Hahaha, check out the graphic on this port-a-potty! Those stick figures have to see a stick figure man about a stick figure horse.

I can't even describe my excitement at seeing Super Mario in this cafe! He ordered a giant mushroom latte. Weirdly, after we amused the hell out of ourselves by surreptitiously snapping a photo of this international superstar, we started seeing dozens of Marios all over Berlin. It seems like almost every contractor guy in Berlin wears bright blue overalls, and odds are a decent number of them at any given time are going to be wearing red shirts, you know? We also saw several worker guys wearing green overalls, but none of them were quite Luigi-esque enough to merit photographing. After our first few Mario sightings we were on a constant search for Luigi but never quite found him.

I realize this sign at Checkpoint Charlie is just a replica of the old one that was there after the war, but it still blows my mind to walk down this crowded touristy street and realize this is really the place, you know? See next photo...

I wish I'd taken a picture of this particular intersection now to show how different it is; smiling tourists everywhere, souvenir shops, a Subway, a Starbucks, tourbuses from everywhere in Europe lining the street, etc.

As you can see, the previous picture is one of dozens that line the wall around a huge construction project going on just across from the checkpoint itself.

I thought this was another Mario, but I just now realized his colors are inverted! You would think that would make him Wario, but it doesn't work like that.

Marjorie bought some super glue to repair her boot, and while we waited for it to dry I glued this twenty-centime piece to the concrete slab we were sitting on.

Seconds later, you can see that I am very, very sincerely pleased with myself about gluing the coin to the ground. Man, I'm practically pulling a wistful, introspective Mr. Roper face I'm so happy about it.

Gah, I can't believe I missed to the chance to see Iggy and the Stooges, in Berlin of all fucking places! I hadn't heard about this until we saw this poster, and we had to leave Berlin just a couple days before the show. Man.

We found this cute Vietnamese restaurant at the Northern edge of Mitte while we were on our way to a bar called the White Trash...

Something mindblowing about Berlin is how cheap it is compared to chosen my hometown of Paris. There was NOTHING on the menu in this joint that was more than eight or nine Euros. I couldn't believe it; I kept thinking I must be looking at page after page after page of just appetizers (and honestly, it's not even easy to find an appetizer for less than ten Euros on a menu in Paris). The apps were like four Euros and the entrees were maybe six or seven, and everything was delicious. Hanging around Berlin for a week made me really, really understand why a lot of my European friends want to move there; it's one of the biggest, funnest, modern-est cities in Western Europe, and somehow one of the cheapest as well. I don't know how it's possible.

Here we are at the White Trash, perhaps the rockingest bar/club in Berlin, but we were there on a slow weeknight this particular time. My roommate Alexis' band, the Dead Sexy Inc., and also my friend Ladyfingers have played here. Even though it was pretty dead that night, the DJ was playing wonderful 60s mod-ish rock n' roll and we had a swell time. We went back during the weekend and the place was PACKED, and a terrible band was playing. Still, I really like this place.

Next, we went to a terrible goth bar that's literally right next door to the White Trash, called the Last Cathedral. The place was completely dead, they charged a cover for some absurd reason, the barmaid was unfriendly and poured me the tiniest shot of whiskey ever, and the only other customers were four nerdy old guys who were all simultaneously hitting on the barmaid all night. Plus there are plastic skeletons on the walls and stuff. I'd heard this place was cool but I got a very unfriendly and unfun vibe from it. Maybe it's a lot better on the weekends. Anyway, the best thing to come out of my night at the Last Cathedral was this cool picture of me, using the blue lights on the wall and red candle on the table.

The next morning we did a lot more wandering and I happened to find myself across the street from this very impressive and very German-looking old church. Man, that's gorgeous.

I took this picture for my roommate Lada, who's obsessed with leopard-print everything. We did not ride the balloon or the leopard car.

All this sightseeing makes me thirsty.