I will find out the story behind Checkpoint Charlie Bear. He sits outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel here in Berlin city center. He certainly helps you know where you are.

I just got settled in to the hotel and thought I’d start off with a short video clip for you. You can expect more than this over the next several days. Once I get into the Green Week complex there’s going to be lots of demonstrations that will lend themselves well to video.

I can’t say that Berlin is the prettiest city I’ve ever been in but then I don’t have a car to drive around in either. I was here for International Green Week years ago and got to take a tour. I know there’s a lot to see in the area.

You’ll be seeing a lot of information from the IFAJ board meeting and the show at International Green Week. As I recall it’s acres of food from around the world. When I was here before I didn’t even have a digital camera but I did take a lot of pictures. I should have scanned some of them. Now why didn’t I think of that.

Post Update:

According to a hotel staffer the bear is a “buddy bear” which is one of many scattered throughout the city (sounds like the Cow Parade) and the bear is the city mascot. If you’ve got more than that let me know.