March 2025 Update: Ho Chi Minh City and Berlin
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Hello again! I hope you’re enjoying spring-like weather wherever you are. Steve and I are in Berlin, Germany, where spring seems to be on vacation.
We wrapped up our time in Vietnam mid-month, leaving behind the sweltering heat of Ho Chi Minh City, only to land straight into thermal underwear season.
We’ll be in Germany until mid-May, so hopefully, we’ll see some of the spring weather we’re craving before we leave.
Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to in March.
Goodbye, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) was our fifth and final stop in Vietnam and our least favorite.
I’m not sure if that’s entirely the city’s fault. After seven months in Southeast Asia, we were burned out from the heat and the intensity of the cities. Maybe we just didn’t give HCMC the chance it deserved.
The highlights were visiting one of the sites of the evacuation of U.S. personnel after the fall of Saigon and seeing the Van Gogh Expo Vietnam.
We also checked out the Saigon Central Post Office and took a walking tour through the city. I even braved the heat to tour Independence Palace.
Hello, Europe
Passport Renewal in Berlin
We needed to renew our passports and, since we’d be in Munich in May, we figured Berlin would be a good place to take care of it.
Renewing our passports abroad was a stressful process. The instructions were specific, with plenty of warnings that if the instructions weren’t followed, we’d be turned away.
We spent hours searching for the right envelopes and copy shops that could print what we needed.
We worried about what we would do if our passports didn’t arrive in time for our move to the next city since we had to surrender our old ones.
Our worries were unfounded. Our appointments were efficient and hassle-free, and we received our new passports in just eight days!
Exploring Berlin
With our passport appointments behind us, we were ready to dive into tourist mode.
We booked this tour and highly recommend it. The guide, Mary, is passionate and knowledgeable about WWII history and has a talent for connecting it to current events.
The tour stops included Checkpoint Charlie, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Brandenburg Gate, and the site of Hitler’s bunker—now partly destroyed and closed to the public.
Steve and I retraced our steps the next day to take more photos and tour the underground museum at the memorial.
Mary’s tour ad caught my attention because it featured the widely debated photo of Elon Musk giving his questionable salute. By the way, giving a Nazi salute is illegal in Germany.
Another sobering sight in Berlin is the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km (.80 mile) section of the Berlin Wall covered in more than 100 murals. Honestly, the quality of the art isn’t great, but most had QR codes explaining the artists’ visions, making it worth a visit.
I didn’t have high expectations for the German Spy Museum, but it ended up being a fantastic surprise. The museum is full of hands-on exhibits. You can see how good you are at lip reading, take a lie detector test, and search for bugs (not the six-legged ones) in an office.
The highlight for me? Mastering the laser challenge. It’s a room where you have to dodge laser beams to reach the other side, just like in the movie Entrapment with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
We watched several young people attempt it and fail. I was hesitant since it required getting close to the floor to slip under some beams. But I went for it, nailed it, and blew the young folks away!
On the Website
Along with our February 2025 Update, I published posts about three of our favorite spots in Vietnam: Halong Bay, a place of breathtaking beauty, Ba Na Hills Sunworld, a quirky theme park, and Dalat, a charming mountain city teeming with vibrant flowers and unique attractions.
What’s Next?
We have one more week in Berlin followed by three weeks in Dresden. Then it’s party time as we treat ourselves and our daughters to some relaxation at Therme Erding before heading to Munich for a week of sightseeing with them and our friends Terry and Greg.
Before You Go
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Happy traveling,
Linda