Train # 2 (Berlin to Praha, Day 9)

Goodbye Trevor and Leonard. I will miss you and your glorious kitchen....

This was shot by Greg (of course), to see more of his photos, click here.

Today we trained from Berlin to Prague today...

In our train compartment we met this really great German guy named Stephan. He had recently visited California and loved it. Greg and I still had some questions concerning the Berlin wall and he suggested we watch this Youtube. It's ten minutes but definitely mind-blowing and worth watching...

We stayed at Sir Toby's Hostel, one of the best hostels everrrr. After picking up some essentials at the grocery store we just hung out in the basement lounge playing Connect 4.

The lounge area is super awesome as you can see. It has mix-matched furniture, retro lamp shades, kitschy framed photographs and afghan rugs.

Here Greg is setting up the game board...

..little did he know he was setting himself up for total domination....

This is my moment to shine. I won 9 times in a row. NINE. I've never even come close to winning Connect 4 nine times TOTAL, and to win 9 times IN A ROW was the most glorious thing of my life!!!!!!!! Especially since Greg was my opponent and wins at everything.

Berlin, Deutschland (Day 8)

Today was a long day full of sweet sight-seeing. We started by picking up Greg's freshly developed 120 film. We looked at the TV tower but were too lazy to wait in line and pay the fee to go up. We then headed over to Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie or "Checkpoint C" was the name given by the Western Allies to the most well-known Berlin Wall crossing point between Easy Germany and West Germany during the Cold War. Nowadays it is an open-air exhibit and gallery walls with photographs, text, maps which explain its significance as a focal point during the cold war. To learn more, click here.

and there are of course souvenir stands galore...

After filling our heads with historical facts we jaunted over to a park to sit and load some film into my supersampler...

The trees were such bizarre shapes and wonderful colors...

'fur den kleinen Hunger' means for the little/small hunger. I like this concept. It can be found on most menus and it's our favorite German expression, try saying it out loud it's really really fun hahaaha. We ate at this overly-priced-small-portion cafe. I ordered a cup of soup, which literally came in a coffee cup. Greg ordered a sandwich which was the size of a tea sandwich. We don't even want to know how small the portions were for the 'fur den kleinen Hunger'....

I was eyeing their desserts in the case when I carefully inspected the prices. If you wanted to enjoy a slice of cake or cookie in the restaurant it costs more.....but if you wanted to take it to go it costs quite less. You already guessed it, of course we took it to go and ate it on the outside steps of the cafe...

This was some sort of delicious cheesecake....

inspecting the deliciousness....

nom nom nom....

but you see, I wanted another one....so I went back inside and asked for this apple tart to go.....yes, of course it was a very faux pas thing to do, but we didn't care.

mmmmmm....

After our meal we took a jaunt over to the Reichstag....

then we found these glorious trees....



and this dreamy forest....

Then we headed over to the Memorial of Murdered Jews of Europe. I shot this polaroid and it is my most favorite shot of the trip so far.

I hope you enjoy it too.

The colors came out extremely well in this shot

I like that it has that eery feel to it.

Here is Greg trying to get a shot just minutes before getting yelled at by the security guard...

This is the shot that he ended up getting:

to see more of Greg's photos, click here.

The site itself is covered with many concrete slabs arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. It is designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. However, the design represent a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because it does not use any symbolism. Although I very much like the sculpture itself, it feels too "German" in my opinion and is not capturing it's true purpose of commemorating the lost lives of the Jewish people. Here is a video of me walking through the site:

post-getting yelled at, Greg wanted to make sure he got the shot he want, so he was literally bending over backwards to capture it...

On a lighter note, check out this little Haagen Dasz truck!!!!

After an already exhausting day I dragged Greg to the Polaroid store. It was the size of a kitchen but I felt like a kid in a candy store. I've never seen so many Polaroid films in my life! Although I didn't buy any film I was proud to see this store in business!

If you are interested in buying Polaroid film and want to stay up to date on Polaroid news, check out Polapremium's website

Also, you should scope out the Impossible Project which aims to re-start production of analog instant film for vintage Polaroid cameras in 2010!

Berlin, Deutschland (Day 7)

Today was our play day. The group consisted of Trevor, Leonard, Levi, and 2 girls (also from San Luis Obispo), Greg and I.

This is a street in Trevor & Leonard's neighborhood:

Leonard capturing Trevor and Levi as they walk together as a couple through the crunchy leaves....these three are the biggest goofballs...

Greg setting up his tripod to take a photo...

I wish California had noticeably different seasons, Autumn feels so beautiful with the color-turning leaves and cold wind...

Trevor had packed some ping pong paddles for the play day and the boys battled it out...

We found a play area equipped with built-in trampolines!

Leonard loved it...

and so did Greg...

I like these following three photos because it looks like Greg is suspended in the air and defying gravity (had you not known there were mini trampolines underneath his feet)...

And then there were swings...

While we were playing, Greg shot this photo.

To see more of his photos, click here.

We tried finding the outdoor sauna place and some how wound up in an alley way with friendly guard dogs and large christmas bulbs...

!!!! THEN WE FOUND A LARGER THAN LIFE BENCH!

hahahhah I'm helping Greg up....

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although graffiti is ugly I think sometimes it can be sort of artsy and neat, like this:

The girls cooked a delicious dinner for all seven of us. While they cooked Trevor tried to teach Levi how to juggle...

They prepared homemade burgers with melted brie cheese, grilled onions, thick-cut garlic fries, a side salad of mixed greens, goat cheese and beets! It was sooo good!

It felt like a Community Dinner that Sonci and Kirby used to host at their house every thursday night after Farmer's Market. That is where I met Trevor and Leonard, good food and good people...

nom nom nom...