Hello again, Blogonauts. Here's a treat. I'm on the train bound for Salzburg. At my seat is an electric outlet where I can power my laptop and finish off my Berlin blogs as the German villages and farmland whiz by. The steward just brought me coffee, which I'm sipping as I type. I feel like a modern-day Christopher Isherwood … except not bisexual … or a smuggler … or dead. So on to the writing -- From a rather shaky beginning, Berlin grew on m...

Hello, Blogonauts. So today we're talking hoity-toity culture. I happen to like hoity-toity culture. I particularly like typing the word "hoity-toity" and finding that my word-processor does not spasmodically freak out and warn me that I have misspelled a word. But back to the subject at hand: Berlin, via its odd collection of architecture, is itself a museum of sorts. After all, this city first arose as a composite of villages, had an off-and-on relationship w...

Hello, Blogonauts, Today was my first full day in Germany's restored capital city. I ventured out after arriving last night. But I was a bit discombobulated by what I saw: The monumental architecture looked a bit shabby; boring communist block buildings ranged from graffiti-clad to pristine; modern buildings that rival the world's finest were present but widely spaced; and there were more holes than a prairie dog town, each awaiting a new building. Tired and be...