18 days, 4 plane trips, 4 train trips, 4 countries, 5 major cities, subways, buses, boat rides... a million memories on the journey of a lifetime. After all that, We are home.

We had some trouble accessing the blog in Berlin, so we wanted to post a little bit of a retrospective on the great German capital which was the perfect place to end such an adventure.

All of the places we travelled to had rich and intriguing history that has played an integral role in shaping the city, the culture, the people and it's legacy. This is perhaps the most obvious in a place like Berlin. We discovered a city where relatively recent history has forced the people to rebound and rebuild to define a new legacy for their future without forgetting the past. Berliners have witnessed complete devastation, indelible marks of a painful stretch beginning in WW1 and lasting until the final unification in the early 1990's. They do the BEST job at remembering and respecting their history...painful as it may be to look in the eye every day.

We marveled, the minute we got into the biggest train station in Europe (Berlin Hauptbahnhof) at how modern the city was, a stark contrast from the Bavarian countryside! But as we saw more of the city, we realized that Berlin has saved and restored as MUCH of the important historical sites as possible, creating monuments, memorials and even leaving buildings (bombed out, gunshot ridden, partially damaged etc) as a reminder of the old Berlin. However, Berlin has made the decision to move forward... they have rebuilt with uber modern architecture, ingenuity and iconic german design.

Memorials are EVERYWHERE in this city. From the last remaining pieces of The Wall, to meaningful sculptures and large commissioned art installations. Our favourite was the Holocaust memorial - smack in the middle of town, the size of two football fields - 2700 cement blocks in rows, all ranging in size from less than a foot to over 15 ft high!

We also visited Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and all the other famous sites along the way.

After one last shopping trip, we packed and zipped our suitcases for the final time.

A quick trip to Frankfurt and then a 8.5 hr flight direct to Toronto and we made it home at 6:45pm (12:45 Berlin time!).

We will post some more pictures in the coming days to the albums - we'll try to pick some select, best images from the over 900 we've got!

Thanks for tripping with us, we really enjoyed having you along with us and all the messages from home. We'll never be able to tell all of our stories, but ask us anytime and we'll be happy to share more with you!

Jude and Chris