Well, Berlin. Maybe the second great love in my life, when I was a child, we often visited friends in Berlin (I have lots of Super8-movies from those trips). Then I haven't been there for many years. When I went there again, the wall was gone and the city no longer divided by barbed wire, but you could still notice the different cultures that came together. Stacey, you asked about food: Berlin has lots of good Indian restaurants, we went to one called Maharani (I think somewhere in Charlottenburg), and some others I forgot. Anyway, Berlin �s a very good place for ethnic foods. Italian, Greek and Turkish cuisine are easy to find, and normally always ok, same goes for Asian. Germany had a Mexican restaurant boom a few years ago, so you should be able to get some tacos, too. American food imperialism is represented by the usual suspects: McD., BurgerK., PizzaH., so you should do ok, if you don't trust anybody else. ;=} Fast food places are in most quarters in abundance, most times it's like the neighborhood kebab place (D�ner Kebab has become Germany's favorite fast food item, even prefered over hamburgers). There, you can have varieties of kebab, plates of hors d'oeuvres (recommended if available), falafel (vegetarian dish, originally from palestina/egypt), lahmacun (sometimes described as turkish pizza, but rolled). Berlin has cheapest kebab prices (I've seen prices as low as DM 2,98, with the next booth selling for D 2,99...), but that does not always mean quality. I'd rather pay DM 6 (as you do here in Frankfurt), and get the full treatment: a bit larger, onions, cole slaw, red cabbage, tzatziki, pepper, tomato... Next stop: Fleamarkets.

woo woo! Ilove Eastern Indian food!! And I can't stand the "american fare" provided by McD's, and the like. I don't patronize them here, I'm certainly not going to waste my time in them over there (unless it's to use a Western toilet!!)

Stacey, I don't knew if you have ever seen that before, but here in Germany, we use bowls with water in it, and whenever it pleases you, you flush everything away! We call it e.g. WC for Wasserclosett (adapted from french). And, are McD's toilets any good at all? Not last time I've checked.

Indian food is regular fare these days at my house. Five Indian folks living there now!

You got a big house!

Alexander... not so worried about the German toilets as I am about places in the Czech Republic... I have only been warned.. obviously never seen!

Now, this would be for a "Sanitation all over the World" or at leat "Bella Italia" topic, but I HAVE encountered a toilet in Siena (another love of my life, but somewhat more melancholic), that was just a hole in a tiled floor. Admitted, this was in a tiny bar,...

ahh... funny how the bladder becomes more active in these 'tiny bars'... or is that just my imagination?

FLEAMARKETS: The places that really get me happy all over! I'm not up to date on what's hot and what not, but some things probably didn't change yet. Nollendorfplatz: The much-loved indoors fleamarket in a trainstation on stilts closed early in the 90ies, as the place was turned again into a railstation after the unification (sales booths would be in old waggons, and prices be stiff, but it was fun to be there and look around). Stra�e des 17. Juni: Upscale fleamarket, starts next to trainstation. Expect hardly any crap, but good quality wares/antiques. Many people who sell here also have a shop somewhere, so they are professionals. Don't let 'em skin you, just because you are American. But they have such fine things, clocks, furniture, books,... Probably not a bad place to shop for 78s, I guess, but then, I won't be there (might be in Berlin late March, early April to do promo for the mag). Good place to look for jewellery, but emeber - just deals, no steals! Brandenburger Tor: A typical must-see for tourists. Do something historic, walk through it. Nobody did for about 50 years (not too true, as there were the east german border guards, but still...). There is a memorial for the dead of the USSR's Red Army in WWII, do me a favor and pay them respect. The russians suffered bad, for every US boy killed in fighting they lost over 100 people, in uniform and civilians. Still, they did not give up and stopped the fascists. If things didn't change too much, you can expect Poles and Russians to squat somewhere around, selling souvenirs. Red Army badges (wouldn't that shout Wer?), watches (I LOVE them, especially the Wostok Kapitanski Automatic with the little submarine on it - the Poljot (= Pilot, made in Moscow) Sturmanskij is also great, and Poljot made a proper mechanical wrist alarm watch!! That rocks!!), stuff with Lenin or Marx on it. Don't buy there unless you must (e.g. lotsa cash to burn, no time to search). On any less antiques-oriented, more crummy fleamarket in Berlin expect the same stuff to be on sale cheaper (major tourist si�te, major prices). Also nice: russian optical items (don't let them sell you anything as "genuine Leica" camera from WWII, even if there's crap like a swastika and words like "Luftwaffe" or the like on it. All fakes, but they really work with any 35mm film. Buy if you must, don't pay more than DM 200,--. For more details on russian cameras or watches, ask me - if interested - bef re you go shopping). Good eastern european souvenirs from fleamarkets are the crystalwares (!!), table cloths, amber-jewellery, porcelain and ceramic wares. Take a look at the bras they offer, might make somebody at home happy, too. Hands-off or lots of doubt if offered caviar. There's fake caviar stories I've heard from St. Petersburg, Russia, and why shouldn't they try that here, too? For other fleamarkets (sgl. Flohmarkt, pl. Flohm�rkte) check the city magazines Zitty and Tip. There, you'll also find out what happens on stages, be that opera, theater or some fun concerts by obscure Berlin acts... If in doubt, ask me.

General shopping: Every part of Berlin has it's own charme. Walk down Ku'damm (Kurf�stendamm), 'til you get to Charlottenburg. Nice antiques shops and boutiques. Blue Moon (I think it was called) has a nice variety of Doc Martens shoes (for the addicts among us). Kreuzberg is full with interesting shops, the whole import-export thing, shops run by imigrants, second hand clothing and record stores. Low style it used to be, with friendly, charming punks begging at street corners, but since the wall went, it's in the middle of town, and should start to move upward on the social ladder. Anyway, brilliant second hand records bough here in the past... Neuk�lln: Nice neighborhood, cheap flats. Old shops. Maybe I find some store's adresses I kept from last trip over... And the mother of all shopping is the KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens). Nothing in this world, that you can't get there... it seems like (may well be, as you can get Paul Newman's Caesar Dressing even in the supermarket I frequent...).

(Concerning the tiny bar thing, I just went in there to use !some! sanitation. The whole drama had begun in a different location, and might have well resulted in my untimely demise.)

TEMPELHOF: When I was a kid, I often staid in this part of Berlin. Tempelhof has a well-known airport they've either closed by now, too, or will close soon (not sure). The architecture of the passengers terminals is a very conservative style, relating power and strictness, etc. Clear lines, meant to impress (built in the thirties by the fascists). In front of the airport is a strange sculpture, like part of a bow ) that ends in a three-pronged fork. )|( This is the Luftbr�ckendenkmal, to remember the (western) allied air lift effort undertaken to feed Berlin when the soviets had Berlin cut off from land supply routes (after WWII and until ... Gotta run. more soon

... the iron curtain dissolved, Westberlin was an island, accessible only via russian, british, american or french airlines or a few motorways that could on occasion be shut off). Anyway, planes would fly in from Western Germany, fly over East Germany (aka German Democratic Republic/GDR, aka Deutsche Demokratische Republic/DDR, and - to some hardliners even till the wall went - the Soviet Occupational Zone - Sowjetische Besatzungszone/SBZ) and land in Westberlin, delivering milkpowder for the kids, medica supplies, coals for heating, food, - in short, imagine a city like New York cut in half, and one half deprived from all supplies. What the planes didn't get in, they wouldn't get. Simple as that. The Luftbr�ckendenkmal is called Hungerforke by the Berlin people, and it has an identical counterpart in Frankfurt at the US-owned Rhein Main Airbase (next to Frankfurter Flughafen (civilian airport). The monument there stands right next to the motorway A5, on the right side as you'd drive from Frankfurt south towards Darmstadt (and further, maybe to Wolf's origin Stuttgart, or even swiss Basel, which would be Riette's way). If you pass it on the motorway, planes may roar straight over your car's roof, deafening you for a moment. To the left and the right are stand two of the old cargo planes, that were used in the Luftbr�cke (one is called "The Berlin Train", because they would start immediately after unloading and filling up, to return again as fast as possible with more goods, planes coming in on Berlin on a plane-per-minute-schedule, carefully coordinated on schedules, just as if it were a railways enterprise). We Germans remember these planes as Rosinenbomber (raisins-bombers), because after one pilot started dropping off candy from his plane when approaching his runway - there were kids at the airport's fence he flew over every time coming in - others followed suit, attaching napkin-parachutes to their personal rations sweets. This was turned then into a "program", slightly compromising the airlift effort (as much payload wares as possible) for smiles and children's joy. The Hungerforke stands for all this, but most specifically, it commemorates the gallant airmen, who died in the effort. These people gave all.

The differences and the similarities between what was formerly West Berlin and East Berlin were striking. I have never seen so much construction/reconstruction ever!! I have pictures of "crane farms" city blocks that held 10-15 cranes, all busily working away. In the states it's a big thing to see one or two and at that, they are usually on the back of a truck (mobile cranes). These babies were the REAL thing! HUGE and long term! Berlin was a lot like any other metropolitan city in many ways but, as in many places in Europe and very unlike the US, the documented and visible history goes WAY, WAY back! The beer was yummy although I really think the Czech Republic had the BEST beer (pilsner) and the food was... well some of it was really good but the 'authentic German' meals we had (where everyone ganged up on Stace and made HER order cause they couldn't read the menu!) were um... well I drank more than I ate and Paul certainly can attest to the amounts of food I usually consume! Blah, blah, blah. My favorite city in Germany (that we spent any amount of time in) was Dresden. Only while in Prague did I discover the horrible role it was forced to play in the 2nd World War. A lot of recovery has gone on in the past 50 years for sure. Checkpoint Charlie has been converted into a museum... fascinating... I was impressed to see that where the wall once stood now lies a flat section of bricks... flush with the ground but certainly a reminder. It seems that although the entire city is rapidly moving along, they never want ANYONE to forget what transpired so that it may never happen again. Speaking of remembering... Prague has an incredible Jewish cemetary and Jewish museums... I will descibe much more later. Thumbs up to Germany Alexander... what I saw I was very impressed with. (Munich's airport is the finest I've ever had the pleasure of spending time in!)

Munich airport (named for infamous bavarian politician Franz Josef Strau�) is very new. There used to be a nice area of wet pastures and swamp-like environment. Many people heavily opposed that construction, just to be wiped aside by state agencies of Bavaria. Glad you liked it, though, so in the end, it served a good purpose. Beers: every area has it's own specialties (as the beer topic probably tells better). In northern Germany, they prefer Pilsener type beer (named after Czech town of Pilsen), in Cologne you'd drink K�lsch, in Dortmund or D�sseldorf Alt. My home state Hessen has Pilsener and Export, which is like Lager a bit. Also, some breweries started Lager beers. Bavaria has the Weizenbiere, which come in crystall-clear and murky. There are more: Bockbier, Steinbier, Weissbier,...

(hummel hummel, morse morse)

(hmmm...)

Yeah Autumn! But that's Hamburg: Hummel Hummel! Mors Mors! Where do you have that from?

My dad used to do a lot of travel for NATO during the Cold War, and he used to regale us with tales of sitting in German bars and observing this curious way of identifying oneself as being from Hamburg.

regale us, regale us!!!

How do we know if someone is a Hamburg-er?

OK, the Hamburg-er enters the bar and hollers, "Hummel, Hummel!" The fellow Hamburg-ers smack their butts and holler back, "Mors, Mors!" Maybe Alexander can explain to us the origin of this quaint tradition.

Sorry, gotta pass this one up. But generally, all over northern Germany, folks greet each other "Moin Moin!", with the appropriate reply being "Moin Moin!". The "Hummel Hummel"-"Mors Mors" thing is specific to Hamburg, and perhaps relates to athletes of a specifis sports club... Somethng like this was hinted at to me during the easter trip to Hamburg by an old old-school punk, who must politely asked us for a paper tissue, so he could sneeze his nose in the subway, instead of sneezing all over the people. The two most important clubs in Hamburg are HSV Hamburg, who are playing football in the Bundesliga ("soccer in first league"), and St. Pauli, who are playing in 2. Bundesliga. This is the much-beloved club of the whole Hamburg-/St. Pauli-scene, all the bands and all the leftists. Hamburg is very left-politics, since ages. The stadium of St. Pauli is right next to St. Pauli, so going to the game is like going to the movies in other towns. Might well be that this greeting derives from this club.

Stacey, when are your pictures ever gonna make it to this place? THE CASTLE, THE TRACKING DEVICE! THE PUBLIC MUST KNOW!

uh... soon? I've got the HTML docs all written up referring to the images and all... I just don't know how to save them or WHERE to save them on the Spring. Actually I guess if I could just figure where to save the images themselves on the spring so I could write readable references... umm... WER? help me

Save them in http://www.spring.net/~stacey In your public_html directory! You can ftp them there.

uh... how do I do that?

Go to http://www.stroud.com and get yourself a good ftp program, there's lotsa free ones then enter your settings and start ftping away. I'm available for detailed questions as you get in to it. But get ws-ftp or bulletproof ftp or some other good ftp program first. You can do it with pico from the command prompt also, if you know your html.

okay... I've got an ftp program --- how do I use it? I fooled around in PICO but I don't know where I should save my files out to...

actual full path names would be www.spring.net/usr/home/stacey/public_html or access.spring.net/usr/home/pasquina/public_html is that what you wanted to know? and to use your ftp program... use www.spring.net or access.spring.net as the address, then the appropriate username and password and you should log into /usr/home/stacey for instance... then just click on the folder(etcetera) named public_html and either set-up sub-folders are just put everything in there...

or something like that anyway...

now if I can just get this program to work!

*fingers crossed*

better crosst hose toes too... Warftpd has crashed my entire system three times already! (And I can't seem to throw it away -- it won't let me!)

(*Crossing toes, those, hoes and whatever lies around this place!*)

(is it dangerous to cross a ho?)

(Well, a hoe, as in gardening. Extremely dangerous - leave your gardening tools laying about crossed, and the next helpful creature, senior citizen or repo-man will step into them... And who's gotta clean it up? Some stuff fall under military arms control regulations - especially the hoe I got, with the sharpened edge from much use lately... I fancied a semi-automatic shovel the other day, too... Gotta upgrade... Perhaps I should also get a sawed-off pick-axe, or a rake launcher... Makes me feel safer... rotect my assets, you know?)

(yep...)