Tomodachi no ryokou!

Right, need a break from the thesis so I'm just posting photos from my friends' visit to Berlin! I think they had a good time, really needed a break from work, I guess. :) So first off, here's a group photo (left to right: Julien, Doireann, Rebecca, me, Jen) in front of the Reichstag, the building where the German parliament (Bundestag) assemble. I do like the German flag (in the background)!

Next is a photo of an antique traffic light, it's now just for show, located in Potsdamer Platz (area where I live). In the old days, with no computerisation, people had to stand in the booth above the clocks and manually change the lights. Kind of cool, huh. ;)

The double line of cobble stones (in the photo below) actually marks where the Berlin Wall used to be so you can see it all around Berlin - it's a work in progress!
The following three photos are from the night out, my friends wanted to see what the night life in Berlin was like. I think they enjoyed it. The photos are in order of START, MIDDLE and END of the night, hehe! No glasses for me then, thank god for contacts! Hair was done up by Doireann, the red-haired girl in the first photo. She's a 2nd year postgrad in my research group.
Here we have Rebecca and Jen posing with me, both are also postgrads in the group. Rebecca's in 2nd year, while Jen's in 1st year!
Finally, a photo of me and La Mechante Guenon (a.k.a. Julien) at the end of the night. Julien is a postdoctoral researcher in our lab. Why the nickname? Haha, better to ask him. Its retaliation for calling me La Chinoise! Everyone in the lab calls me that now. Rebecca even has that as my nickname on her mobile! Argh! O_O On their last day in Berlin, we went and did more sightseeing. However, we couldn't resist the lure of the adult-size see-saws which were located in the green next to my apartment block!

Look, even Julien had to pry Jen off the see-saw! Haha, she's such a kid! But then again, we were all playing on the see-saws! [blush]
Now, some familiar photos, since I've photos of when Christinah and Co. were over last February. Look, there's even proof of me vandalising a historic site, the East Side Gallery!
Here we are at the Marx-Engels Forum.
This last photo is priceless! Haha, I didn't notice it till this very trip. The building is a church (Berliner Dom). That day was a Sunday (i.e. mass) and what do I see? The most inappropriate sign (see magnification in the photo!)!!! The word is "Lustgarten" - "garten" is pronounced "garden" so the sign actually says "LUSTGARDEN"!!! What the heck? Haha! We all thought it was funny. Not sure if it's German humour or something really innocent.
So that's it! Photos from my friends' visit in the last weekend in March. :) So back to my thesis I go! Tschuss!