After Christmas, I went back to Berlin for a couple of days, and happily there was one Christmas market that was still open: the one at Gendarmenmarkt [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmenmarkt]. It happened to be a very nice one — not coincidentally, because I think only a nice ones

Schwerin is a town of 90,000 people (or so) about 1 1/2 hours north of Berlin by train, and it’s the smallest city in Germany that is a capital of a Bundesland, a German state.  There are some beautiful sights there; here are some of them. Schwerin

Every once in a while here in Berlin you’ll see someone sporting a hat or shirt with the logo of a U.S. sports team such as the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees, or the Los Angeles Dodgers. Can one assume that the wearer has been to Atlanta,

Cityscape at night from a 12-story building near Alexanderplatz I am taking German classes on the first floor of a 12-story building near Alexanderplatz in downtown Berlin. We always take a break halfway through, and today I took the stairs all the way up to the 12th floor.  These photos

Berlin noodle boxes are great — buy them for 2.50 or 3.50 euros in a subway station, add some Sriracha sauce, and you’ve got a decent lunch. This really bizarre advertisement sits on the side of the automatic coffee machine at my German language school. I don’t

My flatmate and I recently took a trip to Leipzig, which along with Berlin and Dresden is one of the three larger cities in eastern Germany.  It’s a beautiful town, with terrific, old churches such as the Thomaskirche, where JS Bach used to work. Inside Thomaskirche in Leipzig We

October 3rd was German Unity Day [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Unity_Day], a public holiday celebrating Germany’s unity and the anniversary of Germany’s reunification in 1990.  As part of the festivities, admission was free to the German History Museum in Berlin, so a friend and I

Reasonably dry seats while waiting for the Tram The seats at my tram stop are downward-tilting so that when it rains most of the water runs off of it. This makes it easier for me to wipe off and sit on when it’s rainy. This doesn’t qualify as

The Sunday before last, I took a walk and stumbled upon a public karaoke party in Mauerpark (German for “wall park” because the Berlin Wall used to run through it) that apparently happens every weekend, at least during the warmer months.  Apparently, it’s also listed in Lonely Planet guidebooks,

It has been election season ever since I arrived here on August 26th.  There was a single high-profile debate and the newspapers have been talking about the election quite a bit, but the campaign posters and billboards around town have been by far the most visible signs that yes, Germans

Today I took a chance trip to Postdamer Platz and found a place where the Berlin Wall has been taken down but replaced with a visible trace, as a reminder of its one-time presence: Berlin Wall remembrance line at Potsdamer Platz Berlin Wall remembrance line at Potsdamer Platz Berlin Wall

Once in Berlin, it is hard not to notice the bear sculptures scattered around town.  For instance, this one: A Buddy Bear dedicated to Taiwan, located in Berlin And this one: A Buddy Bear selling beer, located in Berlin It turns out that they are called Buddy Bears, which according

A river runs through the center of Berlin, and it’s called the Spree. We took a float ride down the Spree in a boat that looked like this: A Spree river float ride boat Here are some highlights: A float ride down the Spree; unfortunately it seems that something

The yellow train above is called “The Tram.” Many have said that Berlin has an excellent public transport system, and I’ve come to agree. I’ve never had access to public transport this convenient. Here in Berlin, one tram line stops 2-3 blocks from my apartment, and trams come