Copyright: Jurgen Brauer, Augusta, Georgia, USA

My daughter Anne and I (Jurgen Brauer) went to Germany, England, and Portugal. Here are some pictures and stories. Actually, since we are hobbyist underwater photographers, the story starts in the water -- some very non-European waters. In the picture below, we caught a bunch of (harmless) nurse sharks.

A beautiful jellyfish (if you know which species, email us at jbrauer@aug.edu).

A majestically posed octopus has a good look at the camera.

A rare leaf frogfish (?).

A longsnout foureye butterflyfish (I need to check the species ID).

Some species of goby.

Don't know the species. Still need to look it up.

Same here. Unfamiliar territory ... but we saw these critters in and out of water.

Hereunder a most-dangerous fish. It's a potently poisonous stonefish. Well camouflaged, one can hardly note its eyes.

Well, and now we need to reveal the secret ... the pictures above (and many below) were actually taken in the Berlin aquarium. Still, they are our pictures, shot right through the aquarium glass.

This is Anne's new favored pet, the Komodo Dragon.

Since we used to have a pet red-tailed boa, we like reptile critters.

Hereunder an example of what to do when your picture was out of focus ... jazz it up with software and make it "artsy" !

The crocs in the next couple of photographs were rather impressive in size. The first one, we'd say, measured around seven or eight feet in length. Thank goodness for tele-zoom lenses.

On to frogs. There are two in the picture below.

Hereunder a poison-dart frog. I understand that they eat ants and secret the ant's venom to their skin.

Can you see the insect? It's a (sizeable) "stick" insect. We used to live in southern Africa where we found the occasional stick insect on the car hood.

Once you found it, the tarantula is fairly visible to the camera.

A leaf-insect below. Nature surely has its deceptive ways.

The visit to Berlin was endeared by my cousin (second picture below) who came to visit. She brought her 13-year old daughter Jennifer (below, on right) along. Jennifer and Anne had a blast of a good time.

Cousin Manuela who drove (bless her) four hours to Berlin just to see me and Anne.

From Berlin Anne and I took the night train to Heidelberg. What a treat -- a cabin for ourselves, the train attendant makes your bed and brings you breakfast-to-order.

Near Heidelberg is where long-time, old friends Jim and Anne live (after whom daughter Anne was named). Anne's apartment is small, but I managed to take a nicely composed picture of it.

A view from the window.

Pets, pets, pets ... (and note the photographers legs and socks on the left; the things one does to attract attention).

Jim and Anne have four kids but we managed to photograph only two, Ilana (hereunder) ...

... and Johanna.

Johanna took a liking to Anne's hair and braided it. Anne didn't mind at all.

Friend Jim is a woodworker. Artists design pieces and he helps builds them (example below).

Friend Anne's favorite bench ...

... with views like these, it's no wonder she likes the bench ...

In Heidelberg, we met with Meryem (below, second from left), a Germano-Turko medical student (whom my wife and I first met at Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, Turkey, a few years ago). Ilana and her sister Erene are on the right, Anne on the very left.

A view of Schloss Heidelberg from the city.

... and, vice versa, a view of Heidelberg from the Schloss.

Now, in Schloss Heidelberg there's a cellar. And in the cellar is the so-called "Kleines Fass," pictured below, meaning the "little wine barrel." It holds a mere 50,000 liters (13,000 or so gallons) of wine.

The "Grosses Fass" (you guessed it -- the "big wine barrel") on the next picture is enormous. It absolutely dwarfs people. It holds 221,000 liters (that's roughly 50,000 gallons).

Interestingly, the Schloss Heidelberg contains a permanent exhibition on the history of pharmacy. Some pictures follow.

Finally, a not atypical street view in Heidelberg. The city lies in a valley both sides of which rise steeply up the mountain slopes. Very picturesque.

On the train ride back to Berlin, Anne is practising her German reading skills.

Back in Berlin, my old friend Norbert invited us to Spandau, an area in the northwest of Berlin. A penthouse restaurant on top of the Novotel Hotel affords a splendid view. Here Norbert is telling Anne some of Berlin's illustrious and not so illustrious history. In fact, at the moment I took the picture he was telling her about Berlin's "Truemmerfrauen," the Berlin ladies who cleaned up the tons and tons of rubble that World War II left of Berlin.

Happier events the same day. Turkey won a game in the world soccer championship held in Japan and South Korea this year. Berlin is, after Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey's third-largest city. Here, a few of the thousands of Berlin-Turks celebrate in downtown Berlin.

Speaking of Turkey. One of our long-time German-Turkish friends, Nami, invited us to a Turkish dinner. That deserves a hug for sure!

A poignant picture below: a drunk in front of the old and new "Gedaechniskirche" in downtown Berlin. The old church was destroyed in World War II and its was ruin left as a memorial. The new church is used for church services.

A pictorially more dramatic view of the two churches ...

Friend Norbert gave us some tickets for a tour of the city. Hereunder, infamous Checkpoint Charley, photographed through the tour bus window.

The old East German parliament building is the asbestos-ridden building on the right.

The "Rote Rathaus," the red city hall received its name obviously from the color of the stone, not from its East German communist time. It now houses the offices of Berlin's major.

Famous Humboldt University. For work done here between 1902 and 1933, its scientists garnered 29 Nobel prizes! Today, only the University of Cambridge in England would be comparable.

Nearly a dozen years after reunification, Berlin is still Europe's largest construction site ...

... although spiced with Berlin's unique brand of humor -- the Brandenburg Gate dressed up in the stockings of the German national soccer team.

The German chancellor's new offices, to which Berliner's in their irreverent manner refer as the "washing machine." They've got a point, don't they?

An earlier architectonic marvel is the concert hall.

After Berlin, we took a day trip to Potsdam. A dear former student of mine hails from there, and Anne and I decided to pay a visit, now that the borders are no more. The main train station is pictured hereunder.

There is too much to see in Potsdam, so we decided to spend the day checking out Frederick the Great's dig, Schloss Sanssouci (Frederick loved all things French). The picture below is of the picture gallery. We were not permitted to photograph inside the gallery ...

... and we didn't. Instead, with digital sneekiness we took a picture of a poster! Looks just as good as the real inside. The Schloss, as befits a king, includes a tremendously huge park area. Below, a shot from the Friedenskirche (Peace Church).

In this church are burried King Friedich Wilhelm IV and his Queen.

The garden in front of the church is peaceful enough and inspiring.

Here, Anne meets Frederick the Great himself ... (but only after she read the sign saying so).

The Chinese Teahouse in the park ...

... and where there's a park there have to be, of course, some critters around.

The view from the Roman bath is inviting.

Restauration efforts are visibly in progress.

A different sort of restoration ... all the walking around Schloss Sanssouci shortens my legs, and some coffee and ice cream are much needed.

Daughter Anne couldn't resists to make me my student's laughing stock. What's this thing doing on my nose?

Then we hopped on the airplane to ...

... surely, you guessed it, London. We rented a room for a week in Hendon, north London (see below for a flattering photograph) ...

... and took various day trips from the King's Cross and Paddington (below) train stations.

Photographer's luck. While standing in line for train tickets, I saw a rainbow in Anne's hair. No, the hair is NOT dyed, I promise, it is truly a rainbow.

One of our day trips was to York (remember the House of Lancaster and the House of York from English history?).

The York Minster is the dominating view, and -- in view of our time limitations -- we spent the day inside the old city walls.

English homes were built small. Anne, not a giant, hardly fits in the door frame.

Back in London, we visit with Andrew Bell (left) and Steve Warren (right), co-owners of Ocean Optics, an underwater photography store in central London. Anne and I were there just to meet and chat -- and to collect our pay (just having published some underwater photography).

Step out of the store toward the River Thames and catch a glimpse of the new foot bridge ...

... stop and take a tourist photograph (you notice the millenium wheel on the left and Big Ben in the middle) ...

A couple of close-ups of the Wheel follow ...

For perspective: do you see the helicopter in the photograph? (The speck near the middle of the right-hand truss.)

Parliament with Big Ben in the clocktower.

Trafalgar Square is bustling.

We bought tickets to attend a musical, Fame, in the theater district. Here, I am taking a dinner break before the performance.

Next day, we got the matinee performance of Art, a funny piece about three friends one of whom buys a sinfully expensive white canvas that he believes is a painting. One friend isn't so amused and calls it a "white piece of $*&(#^," and the third friend doesn't have the guts to say the same, nor the guts to disappoint the art lover.

Brazil won a game and advances to the final against Germany. Brazilians celebrate in Trafalgar Square. Anne and I saw nearly all games!

Speaking of soccer ... the following picture ought to win us a big prize. You see, England had lost to Brazil on account of a free-kick that the English goalie, David Seaman, misjudged (he was too far out of the goal). Clearly, the goalie's fault. A sad mistake. A couple days later we saw this book prominently displayed ...

Another day trip took us to the University of Cambridge. We went to talk with folks at BirdLife International, and at Fauna and Flora, and to visit the university. We stopped by the Zoology Museum. The next photograph was taken rather more deliberately. If you look with care, you'll see the reflection of Anne and myself as we take the photograph. The giant spider crab is giantic indeed!

Inside the museum we examined various exhibits.

A professor, Martin Wells, had an exhibition in the museum. We very much enjoyed his paintings. I especially liked the sea horses (2nd picture below).

Critters, critters, and more critters ...

Here's a "critter" son Leon can enjoy, photographed in front of the Trinity College gate at Cambridge.

Below some lovely views of St. John's College, Cambridge.

After London and England, off we went to Lisbon and Portugal.

Pasteis de Belem is widely known for its delicacy sweets.

A view of the marina ...

The monument in honor of Henry, the Navigator can be entered. The elevator ride to the top costs E1.80. That's E3.60 for Anne and myself. As I put down my E1 coins, the cashier carefully sorted through them. You see, the Euro coins share a common design on the front, but the back is different for each of the 12 EU countries that participate in the monetary union. Thus, coin collecting has become an avocation of many Europeans who want Euro coins from each of the 12 member countries. It so happened that one of the Euros I put down came from Finland. When the cashier's eyes lightened up, I promptly removed the coin, and asked, in all good humor, for a discount (dam economists.) Sure enough, Anne got to go on the elevator ride free of charge.

The view of Lisbon would have been worth the full E3.60, though.

A dear Turkish colleague who brought her son ...

... and her husband along. Academic conferences are very enjoyable with friends such as these.

In front of the monument is a huge world map, indicating the times and places Portugal discovered (and colonized).

A unique view (below). Photographed from the top of the monument is the statue of Henry, the Navigator. You see his hat and, to his side, the heads of various of his compatriots.

Here is a side-view of Henry and associates.

This house, of which there are no more than a handful in all of Europe, is unique because the entire front wall consists of rounded stones which make for an interesting pattern.

Speaking of houses ... personally, I really enjoy Lisbon architecture. For example, I love the tiled walls, ...

... the archways, ...

... and the simple beauty of the building facades.

From here we went on to the Azores. What a trip!