Obama in Europe in effort to burnish foreign cache

---

BERLIN, Jul 24 (AP): Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama landed in Berlin Thursday, kicking off the European leg of his overseas trip amid high expectations.

The German capital is the first stop on a whirlwind tour that will take the presumptive Democratic nominee to Germany, France and Britain in an effort to burnish his foreign credentials.

Shortly after arriving, Obama and his retinue made their way from the Tegel Airport to the chancellery that sits across from the city's famed glass-domed Riechstag.

A column of black BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars ferried the candidate to a private meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Overhead, a police helicopter kept watch. Some 700 police have been deployed during the visit, which lasts through Friday morning.

Obama paused inside the gates of the chancellery to wave at a group of Bavarian 11th-graders whose class happened to be ending its tour of the building as he was arriving.

"We were really close," said an excited Michaela Schmid. "It was super, a real highlight."

Inside, Obama and Merkel shook hands and exchanged small talk just outside her office before heading behind closed doors.

On Wednesday, Merkel told reporters that she planned to talk about climate change and global free trade with Obama and made clear that Germany will stand by its refusal to send combat troops to southern Afghanistan.