irgendwo

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been moving around quite a lot lately. Here and there. Every Tuesday in Poing, and last week some massive oversharing while I took this show on the road. While in Berlin, I scattered plenty of photos, visited tea shops/tearooms and generally tried to entertain the lot of you with things… Continue reading irgendwo

We’re going to the zoo

Do you remember Knut? This was not simply a German phenomenon. He became news around the world. Born in late 2006, Knut brought record numbers of visitors flocking to an already popular zoo. The story was compelling, because he was rejected by his mother and raised primarily by his handler Thomas Dörflein, who sadly died… Continue reading We’re going to the zoo

another day in Berlin

Typically, this blog is a lot of text and one well-chosen photo. The last several have been the opposite. Lots of visual impressions of Berlin, and not much interpretation. You certainly know I like to write about my thoughts, so I assure you that there’ll be some of that in the coming days. Alas, there’s… Continue reading another day in Berlin

Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin…

“Berlin is a skeleton which aches in the cold: it is my own skeleton aching. I feel in my bones the sharp ache of the frost in the girders of the overhead railway, in the iron-work of balconies, in bridges, tramlines, lamp-standards, latrines. The iron throbs and shrinks, the stone and the bricks ache dully,… Continue reading Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin…

drunk trains in the night

Roughly two thousand people showed up Saturday night to protest Munich’s new law that you can’t drink on the S-Bahn (Schnell-Bahn directly translated as fast trains, but I like to say suburban trains). The term *people* I use very loosely. As the night wore on, ten trains had to be taken out of commission. Lights… Continue reading drunk trains in the night

if you’re flying to Italy, take a German airline

This is something I wrote several years ago, but I thought after the recent trip to Florence, it’d be a nice time to repeat it. You’ll notice that we did return to the beautiful Tuscan city. On Lufthansa I assure you. Hope you enjoy: So, I was recently asked why I prefer train travel to… Continue reading if you’re flying to Italy, take a German airline

day in a feminine city

As Henry James said in his Italian Hours: ‘It is the most feminine of cities. It speaks to you with that same soft low voice which is such an excellent thing in a woman. Other cities beside it are great swearing and shuffling rowdies. Florence has an immortal soul. You look into her grey eyes…so… Continue reading day in a feminine city

be nice to the poor bankers

You people are too hard on bankers. Yes, you people. I hear you casting your aspersions. Smearing their profession with your horrible inaccuracies. Financial vehicles that even they don’t understand.  Don’t you get it? They’re doing things even they don’t understand. That doesn’t merit even the barest of respect and awe from the likes of… Continue reading be nice to the poor bankers