Berlin, Vienna, Lisbon or Helsinki for a week in July

Parent Cafe
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@katliamom Berlin is not as unique as it was in the days of the Wall. It is now much more of a typical big, European city. There are surprisingly few traces of the former East Berlin-West Berlin divide.

I concur that English is very widely spoken.

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Thanks @fendrock. I suppose it was inevitable.

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If you decide to stay in Berlin for a week, you can take an easy day trip to Dresden (very interesting) and a day trip to Potsdam as mentioned above. In Potsdam you can see Frederick the Great’s Sans Souci and the house where the Potsdam treaty was signed (ending WW II). Potsdam itself is a nice little town. In Dresden, you can see the Green Vault in addition to the reconstructed Cathedral. Dresden was a UNESCO heritage site until recently (the town decided to ditch the designation because they wanted to do some development). Berlin has a lot to do, lots of parks, outdoor stuff, etc. There are a zillion museums in addition to flea markets, outdoor festivals, the karaoke at Mauerpark, etc. Public transport is excellent. Berlin is not a “pretty” city the way Paris and Vienna are, but it is charming in its way.

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Thanks for all the chatter! Deciding this weekend. Lisbon is out.

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I guess I’m a little late, but you have already decided Lisbon is out. I spent a week in July a few years ago and loved it and the surroundings.

jshain we are also doing a river cruise. Budapest to Nuremburg, then an extension in Prague. Viking.

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We spent 2 weeks in Finland in the winter- mostly Helsinki- Estonia was iced in but D went in the summer. D studied in Finland for a semester abroad in architecture grad school. I agree that Paris is a great place to visit. Finland is definitely not a tourist place and that is exactly what we liked- the people were very nice and most did not speak English. This was definitely part of the fun. We memorized phrases and used them and smiled a lot. There were times when they treated us like locals and just chattered away in Finish. The culture is very different than we expected. We really liked it in March- double long johns and all.

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While Lisbon is nice, why waste all that time traveling. I think Berlin / Vienna is a good mix. Have the kids ride the Prater.