and now I know I've fallen, fallen for her
I'm one year older than the prostitute who wrecked Eliot Spitzer. Man, I need to get cracking, don't I?

Berlin: Third and Last Entry!

Some of my photos have date stamps, because I'm dumb. Anyone know if there's an easy way to remove a date stamp? I have one particularly nice graveyard photo at dusk that would be much better without the stamp.

The comments on the last entry demonstrate that everyone loves döner kebabs. Here's a photo of the best döner place I saw:



The gentlemen in the photo (besides Trevor) were nothing more than poor, innocent Turks who were quite bewildered by my sudden 3.30AM appearance -- shouting enthusiastic things about döner kebabs, giggling wildly, and brandishing a camera. I think my companions told them (as well as the place's owner) that I'm from Iceland and that's why I'm crazy, but I'm not sure.

As given me by Francesca the Italian (and baked for me as well, with almonds and nutella for frosting), here's the world's best chocolate cake:

3 eggs
200 grams chocolate
150 grams sugar
"1 vanillin" ... maybe 1 teaspoon vanilla?
3 spoons milk
3 spoons flour
100 grams butter

1. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Set aside to cool.
2. Separate the eggs. Mix the yolks with sugar. Add milk, vanillin, flour.
3. Whip the egg whites and add to the rest.
4. Bake at 180° (Celsius) for 30 minutes. (It doesn't especially rise, so don't expect it to.)

Is that easy or what? She even kindly served it to a bunch of us while we played Settlers of Catan. (If I move to Berlin, man, I'll be able to play board games way more often than I do here!)

Trevor showed me some Serbian currency. Guess who's on it?



I am way too proud that I recognized Tesla almost immediately. He's not that obscure; I shouldn't be so pleased with myself.

Bears!

Berlin's symbol is the bear (this isn't where its name comes from, though -- Wikipedia claims that has something to do with "berl" = swamp). I guess at some point they took a whole bunch of bears and gave them to artists and/or other countries to decorate as they willed. The result is colourful bears everywhere.



The gentleman molesting that bear would be Beppe the Swede.



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Canada has its own bear (with a maple leaf on the back, even!):



But the far-and-away best one, in my humble opinion, was the one we passed a few blocks from the Brandenburg Gate.



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Its eye! Good God, its eye! What did the aliens do to it?!

The Botanisher Garten

On Monday, I went to a game store I'd read about and was convinced to purchase Cuba (supposedly, much like Puerto Rico but with an element of social maneuvering; and totally a tax write-off, baby!). First, I elected to go to the Berlin Botanisher Garten -- a bit sere in the winter, but still lovely. I'd like to see it in the spring. I didn't have very long there, but I enjoyed a nice walk along an obscenely picturesque lake and over some mild hills.



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Also, not to make too much fun of German architecture, but look what happens when Germans try to build a charming gazebo.



Oh Yeah, Architecture

Speaking of architecture, let's go hog-wild. I took four pictures of various cuts of the Berliner Dom alone!



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Here's City Hall for you! I actually caught 10 seconds of sunlight with this one.



And Marek said this used to be a Post Office (wasn't sure what it is now):



The general feeling of older architecture is what I think of when I think "classic European". I have no idea what style it represents. Baroque?



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That catlike young man is Finn the Swede. Aren't Swedes cute?

Here's the view from the walkway within a pretty bridge.



Since Berlin was bombed, there are many areas where very contrasting buildings stand right next to each other: buildings that were rebuilt in pretty styles, next to those rebuilt plainly, next to rather old ones.



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(Sorry about the blurriness on that last one; I do like evening pictures, though. Maybe I should actually do research on how to take better photos at dusk.) But even knowing the differences in periods, it's hard to know what to make of some places. For instance, check out this transit station -- gotta love gothic transit stations.



I like balconies.



And courtyards, like this one in the Hakische Höfe (near Hakescher Markt).



But you know what I like better? Gorgeous colourful paint jobs.



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And even better? Completely awesome buildings that turn out to be something as quotidian as a gymnasium. I want to live in this one:



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Of Bishonen Stamps and Postcard Projects

My last act in Berlin (well, next-to-last before buying a döner) was to write and address some postcards that I had spent a while constructing. You see, Trevor had this clever idea that we could get a whole bunch of postcards and then mix them up to make glorious collage-postcards, far greater than the sum of their parts. You have my full permission to steal this idea.

While buying glue, I encountered a possibility that would never have occurred to me in a million years.



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For those who really, really need images of pretty anime men on every piece of paper they come in contact with. :psyduck:

At any rate, I thought the postcard project went well!



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I think Trevor approved, in the end. I left the completed postcards with him, along with money to mail them. Who can say when they'll arrive?

Well, that's a wrap, I think. A few more cool things I photographed, and that's as much as I'll post, gentle readers! I hope that people besides my mother enjoyed my Berlin series.

An exciting contraption Trevor and I passed in the street:



A neat straw-woven dress we spotted in a shop window! I would totally wear this.



An elaborate font style I saw on a shop sign. Berlin's shops do more than I thought possible with gothic lettering.



Even German signal lights are aggressive. I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of these.



But seriously, not to joke too much about Germans, even if they do it themselves. I had a great time in Berlin, and I can't wait to return.