365 in Review: My favorite Tags

While I was busily posting my daily picture, I tried to be both creative and logical with my tags. Most of the time, I tagged a city (Berlin and Potsdam are the most common) and a topic in addition to the 365 tag. My favorite ones (each title links to the tag):

Bears

They are all over Berlin - they are Berlin's mascot after all. I think most are from a project to put the same bear throughout Berlin, but I've also caught some different ones. Here are three highlights:

Street Art

This is a multi-purpose label that covers everything from the most careful murals to the rudest graffiti - many things fall solidly in between. The tradition in Berlin stems from from West Berlin graffiti on the wall during the cold war. I don't know the specifics (I should learn), but the constant street art gives my neighborhood - and much of Berlin - a vibrant and gritty feel. I love it. First, an ever-changing wall in our neighborhood:

And this was a set for a scene in Season 1 of Sense8 - it's roughly 1.5 miles from my house (and not as deserted or rough as it looks in the show):

And some of my other favorites:

Weihnachten

It's the German word for Christmas, and German Christmas is pretty amazing. There are some pictures of our celebrations with our families, but the ones of the Weihnachtsmarkts are even better (at least, picture-wise):

Transit

I'm a bit of a transit nerd, and it also reflects how I spend a significant portion of my time. There's (of course) the classic post where I chronicled a Tuesday commute, as well as these:

Travels

And last, I'll just highlight that I tired to tag every single trip with the word "Travels," as well as the main destination. Lots of vacation and work travel pictures there. Lots of them. Here are some of the best:

Of course, when I get back on the road, I'll post more travel pictures. Just now, I've been enjoying two solid months without any travel. Hooray!

One Year Gone!

I didn't actually get a chance to mark my one year in Berlin. It was either June 26 (departed the US) or June 27 (arrived in Berlin) and those were much busier than average. Given how much I've traveled over the course of the last year, it is typical that I spent neither of those days in Berlin and instead was very busy traveling to and working at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey collaboration meeting.

I'm going to take a short hiatus from blogging - probably a week or two - and then I will most likely start up again. I doubt I'm going to do anything every day, but I appreciate having a creative outlet and something that helps me stay in touch!

In other words, stay tuned!

One more Madison lake picture

Taken on my way out - Lake Mendota was looking quite lovely! 

Clouds and Sun

From yesterday, my early run on a cloudy lake: 

And sunny food trucks at lunch:

Pest inspection

My day was so full and busy that I didn't capture lakeside terrace views or nice food trucks or anything else. I did find this notice when I got back to my room, which I initially thought indicated I was entered in a contest. 

I suppose if they had found pests, they would have done something more than just leave a note!

At a science meeting

I'm running a bingo competition for students at our science meeting - my wonderful co-conspirators found s bunch of prizes! 

And our opening reception featured a sunset over Lake Mendota. Seriously pretty!

Shorter hair selfie

I got a haircut just before the Sweden trip, and I kept meaning to post a photo. So here it is at last! 

Giant air stairs

It seems to be much more common in Europe - and especially at Berlin's far outgrown airports - that the gate takes you on a bus that takes you to the plane. This is the largest plane I've boarded via the air stairs! 

Dog!

Dogs are on most of the transit, but this is the first time I saw one on the Regional Express. He wanted to cuddle my feet, and I managed to not sneeze!

TV Screens

Every bar and cafe with outdoor seating also seems to have a television propped up outside, presumably so one can watch the soccer outdoors.

Bike protest

I heard lots of bike bells and whistles outside yesterday, and when I looked the entire opposite street was full of bikes. The people were wearing vests that said GEW, and as far as I can tell I witnessed a bike protest by teachers.

Today in absurd

I bring you: a terrible idea for a chocolate bar: 

And a supposedly welcoming garbage can:

Swiss army?

This is vaguely Father's Day themed, as my dad always carries his Swiss Army knife. The street art version is a little more... Bizarre.

Variety post

First, a family of cranes:

Then, art in the club we were at: 

And David photographing an ad in the u bahn. 

Frankfurter Tor Tower

Yesterday was the first time I saw people up there!!

Sidewalk progress

Have been working at home lately got a variety of reasons, so the sidewalk was yet again the most interesting thing to photograph.

Just under my building, it looks fine but is still oddly roped off:

Further down on the next block, the sidewalk is still torn up.

Mini train

From yesterday, a short train. I'd seen these single car trains on the tracks, but this is the first one I saw at a station. 

I just checked, Jüterbog is 60km south of Berlin. 

Quick pictures

I took this poorly lit picture because there were flowers along the sidewalk, but with the sun there is no chance of seeing them.

I worked from home today, and David ordered me a surprise feast! 

Evolving street art

This is around the block from us - it's my third photo of this wall, but it seems to be constantly changing!

On our way home

We caught this statue outside Uppsala train station. We were running later than we thought - after this picture we almost missed our train to the airport!