After Oktoberfest, I headed to Berlin to stay with my friends Astera and Joernchen. I love Berlin. This was my fourth trip there. Here’s why: the city has been through so much in the last 100 years and you can see it. I remember the first time I walked through a low spot in Görlitzer Park and I wondered what that was about; it’s the crater from the original Görlitzer Bahnhof. The photo above was taken in Volkspark Friedrichshain on top of one of the two artificial hills constructed from rubble (yes, there’s a word for it) after the war. This trip we spent five hours walking the path of the Berlin Wall seeing how the city had changed since it was taken down. You can still see East/West Berlin as you navigate the city. The East has broad streets with a great tram system while the West is far more packed and disorderly. You can still see the division from space because of the color of the street lights. We went to the Deutsches Technik Museum which is in two train roundhouses they rebuilt after sitting dormant for many years. I highly recommend it if you’re in the city. You get to see all of the technology on the other side of the war. Finally, Berlin feels like a real 24hr city with transit and food always available without feeling contrived like Las Vegas. You can find hundreds of photos from my latest Germany trip on Flickr.