Thomas Peter / Reuters
People throw colored powder in the air during Holi festival celebrations in Berlin, July 29. Holi, also known as the festival of colors, is a festival celebrated in India and other Hindu countries that in its original form heralds the beginning of spring. The Berlin event brought Indian Djs, acrobatics and dance to the German capital.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
Thomas Peter / Reuters
Oliver Lang / AP
Sunbathers and swimmers enjoy hot weather on the shores of lake Wannsee in Berlin, Germany on July 27, 2012.
Johannes Eisele / AFP - Getty Images
German urban golf player Sven hits the ball on the roof of a closed brewery in Berlin on July 16. Urbangolf also known as turbogolf or street-golf has found an obvious home in Berlin, where a lot of closed factories and devastated buildings attract players.
Barbara Sax / AFP - Getty Images
A model presents a creation during the Chevrolet Underground Catwalk, a fashion show in a special driving train of Berlin's subway, on the sidelines of the Berlin Fashion Week on Wednesday in Berlin. The Berlin Fashion Week, presenting the collections of Spring/Summer 2013, is running from July 2 to 8, 2012.
Hannibal Hanschke / EPA
Models arrive for the Underground Catwalk fashion show in a metro station in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. Underground Catwalk is part of the annual Fashion Week in Berlin.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
German model Micaela Schaefer presents a creation during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in a U-Bahn subway train in Berlin. As the Berlin Fashion Week has pitched up its tent near the Siegessaeule victory column, 17 designers sent their models on Wednesday down a catwalk that was the aisle of a crowded U-Bahn subway train terminating at a rock music club. They presented their collections to an audience limited to 150 people, the organiser said.
See more images of fashion in PhotoBlog.
Kay Nietfeld / AFP - Getty Images
Industrial climbers clean window elements of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on April 19, in Berlin.
Kay Nietfeld / AFP - Getty Images
Cleaners work on window elements of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on April 19, in Berlin.
To restore the original luminance of the windows of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, more than 16,000 glass mosaics are being washed with hot water high-pressure cleaners. The old church, built between 1891 and 1895, was damaged and destroyed during air-raids in 1943. A new church, whose windows are being cleaned now, was constructed between 1959 and 1963 after plans of Egon Eiermann. Parts of the old church were conserved and serve as a war memorial.
Fred Ramage / Keystone Features via Getty Images, file
The ruins of the famous Tauenzien Strasse and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin on July 20, 1945, following Hitler's defeat in World War II.
Andreas Rentz / Getty Images, file
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Oct. 22, 2010 in Berlin, before it underwent a much-needed renovation.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
People take part in a pillow fight flashmob at the Brandenburg Gate that was organized over Facebook in Berlin, Germany, April 7.
Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP - Getty Images
People attend a flash-mob pillow fight during International Pillow Fight Day on April 7, 2012 in Stockholm. Many cities around the world are due to participate in the fifth annual edition.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
A woman plays with her dog amides feathers that are strewn across a lawn after a pillow fight flashmob at the Brandenburg Gate that was organized over Facebook in Berlin, Germany, April 7.
Charles Platiau / Reuters
People relax in the sun near the fountains at Trocadero square near the Eiffel tower as unusually warm temperatures hit Paris on Friday.
Alastair Grant / AP
French tourists have a picnic in the park as they sit in the sun in deck chairs in Hyde Park, London, on Friday. Temperatures in the capital are expected to rise to 20 celsius (68 fahrenheit) this weekend, far above the normal average for March.
Michele Tantussi / AFP - Getty Images
People enjoy the sun at the Goerlitzer park on Friday in Berlin as the temperature reached 18 degrees celsius.
Spring is off to a warm start in 2012, but it remains to be seen how this year will compare to 2011. Last year, human activity kept global temperatures close to a record high according to the World Meteorological Organization in this Reuters story:
On average, global temperatures in 2011 were lower than the record level hit the previous year but were still 0.40 degrees Centigrade above the 1961-1990 average and the 11th highest on record, the report said.
WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud warned that the consequences of global warming could be permanent. "The world is warming because of human activities and this is resulting in far-reaching and potentially irreversible impact on our Earth, atmosphere and oceans," he said.
La Nina, a natural weather phenomenon linked to heavy rains and flooding in the Asia-Pacific and South America and drought in Africa, was one of the strongest in the past 60 years and stayed active in the tropical Pacific until May 2011.
Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The Berlin cathedral is seen as it is illuminated during the Festival of Lights in Berlin on Wednesday.
Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
People sit on illuminated bench at the Kurfuerstendamm Boulevard during the Festival of Lights in Berlin on Wednesday. Several landmarks of the German capital, including boulevards, squares, towers, historical and modern buildings, are illuminated during the festival.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
People take pictures of a light installation "Faces of Berlin" during the Festival of Lights in Berlin, on Wednesday.
Jens Kalaene / EPA
Berlin Cathedral and the television tower are illuminated with colorful designs in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. During the 'Festival of Lights' from 12 until 23 October, landmarks, cultural monuments, buildings and squares will be lit up with colorful lights.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
A light installation titled "Army of Penguins" by Joern Hanitzsch is seen in Marlene Dietrich Square during the Festival of Lights in Berlin on Wednesday.
AFP - Getty Images
A policeman extinguishes a fire set on Oct. 8, in front of the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, during a demonstration against the German military's deployement in Aghanistan. Germany forms the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in war-torn Afghanistan, with some 5,400 soldiers in the north under NATO command.
Sometimes I wonder how individuals choose their form of protest.
Wolfgang Kumm / EPA
People watch on a big screen the Charlie Chaplin film 'The Great Dictator' at Pariser Platz, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, July 15.
Probably no accident they chose "The Great Dictator" to start this off.
As NPR reported:
The Babylon Kino will show all 80 of Charlie Chaplin's films over 24 days. The Neues Orchester Potsdam will perform live music for 10 showings.
Most notably, Geraldine Chaplin, 67, will open the events on July 15th and give a talk the following day on "My Father Charlie Chaplin." The festival begins July 15th on Pariser Platz with "The Great Dictator."
John MacDougall / AFP - Getty Images
Over one thousand guitarists perform "Amazing Grace" during the World Culture Festival at Berlin's Olympiastadion July 2. Thousands of people showed up for the festival which marks Shankar's "Art of Living" movement's 30th anniversary.
A fashion chain offered shoppers in London and Berlin the chance to dress for free Thursday - as long as they turned up in their underwear.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
Shoppers in their underwear shelter from the rain as they queue to enter a clothing store in London, England, on June 16. The Desigual shop offered the first 100 customers two items of clothing for free as long as they arrived at the store dressed only in their underwear.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
Shoppers in their underwear search for items at a clothing store in London on June 16.
Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images
People in their underwear crowd a fashion store during a marketing campaign for the summer sale in Berlin, Germany, on June 16.
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