Berlin, Germany

Germany - the Fatherland. I have wanted to visit ever since I heard U2's Achtung Baby. I was 14 then, and here I am now, 12 years later.

Having no knowledge of the language, outside of bits I've picked up from industrial music and no knowledge of the history/culture, except for watching Sprockets, I felt well-prepared for what I'd find here. I even went to the trouble of watching Good Bye Lenin! before I left - which was a hell of a lot more than I did to prepare for Tokyo, where I stayed for the better part of a year.

Armed with a German phrase book that was kindly lent to me by a co-worker, I got on the plane, fully expecting the skies of Berlin to be a perpetual steel-grey and the streets to be full with severe-looking robots, clad in fine black cotton.

Imagine my surprise when the plane actually touched down.