On indefinite social media hiatus effective right now. Flying to Frankfurt on Monday for next level melanoma treatment and consultation - alles auf Deutsch. That will take all of my focus and energy, so I‘m signing off early. Cheers, friends.

Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human? On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.

No place like home!

18 September 2022, in Nürnberg-Himpfelshof. She’s a beauty - and I just had to get that older Land Rover into the frame as well. 😍 Himpfelshof is west of the Altstadt, or Old City, of Nürnberg so was not targeted to be fully destroyed in WW2.

I spotted this warning sign, with a typically blunt Glaswegian twist, on one of the temporary fairground rides that are currently on Kelvin Way in the West End of the city. #glasgow #humour #sign #kelvinway #glasgowtoday

18. September 1941 #VictorKlemperer #Tagebücher #NS #Nationalsozialismus #Faschismus #Antisemitismus #Shoah #Rassegesetze #Judenstern #Stigmatisierung #Ausgrenzung #Verbote (See alt-text for English)

3 years ago today, in Nürnberg 🇩🇪 The first photo is of the building where I stay, in a friend’s top floor flat, whenever I visit. The second photo is of the cemetery across the street. The arrows in the last photo date from 1939. “LSR” is an abbreviation of “Luftschutzraum,” or Air Raid Shelter.

Current mood:

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

Seasonally-appropriate car and plate 🎃

2025 OHC sites! www.architecture.org/open-house-c...

Loving Melania entering her Grim Reaper mode. Just needs a scythe!

Fall is making itself known out here on the Oak Leaf Trail in Milwaukee.

The Germania Building in downtown Milwaukee. 🇩🇪

Bulgarian freighter parked in the lake off the Milwaukee coast, as seen from Lafayette Hill this morning.

This is near Windsor Castle where Trump will be.

In today’s race to the beer garden: I won, arriving right at opening time (2 pm) with an average speed of 16.5 mph/4 miles. My friends came from the opposite direction and arrived a couple minutes later. No head- or tailwinds; only crosswind from the east. The Estabrook Beer Garden in Milwaukee. 🇩🇪

everyone mourns in their own way

The Polish Basilica aka St Josaphat (RC) on the South Side of Milwaukee. Our morning ride on the Oak Leaf Trail was a bit of a disappointment, as it is comprised of unprotected bike lanes in that section of the city. And then our lunch destination was inexplicably closed w/no notice or explanation.

Recession watch, MKE edition: last Friday, I arrived at Cafe Hollander @9 am for breakfast. They open at 8 am. The huge outdoor terrace was empty and I didn‘t see anyone seated inside. Today, Korean food stall at 3rd St Market w/posted opening of 11 am was closed at 11:40 with no notice/explanation.

Kash Patel now says there’s a manifesto in the Kirk shooting, but it was destroyed, but the FBI can prove it existed using forensic evidence. So Kash wants to reproduce a manifesto that doesn’t exist to reveal the motives of the shooter. Got it.

My friend Charlie, his wife Hilde and family are at it again! They are Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery in Hart, Michigan, in the shadow of the golden sand dunes at nearby Silver Lake.

Another piece of “my” Minneapolis is gone.

Last Thursday, while waiting for the crossing gates to open at the Sacramento side of Francisco Station (CTA Brown Line), I saw a young woman beat death. She had decided to crouch under the gates and walk across the tracks, apparently distracted by an incoming train on the opposite side. (Con’t)

Some personal news: I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. Thread incoming. substack.com/@karenattiah...

We took the K line to Fairview Heights and used the new Rail to Rail south LA bike path to get to #CicLAvia.

Beer gardens need an accordion player, and I just found out that Kegel’s here in Milwaukee will have one on Wednesday night for TWO HOURS. Mein Gott, es wird Himmel sein.

Terrific juice bar/vegan eatery near the northern (Brown Deer Rd) terminus of the Oak Leaf Trail. Very bike friendly, too.

Kanzelrede in Luthers Stadtkirche zu Wittenberg - diesen Sonntag werde ich nicht vergessen.

Not your standard views of Holland’s “Big Red” lighthouse and surrounding channel/piers 😳

Highly recommend!

This podcast is one of my favorite discoveries this year.

Three years ago today, I took this point-and-click shot in the Levendaal-West section of Leiden (NL). It’s become one of my all-time favorites.

Why am I “extroverting” again already this weekend? Anyone?

So many plans for this trip…probably too many…but the rain stops most of them. For now.

A bee is stuck in our beer garden Obatzda. 😩

Milwaukee’s beer gardens are the most like Germany’s. 🫡

First formal stop: Cafe Hollander (where else?)

Hiawatha! Find a friendly skycap who who will insist that you and your bike board first. It‘s a great way to start the journey, as there are no customer service agents at their desks until 6 am - and this is the (nearly empty) 6:10 to Milwaukee. N.B. No cafe car! Ugh.

My first Oktoberfest in Munich: 20 years old, naive American boy, just coming out to myself, I brought a hot Bavarian clad in full lederhosen (twice my age) back to my dorm room. I got properly laid for the first time and stopped “dating” women. He was served with divorce papers later in the year. 🤷🏽‍♂️

The sky was the same brilliant shade of blue on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I left for work that morning from the same CTA station and platform where I am standing now. Two blocks north of my home then; two blocks south of my home now. In that sense alone, my life has changed very little.

“Ein Stück Pflaumenkuchen zum Mitnehmen, bitte!“ Fresh plum cake on the square at Giddings Plaza (former Cafe Selmarie, now Willow).

These people are absolutely brain diseased.

Charlie Kirk war nicht „rechtskonservativ“. Er war in den letzten Jahren dem Spektrum des White Nationalism zuzuordnen, ein Faschist und offen rechtsextrem, hat gegen BPoC und LGBTQ Menschen gehetzt, ein radikaler Sexist obendrein. Man kann seine Ermordung verurteilen ohne ihn zu verharmlosen.

I love that Jason Kelce went to Roseland! One of my best friends and riding companion this AM is from an old Roseland family (the Jellemas - Google: William Harry Jellema) and lives in South Holland. A Roseland revival/renaissance would be welcomed by many with familial roots in that community.

Good morning from Kinmo the cat.

Time to read up on Horst Wessel, kids:

A photo has just emerged from storage in Oak Park: your author just back from school in Germany, all bulked up on beer and brez’n. 😍

BREAKING: Evanston officials confirmed that Homeland Security was in Evanston Wednesday A source confirmed a DHS representative was at Church St. and Brown Ave. near Evanston Township HS Evanston PD chief confirmed police would not assist with "immigration matter" Story TK

For the record: I celebrate no one’s murder. No one.