Döner macht schöner

I've subjected my nephew, Oliver, to some charecter building his seventeen years.  

Yes, crimped hair was cool in 2008. Thanks for asking.

However, his recent weekend trip to Berlin wasn't supposed to be one of those occasions. What do you do with little and big kids in Berlin? Eat, move, and take pictures along the way.

The first stop was picking up Hugo from school to take him to a birthday party. Oliver was a bit surprised about the "Lord of the Flies vibe" in Hugo's free time room. His mom, Danielle, waited outside with the bags and was impressed with the city scenery.

Once Hugo found his place, I rounded-up the rest of the crew to head to ice cream. Crosby introduced Oliver to Woodruff "Waldmeister" flavor and Spaghetti Eis. I introduced Danielle to ice cream as an appetizer.

We were blessed with rain upon Oliver's arrival. A blessing because Germans don't go out in the rain, so we could take Oliver and Danielle to the best Döner spot without waiting in line. We also got primo outdoor seating. 

The next day we planned an urban hike. Well, I had a repeat of this hike in mind...

However, a more grown-up Darth just went to the Grünewald a couple days earlier with his class so he was less excited. Thus, we did a more historic urban hike through the Tiergarten. 

We only go to the most scenic spots.

First we walked through the Brandenburg gate:

Then we walked through the forest:

Some shorter-legged participants might have done an illegal double electric scooter ride with a parental guardian. 

While their legs did not work for forest walking, they managed to find the energy to climb the 285 steps to the top of the victory tower. I stayed at the bottom to play paparazzi and have my legs complimented by an "Opa" doing Parkour nearby.

I spy cousins.

It had been at least two hours since our last meal so we head to Cafe am Neuen See for beer garden vibes and canoeing free babysitting. 

Jokes. We put Carmen to work.

Carmen really found her swing. So much so that she proceeded to do this for an hour-and-a-half in Paul's arms.

An epic melt-down might have proceeded this nap.

With Carmen well rested, the girls head to Neukölln for a dance performance while the boys had a Sushi bonanza close to home.

#cooluncle

Team Biggs head to church on Sunday while Oliver and Danielle checked out the Berlin Wall Memorial  which is conveniently located just a couple tram stops from our house. Later, we met-up in Mauerpark for Sunday Mauerpark shenanigans.

 After, we introduced Oliver and Danielle to the German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen. 

Hugo proceeded to drink most of my coffee. Bedtime was real fun that evening. 

Danielle and Oliver trained to Amsterdam the next morning. I'm talking to him tonight on our weekly "character building" call. Was Berlin the highlight of his Euro tour? How could it not be?