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Gneisenaustraße, my U-Bahn stop, less than a block from where I live, and about forty minutes from the Stanford Center in southwest Berlin but otherwise close to most things interesting. Including Mustafa’s.

A couple blocks away is Bergmannstraße, a lively street full of coffee shops and cute restaurants, including many actually open on Sunday (when most places are closed). There was also a flea market sort of thing today off of Bergmannstr., with many typical flea market things, and books!

A short walk away is Viktoriapark, on a hill atop which there’s a big iron monument to battles won against Napoleon. It has a great view of the entire city, a Biergarten, and some very Dolores Park-like grassy slopes when it’s sunny.

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Alas, spring break has turned to spring broke, and my gelato tour of Italy has come to an end. We came to Rome (et vidimus, vicimus) and did as they do, if what Romans do is not know any Italian whatsoever. We saw David and that oh-so-charming city surrounding him and we accidentally ate lunch among Real Italians in the farmlands north of Venice. I’ll miss you, Rick Steves; and you, Grom; and definitely you, omnipresent €1,30 cappuccinos.

Jetzt lebe ich in Berlin, in a sprawling Kreuzberg flat full of books and warm colors and good smells. I’ve been in this city for under ten hours but I have a feeling we’ll get along. Here’s to six months of pretending to understand (the) German(s)!

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“Benny at the Stoplight, Cicero, Illinois,” Danny Lyon, 1965–66.

“Three young men, Uptown, Chicago,” Danny Lyon, 1965.

“Racers, McHenry, Illinois,” Danny Lyon, 1963–66

Source: The Selvedge Yard

“As a four-year-old, Serra watched a tanker in a shipyard as it was rolled off of its cradle and the buoyancy of the vessel was a revelation: ‘All the raw material that I needed is contained in the reserve of this memory, which has become a recurring dream.’”