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Pope Benedict XVI comes from villages near Munich, and like all expatriates he will want to be homeward bound some time. Yesterday he was back in Munich with much fanfare just like my popular friends when they return home from abroad. He toured the streets of the inner city before conducting an outdoor mass at Marienplatz. Naturally I was rather curious and went to witness his home-coming since it’s not the easiest thing to see the Pope face-to-face. Not everyone was glad to see him around town, however. The streets and shops were noticeably quieter than usual, and the shops along the touring route had to close because of security reasons or because there was no way customers could beat the crowd to reach the shops. The Pope’s visit was hardly a godsend for the business owners. My colleagues warned me beforehand that the crowd would be horrible. Well, it wasn’t too bad before he arrived. I could find myself a good spot to see and photograph the Pope in a street near Marienplatz. But wh

After visiting the museums, my friends and I could not wait to see more history on the streets! My friends and I spent Monday 14th August 2006 wandering through the government district, pausing at Brandenburg Gate, visiting the World War II memorials (Jewish memorial and Führerbunker) before strolling along Unter den Linden up to Lustgarten. Then we took a boat ride along the river Spree and went up to the TV tower at the end of the day to get a good perspective of the whole city. Berlin witnessed the come and go of the different eras. It used to be the capital city of the Prussian Empire, and the monarchs chose to leave their marks through the works along the central thoroughfare of Berlin, Unter den Linden (literally, under the lime trees). The modern-day Unter den Linden is bound in the east by the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden) surrounded by the Museuminsel (Museum Island) and the Berliner Dom (Berlin Dome Church). The Prussian monarchs funded the museum collections and the expansi