Berlin: Partytown

The sun's reflection on the TV tower was seen as a Christian cross in West Berlin, but as a "plus" sign - meaning positive for socialism in East Berlin.

During their visit to Berlin, Anne and Mark visited several historical sights dating from World War II and earlier, and from the Cold War, including the TV tower pictured above.  However, it was not all history and education.  In addition, Anne and Mark visited some pretty big parties.  First, they stumbled upon a fan festival related to the World Cup for Women that is taking place in Germany.

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The actual ball used in the tournament is probably smaller 

Near to the fan festival, Anne and Mark noticed a red carpet set-up and a couple of secret service-looking guys with ear pieces and dark sunglasses.  This seemed to be a bit much for a fan festival.  Who could be coming to it?  Some German politician?  A famous soccer player?  No, neither makes any sense.  The former would require secret service, but not a red carpet.  The latter, vice-versa.

So, Anne and Mark took in a bit of the fan festival and then moved on.  A couple of blocks later they ran into another crowd.  They assumed that this was also associated with the soccer thing, but it soon became apparent that this was a different crowd.  This crowd was dressed up a bit more and contained a lot more high-pitched screaming.  Anne and Mark went in to investigate...

Anne and Mark wandered near to the Sony Center, a huge complex that contains a sports arena, shopping mall and movie theatre.  Significantly, it also contained an oversized Decepticon logo (above).  

 Anne and Mark had stumbled upon the European premiere of the movie Transformers 3: The Dark of the Moon.  This solved the mystery of the red carpet and secret service security.  Who are the only people who need to be treated as both important and popular?  Movie stars!  Anne and Mark waited for nearly minutes to see if Stephen Spielberg would walk by, but then decided that the high-pitched screaming from the fans was unbearable and moved on.

Eventually, Anne and Mark headed back to where they were staying, which was a neighborhood in what was formerly East Berlin that the locals call "Casting."  The nickname comes from the fact that this neighborhood is very fashionable and all of the beautiful people hang out there at night - so much so that it looks like central casting in Hollywood.  (Naturally, Mark was immediately recognized as a tourist among all these beautiful people.)  Back in Casting, Anne and Mark were invited to a birthday party put on by their generous hosts.

Two beautiful people from central casting (also, generous and from a real good college).