Did you know that’s an urban legend. JFK never said that. Well, he said he was a Berliner, but that was indeed the correct way of putting it. I guess it was quite a few years later that the story ran suggesting he had called himself a donut. Which he did not actually do.
This is not really in any way relevant, except that I am in Berlin. Which has been a fascinating experience.
Initially, I booked a flight here because I was on the way to Turkey, and there were no direct flights to Istanbul. When I travel, I very much prefer direct flights. It’s just too exhausting to be switching planes and countries all day (not to mention the COVID trickery). So, if I can’t find one, I just add the intermediary city to the trip.
One week in Berlin turned into two. Two weeks turned into: I’m going home. Ha ha ha.
Not for any specific reason really. I like it here. But I woke up a few mornings ago, made an espresso, sat down to look out my hotel window and just realized I was done. Booked a flight back to Chicago shortly after that; I have four more days here.
This trip has been remarkable, and exactly what I needed. The fact that I have the luxury of spending a month in Iceland, then a few weeks in Germany (at my leisure) is not lost on me—trust me.
However, I’ve made some pretty major lifestyle choices about home, and I’m ready to put those into action.
In terms of photography, I’ve shot quite a bit here. I have a whole other photo post I will do, but wanted to update you all on the current situation. Let me say though, that photography here is very challenging, Berlin is so eclectic. Every scene has a kind of insane mix of bicycles, classical and modern architecture, and graffiti. In addition, there are lots of rules about when people can and cannot be in your photos. Which I find a bit absurd. It’s been very difficult environment for me, but probably a good creative exercise.
Anyway, more on that later. Hope you all are well.
I had no idea how many waterfalls there were here in Iceland. So, if you’re into that kinda thing, this is your place.
I felt compelled to take a lot of video of them, so I decided to put a little compilation together. Hopefully it’s relaxing and chill.
This place was exactly what I needed after a year of lockdown. What a gift it has been to be able to travel again. There are annoying moments, for sure. For example, there are no public laundry services in this country? WTF is that about? Also, shopping here is just like the 90s. You just wander around asking people where stuff is until you eventually find it. (No Amazon).
But aside from those minor inconveniences, this place has been purely epic, and the people have been lovely.
Well, this is it. What I feel like was my best photo from Iceland.
I had a plan to post a whole series here, but as I looked over everything, I kinda decided I wasn’t really that happy with most of them. The other good ones were from the peninsula, which I already posted.
I find this incredibly ironic, because Iceland is so photogenic. Too much so, even. I’m going to attribute this somewhat dismal result to the following:
Iceland’s roads are tiny and kind of dangerous. There is no shoulder, anywhere. It’s not safe (or legal, I think) to stop on the side of the road. So, I had to drive by a lot of otherwise amazing opportunities.
I’m also kind of burnt out on landscape photography. That’s really all I shot in California for a number of years. So, as much as I was enjoying the scenery, (and truly, it’s stunning; you have to come here) I didn’t feel that compelled to collect more pictures of rocks and mountains.
Well, I guess I have two photos of some houses I liked. I will leave you with those, so… there are three photos in this post. It was all a lie.
This weekend, I’m off to Berlin. We’ll see what transpires there and how long that lasts. Feeling in a bit of a funk this week, kinda sad for some reason. Hopefully it’s just the cloudy weather.
I try to remember when I travel that there are a lot of extreme ups and downs. Definitely more so than ‘normal’ life (whatever that is).
