I don't think I would describe myself as a patient person.  I get annoyed in slow traffic. I try to finish people's sentences. I can't sit still through a movie. Photography is the one thing that might be able to bring out my inner patient person. My inner patient person probably thinks before she speaks and wears hand knit cardigans like Mr. Rogers did.  

After my last trip to Berlin in 2008, and a very rushed and crowded visit to the Brandenburg Gate, I knew that I wanted to photograph the structure at night. That was my goal while we were in Berlin and it took several attempts to achieve it.

The first visit on this particular trip, was 800 degrees C and the place was crawling with tourists... but most importantly it was the middle of the day. The middle of the day, I deduced, is a bad time to try and get night time photos so we continued on our walking tour instead. 

The next day with the help of my Aunt, Mikey and I had gained our bearings around the city and could successfully find the following:

The train station
The bus stop
The record store (because big cities only ever have one right?)
Brandenburg gate 
Our hotel
Several convenience stores from which to procure cheap beer

That was all we needed and we were off. After wandering around all day gathering new music and reveling in the old (we visited the Ramones Museum - so cool!) we finally made it to the gate around dusk. Mikey patiently loitered around, amusing himself by sneaking his way into random tourist group photos while I composed a few photographs, trying to use long exposures to blur out the same tourists.  I had a few photos that I thought I could work with, and we continued on with our evening of walking (so much walking)   
 

Once we were completely exhausted from walking, legs sore, feet aching and blistered, shoes falling apart at the seams, we began tracing our steps back. Not exactly well planned on our part, but we hobbled until we reached the bus stop.   We hopped on the next bus and soon found ourselves....somewhere unfamiliar.  I think it might have been Potsdamer Platz, I'm not 100% sure, but it was a very pretty and colourful place to be lost and so I set up my tripod, dug out my camera, and composed a few shots.  Lost in my own head, I'm not sure what Mikey was doing while I photographed the scene, but I'm assuming he acted responsibly and consulted a map. 

We didn't want to risk taking the bus again...so we retraced the bus route on foot (terrible idea, I still have scars from the blisters) and found ourselves at the Brandenburg gate again. By that time, the square had emptied considerably and I found a place to quickly grab one final shot.  Well.... a few more after that just for insurance. When you're thousands of miles from home, it never hurts to take a few extra just in case.  I like to think that photography makes me a more patient person, but it's more likely that I'm just terribly stubborn and Mikey is the true patient one.