My American friend moved from Prague to Berlin last weekend, and we drove her there. Her neighborhood, Neukölln --former West Berlin American sector--is like Little Turkey. It has one of the highest immigrant populations in the city. needless to say, there was kebab, tea houses, shawarma. Once, we saw some pretzels being sold on the street, to remind us where we were. And there was currywurst.


It rained all weekend, and the punks -- for which Eastern Germany has a reputation -- were partying under overhangs in the city center. Some even had a little fire going in a can.
We walked copiously, visited the Brandenberg Gate, got soaked, saw the wall at Checkpoint Charlieand the DDR Museum. Intersected the Berlin Marathon (those people were soaked) ate falafel, went home.

Going through the wall at Check Point Charlie



A Brazillian drum band played here as encouragement.