Photos from Berlin.

I've finally put the first of the Europe photos up on jimmycorp.com. We started out trip with Berlin, so that's where the photos start. Clicking on the picture will lead to the gallery.

Berlin was one of our favourite places. It's not particularly pretty, mostly because it has been physically moulded by it's history. Buildings have been destroyed, rebuilt, and appropriated to fit the current government's ideals. The culture is similarly constructed, partially forgetting histories, learning new ones, embracing foreign tastes. This juxtaposition, highlighted in the photo above, is what makes Berlin Berlin.

We felt very at home there, though it still seems very nationalist. The cliché of conformity in counterculture is truest here. I was uncomfortably at home. Everyone was like me: 6"2' with their glasses and beards and balding with tight converse cuffed jeans and plaid button-up shirts. The part of Berlin we stayed, Prenzlauer Berg, was easy. It was full of restaurants we loved and hipster stores we had to go in. They only spoke to us in German, and didn't fall into English easily, even with our painful grasp of the language. The Berliners history and the surrounds were so far removed from mine. We felt at home, but had no right to. I will try to add comments to some of the photos later. For now, enjoy.

The next stop on our trip will be Prague.