First stop – the wurst place

You know they take their sausages seriously when you see this. Finally, some pics from my first stop, Berlin.

Sitting at Checkpoint Charlie, where people crossed in and out of East Germany. Many folks are too young to remember a time before a united Germany.

Took a wonderful cruise on rivers and canals. A great way to see the city and architecture.

In front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Frank Ghery designed this conference room inside a bank near the gate.

An amazing store in Berlin, KaDeWe, which is short for something much longer. Like Harrod’s in London. See is you can find the sausage.

Desserts in one of the food court buffet areas.

Really enjoyed browsing the Turkish market which is on a couple of times per week. Amazing fruits and veggies plus sundries.

Looking up inside the Sony building, an entertainment and business center.

It rained when we were getting to the monument to the murdered Jews. A very striking design, reminiscent of old graveyards like you see in New Orleans or European cities.

View from the edge. The blocks start low then go over your head as the ground moves down so you can’t see far in any direction.

Impressive ruin of a gate from Greece.

This was one of my favorite pieces, the Ishtar Gate. Incredible scale and blue color. This would have been one of the gates to the city. Amazing they named it after such a bad movie.

Radio tower, symbol of East Berlin, at Alexanderplatz.

A sunnier view of the Brandenburg gate.

Dome of the reistag, designed by architect, Norman Foster. Great views and beautiful design.

Inside the dome. It has a metal visor that moves with the sun to help keep it cooler.

This is the front of the reistag. It was burned and reconstructed. Something about a war, some bad guys, etc. These are cliff notes.

This is a condemned building that artists took over – Tacheles.

Finally, a lovely place for afternoon tea and fresh lemonade and wonderful desserts. Princess Cheesecake. We need one in LA.

Desserts on display.

Strawberry tart and tea served with a timer on top so you know when it’s perfectly steeped.

I’m in London now having a great time. The Olympic torch is coming nearby tomorrow and the city is a festive place. Almost 4am and need to sleep. Pics from St Petersburg are next up.

Who wants a cookie?

Before I get to pics from the trip, I thought I’d share pics from the amazing treats everyone made to send me on my way. I was impressed with the effort and selection and tasted each and every one. So good! Sadly, I don’t have all of the pics with me now, but here are most of them.

Cascades of chocolate for dipping with fruit, marshmallows and pound cake thanks to Carmen

I made chocolate chip cookies and had a happy accident – a batch of crispy cookies that were left in the oven after it was turned off.

Toni made her powerful punch in two varieties, strong and stronger.

Alex made lemon and lime swirl meringues, right from the cover of Martha Stewart.

Ali’s Cookie Brownies, a tasty combination of chocolate chip cookie and brownie.

Tina’s lemon bars – nice and tangy with a flaky crust.

Tracy’s Chocolate Espresso Cookies had people buzzing.

Bryan’s wife, Terri, made these delicious oatmeal chocolate chip pecan cookies. Perfect in every way.

Jack brought a cotton candy machine to add to the overall carnival theme and whipped up a batch of whispy sticks.

Callie brought gluten-free cookies that could have masqueraded from gluten-full.

Sam Mak brought these light and delicate Earl Grey shortbread cookies.

And, oddly enough, so did Brian Jocson. Both versions very tasty.

Earl Grey tea cookie duel. A side-by-side comparison.

Sam Eisner brought these moist and decadent chocolate truffle brownies with chocolate chips.

Vi brought these tender and delicate strawberry creations.

Lisa brought cute and tasty cake pops in two varieties, strawberry and yellow cake.

Roberta brought these awesome blonde brownies. Thick and chewy.

Cindy brought this refreshing and delicious salad, which cleaned the palate so you could eat more cookies. What a great idea!

I believe Shannon made the popcorn as well to add to the carnival theme.

These incredibly cute and tasty cupcakes were compliment of Susan, who had a little help from Hansen’s – Bakery to the stars.

Sarah made these delicious and tangy lime creations. Delicate and one of the favorites of the day.

Sarah got extra credit by baking TWO types of cookies. These sesame cookies were the most unusual and also one of the favorites of the day. Nice job.

I’d like one now, please. Thanks!

Hello!

A farewell in meringue

Welcome to Larry’s Trips! If you came here expecting to find Larry Strips, I’ve put that behind me. I recently left a job I’d had for over 13 years and decided to take a few months to travel. After several requests to post pictures from my travels, I decided to create this blog. Did I really just say that?

This is about what happens next. Please enjoy the pics — assuming I ever figure out how to make this all work.