Finally here.

We're finally in Berlin. Got in yesterday morning after flights, tram and bus. 

Orlando-->Philadelphia was 

fine. Philadelphia-->Frankfurt was a nightmare. Excessive reclinging to the front of me, excessive ramming into my elbow to the right of me, excessive length in genera

l. Frankfurt-->Berlin was nice. Getting from TXL-->Hotel Transit, not so fun. 

But anyway, we're here----------------->

at Hotel Transit, and it's fabulous

. If someone said, "We'll turn your room into an apartment and you can live here forever. Do you want to?" I'd say, "YA! Bitte!"

Yesterday we went to a biergarten. I didn't have beer; maybe next time. I'm getting used to saying "Kein fleisch?" There are a lot of vegetarian restaurants--I'll have to check some out.

We walked back and passed a lot of really pretty Berlin scenery. This city is a gold mine for photography.

Maybe the novelty of taking endless pictures will wear off, but for now, we're all shooting everything--including people on public transportation. 

It's a little rough being such a creeper, but you get used to it. We--and everyone else--use the public transport a ton. It's so convenient--no matter where you have to go, there's an S-Bahn, an U-Bahn or a streetcar. Even the subway (U) isn't too sketchy. Except maybe this guy...

Walking around so much makes it easy to notice all the differences between here and the US. One of the first things I noticed that in general, dogs (and children) are largely unleashed. It's so awesome to dogs running around and going back to their moms and dads instead of being held back with a vice grip. Also, there are no SUVs. A hummer would give a distinct Gulliver's Travels vibe. Instead, the bigger vehicles look like this:

Today we went to Tiergarten, a huge park between the former church where we ate lunch and the location of a flea market, where some of us made it and others...eh hem...didn't.

We also went to a carnival. The people were a typical carnival crowd. Fun for taking photos.

The historical aspects are intesting, but I'm having the most fun experiencing the city in its present, especially observing/photographing the people. 

Oh, the other cool thing about Berlin?