I was down in my building's courtyard earlier this evening, cleaning my bicycle, and the sound of TV commentary seemed to be pouring out of open windows on all sides - a World Cup game about to start, clearly ( Read more... )

A man up on a ladder on the sidewalk, stringing a "World Cup games shown here!" banner from his restaurant to a nearby tree ( Read more... )

SUMMER ( Read more... )

There's a really interesting piece up on Spiegel Online's English site called "Hijacked to Capitalism," about a plane full of East Germans that got hijacked and forced to land in West Berlin in 1978 ( Read more... )

Thursday in Prenzlauer Berg can feel like Saturday in Prenzlauer Berg, because so many people have small children and don't work, hanging out instead in the area's many many many cafés and playgrounds ( Read more... )

My friend Seth asked a good question in a comment on the entry "Ireland/Northern Ireland" below, that I'm still struggling to answer, but here we go ( Read more... )

A friend wrote me after seeing my pictures of Vienna from the recent trip there (see entries and photo album link below), saying she'd only ever heard lukewarm things about Austria, and didn't realize Vienna was so bikeable and interesting ( Read more... )

Also, I went to Ireland and Northern Ireland a couple weeks ago. Sorry I never mentioned that... The week before the trip was the week European flights were grounded, and I was afraid to even mention the whole Ireland thing, in case it didn't happen after all ( Read more... )

If ever you're feeling disenchanted with the place you live, maybe, oh let's say, weary of a winter that just doesn't want to end and just generally tired to the point that it's hard to remember what thrilled and enchanted you about the place so much when you arrived, allow me to recommend one possible cure: have very enthusiastic visitors ( Read more... )

I saw a really great movie as part of the Jewish Film Festival Berlin: "Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish ( Read more... )