Tomorrow I head out. Fantastic public art in Berlin on a grand scale. A very livable city except for one gripe. Many young and old smoke. It's impossible to be outdoors in a public space without being downwind. There is no apparent attempt to mitigate. It's just the way it is. I presume someone has looked at the health effects, but it must be significant. Mothers with kids and large numbers of teenage kids partake. Sad to see an otherwise, pretty healthy lot ignoring these risks.
Started the day at the Berlin Technical museum. What a great display. Not as big as the one in Munich, but well worth the trip. Followed up with an unsuccessful trip to a restaurant alleged to serve perogi. Its the closest I'm likely to get to Poland so I figured not to miss the opportunity. Alas, it was not to be. We couldn't find it even though we were in the right place.
Went to another museum with a large surrealist / Klee collection. A small Calder mobile I could with. Some wonderful things, many not my type.
Today started out with a U bahn ride to the Bauhaus archive. Not a large exhibit but many of the items are quite beautiful. I wish there was more on display but the space was limited. Then it was to the other side of town to see the Stazi museum. Dark and depressing is about the best which can be said about it. If you haven't seen the movie 'The Lives of Others' I encourage you to do so. It's a fictional story but supposedly accurate in portraying the trick they used to spy on the population. Thank goodness Germans have an opportunity to understand what happened to be able to prevent a reoccurrence.
It's quite hot and humid this afternoon and thunderstorms are predicted. It will be sushi or a vegetarian restaurant for dinner this evening. Lunch was a potato soup at the main Berlin train station. Very good and a bit lemony. Good peasant food.
John and I saved a couple from a mugging today. A guy was getting physical and the couple looked scared so I made an appropriately threatening noise and the miscreant moved off. Berlin doesn't appear to be any worse than any other big city in the crime department and its good to know that the New Yorker in me can still be relied on in the moment.
John got to a couple of first class museum's while I went off to find the ADFC, the German cycling club where 4 very heavy maps were purchased. Perhaps if I stop eating I can offset the weight of the gear. Perish the thought. I had a very nice cheesecake for lunch. No, not the whole thing. Merely a healthy slice cut to German specification.
It's been hot and humid. I love it. The locals seem a bit unprepared for the weather but it's a cheerful place. I could live here when the sun shines. Many small independent shops. The big US chains are here but if you avoid tourist areas KFC and Starbucks won't find you.
I haven't yet worked out the photo upload problem but I'm working it.
We also visited the DDR museum today where you are introduced to the color gray. You didn't need it if the state didn't make it. Surely there is something between state run and Capitalism run amuck. I can dream.
English is spoken widely here in n Berlin and in the situations where it isn't, it's possible to work around it with smile and wild gesticulations. More often than not, merchants just speak English before you have an opportunity to declare your ignorance. I suspect it won't be so easy after Berlin.
The State Dept announced a world wide caution for travelers today. I'll do what I can to stay away from concentrations of American tourists and embassies. I'd have done that In any case. I will also practice not looking like an American.
Many folks smoke here. More on this in a later post. For a people consumed as they are with rules and consideration for others, they've missed the boat on this one.
Bratwurst and potatoes salad for dinner in a beer garden this evening. Not a vegetable in evidence. Delicious but unsustainable. I suppose a potato is a vegetable but you know what I mean.
I'm pooped but it's been a good day. John and I and the apartment property manager met up within 10 minutes of my predicted eta; including 6000 miles of air travel, one late flight, a seriously overloaded bike, and Berlin rush hour traffic. I've begun the process of shedding and redistributing weight. It may not be light, but I can do better. I think I've already tossed out a pound or so.
The flight from SFO was long and uneventful. I slept a little on the plane. Not sleeping much, by getting up an hour earlier each day for the previous three evenings seems to have tricked my circadian rhythm because I don't feel particularly jet lagged.
The transfer in Frankfurt went quickly though the German Customs agent took a mighty long time before letting me in. Who knows what that was about. Possibly a slow computer.
Unpacking and assembling the bike drew an audience of well wishers. Thankfully this performance resulted in a loaded bike I was able to ride off the premisses. I've been telling folks I'm from California rather than the US and this little trick has worked like a charm. Be safe and good have been the universal wishes.
We did seem to break one thing today and that was the only elevator in this 7 story building. Since the apartment is on the 5th floor, this caused some huffing and puffing until it was fixed a few hours later.
John and I got to do a walk around museum island, sit for a beer people watching along the Spree and then Italian dinner which included a very nice thin crust pizza done in a wood fired oven. It was a much fuller day than it imagined possible.
John's looking good and is very anxious to do many or all of the same things I want to do, so tomorrow we'll head out early to continue the adventure.
I'm taking photos but am having some difficulty posting them right now. I'll keep trying but enough for tonight.
The bike is broken down and in the box. The bags are packed and all that remains is adding passport, bike computer, 2 months of drugs and money. There is still space in the bags and they aren't all that heavy which is a very good thing. The goal is to have an experience about people and places, not things.
Some months ago I decided that having a small tablet with a German data sim for cellular data service was a good way to stay in touch which is how I met Christian. There are blogs covering every imaginable subject. Cell phone service, which varies from country to country is a complicated subject. Christian knows the German market and had some good suggestions.
Christian was nice enough to offer to purchase a sim and send it to me so I could avoid having to use my little tablet in Berlin to navigate the German cell phone companies German only site. So compensation was arranged and off the to the local supermarket he went, the sim was in the mail. Soon enough, an e-mail arrived with all the numbers I'd need to set up the account. It was a good thing too, because it was a bit complicated. Thank goodness for Google Translate or I'd still be at it. All that remained was for the actual sim to appear in the mail. Shouldn't take more than a week from Germany, I've had art shipped that came in less than 7 days. How long could first class mail take? It's been 4 and a half weeks and there's no sign of the sim. Christian has filed a claim.
Did you know that US mail has been fluroscoped and envelopes photocopied for years? Neither did I. Turns out Christian has had the Post Office lose sims to the US before. Did the sim trigger someone's interest when fluroscoped? Who knows. Christian has promised to let me know if the German postal authorities eventually settle the loss claim. Not a big deal in the scope of things, but in light of what's been going on lately you have to wonder what, if anything, this means.
I'll be able to easily pick up another in Berlin when I get there and transferring the new sim to the existing account ought to be easy.
Unfortunately, what this has taught me is that connectivity isn't worth the nuisance. I'll pay closer attention to the passing internet cafes especially after leaving Germany.
Those of you who know me won't be surprised to learn that I'm pretty wound up about the NSA, Snowden, Assange and Manning. I don't think I could have planned a better time to be in Europe to engage the locals. Hopefully they can make a clear distinction between an out of control government and it's people. I'm afraid far too many here are willing to accept the loss of our civil rights. It's all terrorism all the time; the justification for anything and everything.
