Berlin
July 24th - 5:04pm

Spree-side lounge area serving Corona and Red Bull, among other things. The patrons' view is of the Hauptbahnhof.
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Berlin
July 24th - 5:10pm

The Bundestag, with volk milling around on the front lawn. Shouldn't Secret Service be arresting them?! Also, note the NBC truck on the left - Obama's speech was a mere two hours hence.
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Berlin
July 24th - 5:15pm

German nationalism: back in fashion!
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Berlin
July 24th - 5:21pm

Aren't these bikes romantic? They have decent representation in Parliament, too.
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Berlin
July 24th - 5:42pm

This lady - perhaps an East German cafeteria marm/soccer referee - means business about littering. What looks like an errant soda can stuck in her craw is actually an ashtray! Einwurf seems to mean "insert here."
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Berlin
July 24th - 6:09pm

Metal gate, beach bar, suburban rail, Modernist building. One of these things is not like the other? The gate, because it's not made of, or cannot be used to make, glass!
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Berlin
July 24th - 7:13pm

A taste of the good life in the Charlottenburg neighborhood.
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Berlin
July 24th - Evening

Blue Berlin. Potsdamer Platz contains a new Modernist development built on the once-desolate border of East and West Berlin, featuring the giant, domed, quasi-Americanized Sony Plaza. But also, light entertainment in the form of Blue Man Group! Its suitability for foreign tourists centers around the lack of dialogue in the show; paintball has a similar dynamic (and pain level).
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Berlin
July 25th - Morning

Yes, you can put pickles on an omelet!The best breads I had in Germany were covered in seeds like this multigrain baguette; very naturalist.
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Berlin
July 25th - Morning

Clear toilet seats are the apex of bathroom design outside of Japan. It had better be spotless, though!
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Berlin
July 25th - Morning

The famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, old and new versions. In the plaza between them was a mix of tourists, street dancers, napping homeless alcoholics and stands selling Thai food.
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Berlin
July 25th - Morning

Christ is a chain of jewelry stores in Germany with over 200 locations. This one is a hundred meters from the church, seriously.
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Berlin
July 25th - Morning

I almost didn't even want to know what "hell" means in German, but when I found out it means "light," that's obviously on purpose.
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Berlin
July 25th - Afternoon

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a title notable for the absence of the word "Holocaust." The memorial consists of 2,711 concrete stellae, packed tightly together. As one walks through the vertically undulating corridors, it is difficult to maintain a sense of place and perspective; two people walking together would quickly lose each other in the grid, since visibility is confined to the perpendicular axes. It's an effective piece.
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Berlin
July 25th - Afternoon

From the corner of the monument where I took the first picture, it was impossible to see how deep the center was; the taller stellae qualified as frightening. It also has a 9/11-type thing going on, if accidentally.
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Berlin
July 25th - Afternoon

You can't help but admire the literalism. Given the state of the German body as I witnessed it over the course of the week I was there, it's hard to envision the clientele for the 8XL-end of the spectrum. Hard, and ghastly.
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Berlin
July 25th - Evening

The mirrors at the end of the tracks in the U-Bahn stations aren't intended to facilitate photography, but they certainly don't hurt!
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Berlin
July 26th - Morning

I went to this cafe in the Kreuzberg neighborhood for breakfast and ordered what I thought was a standard platter with eggs and sausage and whatnot. It was listed on the menu as the Groß platter or something, and it was at the top of the breakfast items. Lo and behold, cheese! Delicious, of course.
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Berlin
July 26th - Afternoon

On the river Spree, Sandsation 2008 proceeded apace. But what happens if it rains?
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Berlin
July 27th - Afternoon

A pretty building in Prenzlauer Berg, a hipster haven in (East) Berlin. I had just finished a delicious Italian buffet brunch, which ran around $14, and was on my way to a flea market. The pace in this neighborhood on this particular Sunday afternoon was slow and hot.
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Berlin
July 27th - Afternoon

This sculpture outside a bank in the Schöneberg neighborhood is a perfect candidate for the XXXXXXXXL store.
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Berlin
July 27th - Afternoon

In the foreground, an infinity of bike racks for this cyclophilic city, although clearly, park at your own risk. In the background, the aforementioned Sony Center's looming dome.
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Berlin
July 27th - Afternoon

On of the more colorful structures in Potsdamer Platz, housing at least a mall (I used an ATM inside of it which charged me the highest fee I paid anywhere in Europe). Next to the building is a giant, elevated, sloping lawn with room enough for a non-disruptive soccer game.
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Berlin
July 28th - 10:22am

View of the Spree, facing east. I was on a bike, heading toward the Soviet War Memorial (more on this momentarily), and this sculpture caught my eye. I think they're dancing, maybe?
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Berlin
July 28th - 10:38am

The Soviet War Memorial. So huge, so empty! This is located in East Berlin, obviously. No German flags in sight here.
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Berlin
July 28th - 10:38am

This bike was totally awesome, and afforded me one of my best experiences on the whole trip, that of feeling like a local. With so many bike lanes, Berlin is truly a pleasure on two wheels. Thanks so much for the loan, Emily!
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Berlin
July 28th - 10:47am

The only other tourists at the Monument and I traded shots. In the background on the right, East Berlin's iconic TV tower is visible (it seems like every Eastern European city has one).
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Berlin
July 28th - 11:08am

AUS!It would sort of be like a sculpture of the word "OF" at an intersection in eastern Queens.
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Berlin
July 28th - 12:38pm

Checkpoint Charlie really strikes one as a bizarre anachronism; the street it's on (Wall Street, oddly enough, in English), looks like any other upper-midscale commercial street in Berlin, and here is this set piece from World War II. But it functioned as a border control for foreigners until 1990, a point in history that even I can remember. From outward appearances, Berlin has done an amazing job normalizing itself.
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Berlin
July 28th - 12:46pm

A riot of colors on a building in Kreuzberg.
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Dresden
July 28th - 5:19pm

A building right outside of the train station in Dresden, the city that we famously and handily firebombed in the closing weeks of World War II. The photo is most notable for the placard in the lower left hand corner. Not just that this is where the proprietor of "Erotic Car Wash" chose to advertise his or her business, but that it's in English, as if it's intended to be the first photograph taken upon alighting from the train.
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Dresden
July 28th - 6:24pm

I like the colors in this one, and the attitude of the appliqué graffiti figure.
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Dresden
July 28th - 7:43pm

A half order of leg of pig with dumpling and kraut at Watzke Brauhaus, a gastropub of sorts. The Saxon specialty tasted as good as it looks, and went well with the restaurant's homemade wheat beer.
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Dresden
July 28th - 8:34pm

I'm a sucker for roses. Isn't it bright out for 8:34pm?
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Dresden
July 28th - 8:42pm

Looking across the Elbe at the old city, much of which was reconstructed during the GDR period. As those cranes attest, construction in Dresden is once again booming.
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Dresden
July 28th - 8:50pm

Checklist for the plaza:People? No.Cars? NO.Trolleys? YES!Note that the statues on top of the buildings are black because of the firebombing, not the poor lighting.
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Dresden
July 29th - 11:18am

After being told by Marissa's roommate in no uncertain terms that I was to SIT every time I used the toilet, I encountered this sign in the bathroom of an internet cafe. Hygiene is a big deal in Germany, and gender equality is a big deal in the former GDR in particular...maybe men there habitually pee on the seat as a form of silent (but acid) protest?
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Dresden
July 29th - 4:39pm

A structure we stumbled across in a playground. It's made of high-tension ropes with a leather pouch in the middle, and it's suspended over pebbles.
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Dresden
July 29th - 4:42pm

Of course, I couldn't resist the photo op.
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Dresden
July 29th - 5:09pm

One of the more picturesque entrances to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, among the most impressive collections of museums I've ever been to. Marissa and I arrived 40 minutes before closing time and were bullied around by the staff about it, but a sympathetic docent at the Porcelain Gallery pinned a (pricey) photography license on Marissa's lapel, and away we went. Then we saw a light dance recital in the museum's courtyard that Marissa hated. Can't win 'em all!
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Dresden
July 29th - 9:37pm

A laundromat in the hip neighborhood of Neustadt. The sock-lactites are brilliant.
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