World Cup - Germany vs Sweden 2 : 0

Alright, this World Cup thing is getting out of hand. I actually went to restaurant on the canal to watch the Germany vs Sweden second round game. Some scenes from the German victory and a celebration at Kottbusser Tor afterward.

World Cup Fanmeile in Berlin

Well, there's no getting around it. At some point, I had to go to the Fanmeile (the area between Brandenburger Tor and the Siegessäule) to see for myself. It just happened to be at the start of the US-Italy game, which ended in a tie 1:1, so I took a look around. Not a lot of English in this post, so brush up on your German....

Germany, in the meantime, is going through some kind of patriotic transformation in a good sense. Flags are showing in quantities unknown and I think there's some healing going on. That still doesn't excuse fastening flags with clothes clips to the geranium bed...

Aleutian Islands

A special report from our roaming correspondent, Chris Mayda, as she goes out to the Aleutian Islands, which have many things in common with Berlin. Both are about the same latititude (52°N) and they are exactly on the other side of the world from each other. Chris met up with a dedicated kayaker who will tell us about the some of the great spots up there.