to go see a movie (HP7 to be exact). Two things we learned about cinemas here: 1) there are assigned seats and 2) there is an intermission.

 Here's a video of inside the amazing Sony Center! It had everything from fine dining to an IMAX cinema.

The Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom). Absolutely beautiful at night.

The main road in my grandpa's hometown, Gransee.

These were the friendliest sheep I've ever met! They came running over to us!

The church in my grandpa's hometown. He used to sing here when he was a boy!

This is the old monastery which is also where my grandpa went to school.

This is the house my grandpa grew up in!! (He lived upstairs and his father's business was downstairs)

We came out of the main train station in Hannover and wow!! Look at all the Christmas decorations! Berlin and Hannover was definitely decorated to the maximum with lights and Christmas trees. Everyone in Hannover also seemed to be enjoying a night out in town.

Who doesn't love a bear doing a handstand? Actually we saw loads of these kinds of bears all over Germany, but I must say that this was one of my favorites!

An old church ruin it seemed.

The archer statue in front of the Town Hall.

I loved walking through the streets of Hannover!

Germany was such an amazing experience!!
This last Thursday of course was Thanksgiving. This was my first Thanksgiving away from my family, but myself and three other American students here planned and prepared an entire Thanksgiving dinner! A lot of Irish students also came to have dinner with us so it was really neat to share our culture with them. It was also their first time trying a lot of the food, such as pumpkin pie = ). It will definitely be a Thanksgiving that I will always remember!
It is starting to get really cold here in Northern Ireland which means, SNOW!!! = ) We also went to the Belfast Festive on Saturday (November 27th) and went through the shops and markets. It was such good fun and Belfast was beautifully decorated for Christmas. I will post some of these photos in my next blog.
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Cheers.