Old dog + new tricks = few pics

My short-term objectives include a lot of slimming down.

I mean that in two ways.

First, the obvious. If I am going to stride confidently up to a jeune femme in a cafe and suavely ask what she's reading, it would be nice not to have my beer belly telegraphing my arrival.

To that end, I've been trying to make good use of the suddenly vast amount of free time I engineered for myself.

In my roughly-sketched plan, the summer is dedicated to Berlin (with wiggle room for Northern and Eastern European ventures), so my days have mostly involved biking or walking through areas of the city I'm less familiar with. Major expeditions to date include:

- Treptower Park: During the summer, at least, this is really more like two parks, separated by the 4-lane Puschkinallee (boulevard) that was part of my commute home from work. The strip running along the Spree river is what I imagine Coney Island or Boston's Revere Beach used to be like: hot dog (ok, bratwurst) and ice cream stands, carnival games and rides (some with a decidely more adult flare than would be accepted by the 4-H carnival!) , counterfeit sunglass vendors, kids splashing in fountains, and a couple of semi-permanent biergartens. All swarming with true locals. (Trust me, this one ain't even in Rough Guide, let alone Frommer's.) The energizing -- if eventually maddening -- sound of synthesized, and overlapping, one-man oompa bands keeps it all moving.

On the other side of the road, away from the Spree, it's a much more placid scene. Like the Tiergarten, the theme is forest, grass and shrubs, and ponds, broken up by the occasional perfectly tended flower garden. Unlike the Tiergarten, though (which is a sublimely subtle and serene urban space), Treptower got stepped on by one MOTHER of a monument to the Soviet soldiers killed during the Battle of Berlin. There are a few areas where the USSR indisputably claimed victory: vodka, military uniforms, caviar, surveillance, and monuments that -- rather than inspire -- make you feel about as big as a pea.

At the west end of Treptower Park, Schillingbrucke bridge crosses the Spree, providing a vantage point for admiring the stunning sculpture "Molecule Man" by the American Jonathan Borofsky.

- Prenzlauer Burg. I'd live here in a second if it weren't just as far from the rest of the city as Freidrichshain (and up a hill, which is rare in Berlin). It may win "most-gentrified but still cool" award. If I had two young kids, I suspect the government would actually require that I submit written justification for living in Friedrichshain instead of Prenzlauer Burg. Friedrichshain may have a similar, but inverted, requirement for young parents with multiple tattoos.

- Tiergarten. Simply the best urban park I have ever had the pleasure of exploring. My scope is limited, but I don't think Central Park can hold a candle to it. Flowers, ponds, fountains, statues, hidden nooks, broad open fields. And not a drug needle in sight. Just ignore the naked people.

The other slim down regimen involves purging. Papers from 2003, electrical adaptors for gadgets I don't even remember buying, clothes I've never worn, and, in particular, large, heavy items. What I keep has to fit into a Mini, remember? Can anyone tell me why it's called a "Mini"? Anyone? Bueller?

The first casualty was my Dell XPS. While lightening fast, it was heavier than an anvil. It was also starting to show some pretty severe signs of age, so I replaced it with a sleek, sexy, silent MacBook Pro.

The transition has been harder than I expected. My biggest struggle has been with pictures. I think I copied all of them over successfully, but I can't be certain, since they were immediately and voraciously sucked into some huge iPhoto library vortex. I am currently trying to do a nose count and to get several thousand pics back into some semblance of order.

All of which is to say: I do have some new pics to show off, but you're going to have to wait a bit. And since this meant to be a photo-centric blog, I've been holding off on posting at all.

I did spend a few hours wrestling these out of the iPhoto Library (aka hidden vault of never ending doom).

They're from my Leipzig trip, which (unintentionally, I swear) coincided with the annual Gothic Wave Fest...an event drawing Goths young and old to the city from around the world.

After checking in to my hotel, I headed across the street to the old town and started wandering. At first, I thought I must have stumbled onto something so weird, so "authentic" and so bizarre -- an entire city populated by Goths -- that Rick and Lonely Planet were just too politically correct to comment on it.

But, after the fifth woman (and second man) in a corset tighter than my apartment building parking space walked by, I clocked that it wasn't like this every day in Leipzig. The tolerant but bemused looks of the few identifiable locals I spotted confirmed it. As did the camera crews. At which point I began to notice the thousands of flourescent posters wrapped around anything tall, stationary and round. So much for my career as the next Sherlock.

Because Gothic Wave is a multi-day event, many of the black-clad, white-faced subterranean dwellers were forced to expose themselves in the midday sun, if only to obtain sustenance.

While this was amusing in and of itself, other secrets revealed themselves under the harsh glare of daylight.

Some Goths drive BMWs (black, natch) and stay at five-star hotels. Some sport DK guides to Germany. Others like to splash in fountains on hot days. And, many, many like ice cream. I can only hope the irony of ordering vanilla wasn't lost on them.

Truth be told, they added some appropriate character to the cobblestoned old town. As you can see from the older gent's expression, there's a lot to be said for dressing up and having fun.

I definitely recommend Leipzig as an overnight or daytrip from Dresden or Berlin. The old town is compact, almost completely car-free, and contains several architecturally noteworthy churches and government buildings, including the church where Bach was choirmaster and is entombed. Leipzig also sports a 3-star zoo, with 5-star plans. Lutherstadt Wittenberg, where Martin Luther held sway, is a quick and pleasant drive north. If you head that way, be SURE to check out the school designed by Hundertwasser. Try to visit the school on a weekend so you can roam. If only all kids had this to look forward to in the morning.