June 20 - 22 :: Berlin

We came to Berlin to watch World Cup football. Here football is serious business, but we made ample time for fun and games on this ultra long seesaw near the Sony Plaza.

You can't tell from the picture--because 278-degree air is as invisible to the human eye as your average Standard Home & Office 78-Degree Air--but if you could have strapped a pair of infrared goggles to your head, here you would see a red mass of human bodies over which hovered an even deeper red cloud of 278-degree air. i thought i might suffocate.

But all for a good cause, rest assured. Our goal is to reach a road called Unter den Linden, site of Fan Fest, where large screens were set up for a mile to accommodate us along with 300,000 other German football fans.

Plenty of German flags and Soccer Heads keep us company during the long, suffocating wait.

Deutschland (Germany) scores a goal against Ecuador as viewed on giant screen with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.

Cheers all around for "Deutschland, deutschland, deutschland, deutschland."

Others cheer " Ich bin hooligan. Shah la la la la" (I'm a hooligan. Shah la la la la").

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (completed in May of 2005). It's central location in the heart of Berlin is of particular note: "The location at the heart of Berlin and in the vicinity of embassies, cutural institutions, business and residential premises, as well as the Tiergarten, expresses the memorial's public character. Its integration into the historic urban space and the parliament and government district highlights the fact that the memorial is directed towards the civil society ... This underlines that acknowledging the uniqueness of this crime and historic responsibility is central to Federal Republic of Germany's self-understanding."

The Reichstag offers a 360-degree view of the city. Transportation, business and technology are today linked between formerly East and West Berlin.

Olympia Stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 Summer Olympics.

New Jewish Synagogue :: Built in 1866, "The New Jewish Synagogue conducted services according to the New Rites and Practices, the most important indication of which was the installation of an organ. Such reforms of teh service were part of the process of Jewish assimilation ... In the Pogrom of November 1938 ("Kristallnacht"), the New Synagogue was spared major damage ... [However during the remainder of the Second World War,] it was severely damaged by Allied bombs ... In May of 1995 the building was reopend."

Berliner Dom :: This cathedral replaced its former classical-style cathedral (which had replaced its former Baroque-style cathedral) in 1905. The surprising thing is that it's not Catholic, but Protestant.

Organ ::

pulpit ::

exterior ::

Berlin wall ::

Dinner by the Wall ::