A slow afternoon at Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

I thought I was visiting Brandenburg Gate just to say I had been there, but the memory became personal almost immediately. Standing near Pariser Platz, 10117 Berlin, I noticed the small details first: footsteps, wind, a vendor calling out, somebody laughing like they had nowhere else to be. Later, when I looked back at the pictures, they did not fully explain what happened there. The real memory was the pause: a few minutes in Berlin where I felt present, grateful, and strangely ready for whatever came next.