Europe2016

Mural in the u-bahn station at Deutsche Oper (German Opera).

Definitely a different standard than in the U.S. where we would never use such natural language and graphics to describe a men's restroom.

Did I leave Southern California? Hard to tell -- only some of the language is different....Cyberobics (see the link below) sounds like LA "hip" culture: www.world-of-cyberobics.com/en

"There's a party in my sweat pants" ??? What does that mean? If you look at the link for Cyberobics (previous picture), this guy looks the same as in that link, minus tattoos and with a little less posing. The John Reed fitness webpage doesn't explain the slogan either...

Hanging out with my buddies Karl (Marx) and Frederich (Engels) near Alexanderplatz.

The statue actually talks...

It seems like an odd contradiction to have Marx and Engels in the shadow of the famous television tower. But the tower was built by the East Germans (German Democratic Republic) to be a symbol of pride for socialism, not as a marker of the spread of consumer culture.

Christmas Skiing (on intertubes) in Berlin.

The Alexanderplatz Television Tower, from Brandenburg gate.

Television tower, Alexanderplatz. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin

Berliner Weihnachtszeit (Christmas Market/Festival) at Alexanderplatz, described as the most famous and oldest Christmas market in Berlin, with a 50 meter Ferris wheel and ice skating around Neptune. Visiting the market was far more fun and invigorating than I expected!

From next to the Berlin Cathedral, looking towards the New Synagogue.

A little noticed memorial on Museum Island to a Nazi resistance activity that happened in 1942; more than thirty of the participants were executed. The memorial was commissioned by East Berlin in 1981. The text reads: "It was on this site, the Lustgarten, during the war, May 18, 1942, that members of the antifascist resistance groups associated with Herbert Baum attempted to burn down the slanderous Nazi-propaganda exhibition called "Soviet Paradise."" See: fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/photos/berres/berres01.htm

Something I saw more of in Berlin on this trip, a person that appeared to be homeless on a bridge near Museum Island

"Paddle wheel" canal cruise boat, passing the Bode Museum. I put paddle wheel in quotes because I doubt the paddle wheel actually propels the boat...

Bode Museum, Museum Island.