DAY TWO: Wednesday continued our streak of stellar sunny summer weather and clear blue skies as we moved a little further outside our immediate environs in Berlin Mitte. Our morning tour of the Nazi exhibit of the German Historical Musuem got a little frustrated when our tour guide called in sick, but the end result of that was that everyone got a free audio guide and it we got in free. With a little help and taking time to focus on some key artifacts, I think we still got plenty out of it, and several students took in other parts of the museum on their own. Then we lost Frau Johnson. It was really weird, but while she went to the book store to pick up a couple of books she wanted, everyone -- and I mean everyone -- else went to the john, and when they came out, they ended up clustering in the hall outside the wash rooms instead of returning to the entrance area of the museum. Frau Johnson thought we'd gone without her, so she headed out on the street, to the university, to Alexanderplatz to find us. Meanwhile, after realized how weird it was to be talking at length outside the johns, we went back to the museum entrance: no Frau. We waited 30 mins--no Frau. Then in frustration we just decided to go and hoped she would find us later. We walked next door to Neue Wache, a memorial to the victims of the Third Reich, and then further to the impressive entrance gates of Humboldt University, when kids had time to pick up t-shirts and the like. Back outside, we headed for Alexanderplatz in the heart of Socialist East Berlin, grabbed a quick lunch and then took the tram out to Hohenschönhausen for a guided tour of the prison for political prisoners, where Frau Johnson found us! Our English guide was perhaps harder to understand than if it had been in German, but still he was hugely knowledgeable and gave the kids great insight into the machinations of a state apparatus dedicated to the complete and total control of thought and expression of personal opinion and the elimination of any contrarians. Lots and lots and lots of walking....and then back to the hostel and enough time to change and wash up before heading out to dinner with Kristi Decke, an old friend of Herr Guy and Frau Johnson. We opted for outdoor dining at Hackischer Markt, where there were projected TV screens everywhere for the World Cup soccer match, street performers, music, beer bicycles and an endless stream of visitors drawn to the action of the plaza, the beautiful summer weather and late night light -- it's still dusk at 11:00 here. And that was that. After returning to the hostel, kids were quite content to linger over a beverage in the reception/dining area and just talk with each other or e-mail, and slowly head off for bed. It's already Thursday, and today we'll slip up the group with part going to the Bundestag, the German Parliament, for a plenary session, and the rest heading out to Wittenberg to visit Martin Luther's home there and the key sites of the Protestant Reformation. There is so much to see, so much to do! More to come later! -- Herr Guy