Pick-A-Day

March 2024
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Archives

Völklingen Ironworks – A Cynical Take

Last October I popped over to Saarbrücken for a weekend, gong there to see the Völklinger Hütte — A UNESCO World Heritage Site that, from a distance, seemed pretty cool. It turns out I found it rather boring — and I wrote a note to a friend about what I thought:

Today I am in […]

In defense of the hamster.

Last year, during the initial lockdown, there was that run on soap and on toilet paper.

Both puzzled me: I always have enough soap on hand to get me through at least the next three months – and, more to the point, were these people not washing their hands before the pandemic? Did it […]

Whatchamacallit 152: 38 Days

This is a hand drawn map showing the route that Ahmed Alali took from Damascus to Berlin over the course of 38 days in 2015.

He was escaping the war in Syria.

When I photographed this drawing, I thought to myself, “oh this will be easy – I’ve written about it before, I can […]

Whatchamacallit 5: Hier war Goethe nie

Before moving to Germany, I think it is safe to say that I had not really thought at all about Germany and its history – beyond the typical broad strokes that Americans learn about: Germany was responsible for World War I and for World War II.

I could go on about the accuracy of […]

My September… Düsseldorf

Wow… This month is flying by, and things are, at least for now, going pretty well.

I skipped out of town last weekend – driven out of town by the prospect of being within drum earshot (and only drum earshot) of a “music” stage set up to motivate the runners of the Berlin Marathon.

My […]

It’s August… I took a brief vacation.

This month, for the first time since January, I had the time to take a vacation – leaving the boundaries of Berlin, hopping into metal tubes, and escaping to Immenstadt and Kiel – opposite ends of Germany, but fulfilling personal wishes to see friends and hit the beach.

I managed to spend three […]

Visiting Wolfsburg (VW): Germany’s Detroit (but not quite there yet)

This weekend, for reasons I won’t really disclose here, a friend and I agreed to meet in Wolfsburg – a city just over an hour west of Berlin.

For most people it is notable because it is home to Volkswagon.

I’ll admit that when we agreed to meet in Wolfsburg, I had no […]

Last Weekend I escaped to Hamburg…

The BallinStadt Auswanderermuseum in Hamburg.

When I realized that my BahnCard was expiring (I’d cancelled it), I decided to take one more trip using it… and it was off to Hamburg I went.

I wanted a quiet weekend with interesting things, and a quiet weekend with interesting things I got.

Friday evening I did […]

Same procedure as last year?

New Year’s Eve Tradition in Mobile, Alabama…

And, in keeping with the procedure from last year, Germany…

If you want to watch this on television, instead of on YouTube, and you’re in Germany, good news: you cannot miss it:

[…]

Thanks for the far distant advanced warning!

Warning for Chimney Sweep visit on Friday, September 7, posted on Tuesday, September 4th.

If I had a fireplace, I’d only have four days notice that the chimney sweep was coming to do his (her) regular maintenance. It’s little things like this that make life in Germany a wee bit difficult: I’m not […]