Looking Back to Germany, 1999/2000

Over the last few days my niece and I have been having an email exchange. While we covered a whole host of topics, one key theme was travel. She is eager to get out into the world and have new experiences. She's lucky because she has already had the chance to travel with her family, but like all young seekers, she's looking forward to her chance to do her own thing. I get that.

All the travel talk got me looking back over my travel photos, including ones that were actually taken with real film! Yes, that beloved 35mm medium. When I was in Germany over Christmas/New Years of 99/00, I had a crappy point and shoot film camera. And of course I didn't take as many pictures because, well, it was film. But there were a few pics I thought worth scanning and posting. They got me all nostalgic and I miss Ute even more.

Ute at the Kling Klang, a local watering hole in Muenster where we had many drinks.

Ute in downtown Muenster. We were taking an evening stroll.

Me waiting in the cold for our train. It was snowing. Our train was late.

Um, a rather excited me. We are at Cecilienhoff Castle in Postdam visiting the site of the Postdam Conference.

Ute being very patient with me in the woods around Potsdam.

Me and Ute having a coffee break at a fancy Postdam cafe.

Me in front of the Reichstag in Berlin. The line was really long, so we left and came back at night instead.

Just a little side story. One of the main sites I was really looking forward to seeing while in Berlin - blame the history geek in me - was the Brandenberg Gate. I think I was driving Ute crazy with talking about it. Right after we arrived I said, "Let's go to the Brandenburg Gate." So off we went. We came out from the U-Bahn on Unter den Linden and started walking toward the Brandenburg Gate. As we got closer I noticed something seemed wrong with it, though I couldn't quite tell what. We walked closer. And closer. Then Ute started to laugh (I should note that Ute has a great laugh). The dang thing was covered in a tarp! Yes, a tarp! And not just any tarp, but one that was printed with an image of the Brandenburg Gate! With a GIANT PINK PANTHER hanging over the top! Seriously! All the way to Berlin only to find the Brandenburg Gate under construction. Sigh. What's a traveling soul to do? Make the most of it, of course. And suffer the laughs of my friends as gracefully as possible.

View of the Needle Tower in the former East Berlin. I think we went up to the top.

Same area is the previous picture. It was New Years Eve and we were walking all over the place.

Me with Marx and Engels near the Alexanderplatz.

The Tiergarten New Year's Eve, 1999/00. The park was closed for the evening. There were lots of bands, beer and people. It was cold. We had a lot of fun!

So, there it is. A few memories from that trip. I never get tired of Muenster and I loved Berlin. I look forward to going back. I hope you all get to see the captions.