17 July 2006
Berlin and getting home.
As I returned my rental car (and filled out the damage report) I met 3 American GI’s right off the Bamberg base. One claimed to be a German, but was in the US army. I’m not sure how that works, maybe it’s a dual citizenship thing. But she said she’d been living in the US for the last 15 years or so, and didn’t really speak any German.
The two men she was with spoke only English as well, but with heavy southern accents. The poor girl at the counter, her English was Ok, but seriously. One of those guys had lived in Germany for 2 years. He couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to say please, or ask for rental car rates in the native language of the country he’s been staying in? The counter girl gave me a "can you believe this?" look. I returned with an, "yeah, sucks. sorry." facial expression.
I understand not knowing the language if you’re just passing through, but gimme a break. I guess it’s pretty uncommon for the GI’s to know German. I guess it pisses me off because Americans are widely believed to be monoglots. And I’ve been busting my brain trying to learn German, which will be my third language. It’s easy enough to muddle through the vocabulary and pronunciation, it’s just the grammar that’s tricky. Sometimes I just forget the word order and start blurting, at least they know I’m trying, and can pick out what I’m trying to say. It’s the honing of the language that will be the most difficult and time consuming.
Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be a rant about ignorant Ugly Americans. Really.
So I returned the car, caught a taxi to the train station. I was perfectly on time and jumped right onto the train, moments before it went speeding across the countryside. I did crossword puzzles as sleek white train wended between foothills, then mountains, and came out in fields of modern windmills somewhere south of Berlin. It was neat to see how the terrain changed as we progressed. Every city has a spire, the big church in town. Steeples make great navigation points.
I arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and navigated myself to the inner city Sbahn trains, kind of like Chicago's L trains. I got off at the right station and hoofed it towards my hotel, asking directions of passersby as I progressed. I really had no idea where the thing was, and carrying my huge backpack (full of office, tourist, and bike clothes) it felt like a very long walk. I did eventually find it, and checked in.
I walked around the block trying to find something to eat. On the main street, Potsdamer Strasse, there was a Cabaret, an expensive cocktail bar, and some cheapie fast food joints (Turkish fast food). I turned down a side street that looked promising, but didn’t like the looks of the cafes I found there. I completed the circuit around the block, speeding up to get past the hookers. There were probably 10 of them, getting into cars, getting out of cars, standing on a dark street showing off their big jugs.
I grabbed a Doener Kebap (kind of a turkish chicken gyro with extra veggies in half of a pita bread. And then wandered into the spendy cocktail bar. It was mostly men, sitting together in pairs, talking intently, sometimes laying a hand on an arm to emphasize a point. The bartender in front of me wore a jaunty little sailor hat, and poured drinks with happy go lucky energy. I ordered some Hemingway Gin drink and decided to watch the time pass. A tall older Dutchman came to my end of the bar to order a drink. We spoke for a little bit on books and Berlin. He offered me another drink, but I headed back to the hotel. It had been a long day.
Saturday was the Love Parade. I got up and walked around looking for food/coffee, an ATM, and where the heck do they keep the Tiergarten? Behind the Brandenburger Tor, or Brandenburg Gate of course. And you could tell it was the Love Parade from the cinematographers in cherry pickers.
I used my travel pass and caught a bus to the Main Train Station. There I found acceptable food and an ATM that probably charged me an arm and a leg. Ah well.
I took the bus around the city a little bit, watching out the windows. I also walked on foot and got to see some chunks of the Berlin Wall.
Some ultra-modern aspirin tablet architecture:
The Love Parade. What’s to say? The techno was great. I expected the Floats to be more imaginative.
It was something to be part of the 1.2million people on a 4km stretch of road. Everyone was nice, I got into some conversations (in German) with people. The beer was astoundingly cheap. 2.5 euro per halfliter can. Needless to say, I got completely tanked and spent some time sleeping under a tree. It was a tree in the middle of a field. Pretty much all of the bushes were in constant use as urinals.
Oh yeah, the whole gig was taking place in the Tiergarten, an old hunting preserve that is effectively Berlin’s Central Park. Lots of litter on the street toward the end of the night. I cut my foot on some errant glass. but at least in Berlin they litter and have Graffitti!!
on the way out, i was adopted by some wannabe club kids. they marched me over half of berlin, trying to find the next bar. we went past a full club, a goth club, and finally ended up in a catacomb-like club under their L train.
there were 4 rooms, each with high arched cielings of brick and a good DJ playing a distinct type of techno. I enjoyed it. Right up until i realized that it was 3am, and i was asleep on one of the big leather chillout couches.
i got back to the train station, had a McD's cheesburger to help me sober up, and then ate a hot Banana and Nutella crepe because I could. I caught the L train back to my shitty hotel.
In the morning I got up early, caught a bus, then took the L train to the main station, switched trains and headed out to one of the outlying stations, where i could catch the subway, so I could get to the spot where i could get a bus to the airport. it took a bit of doing, but i got to the airport about 3 hours before my flight took off for Amsterdam.
Tegel airport sucks. They check you in at the gate. When i got to my gate they were still checking in passengers for the 10:45 to Munich, and I had to wait over an hour before they started checking luggage for the 12:10 to Amsterdam. This means I had to wait until my mammoth backpack was checked before I could grab breakfast at the airport bakery.
Bitching aside, I got home. Safe, sound and in one piece. Plus I got to enjoy a big bottle of Heineken in the cafeteria of Schipol airport in Amsterdam. That made me a happy traveller.
All in all, I'd say Bamberg is a cute little town that I'll enjoy living in. I'll have to spend some time in Munich, and Berlin has a lot to offer me in terms of nightlife and mayhem. I like all of its paradoxes. I'm ready.
The two men she was with spoke only English as well, but with heavy southern accents. The poor girl at the counter, her English was Ok, but seriously. One of those guys had lived in Germany for 2 years. He couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to say please, or ask for rental car rates in the native language of the country he’s been staying in? The counter girl gave me a "can you believe this?" look. I returned with an, "yeah, sucks. sorry." facial expression.
I understand not knowing the language if you’re just passing through, but gimme a break. I guess it’s pretty uncommon for the GI’s to know German. I guess it pisses me off because Americans are widely believed to be monoglots. And I’ve been busting my brain trying to learn German, which will be my third language. It’s easy enough to muddle through the vocabulary and pronunciation, it’s just the grammar that’s tricky. Sometimes I just forget the word order and start blurting, at least they know I’m trying, and can pick out what I’m trying to say. It’s the honing of the language that will be the most difficult and time consuming.
Anyway, this wasn’t supposed to be a rant about ignorant Ugly Americans. Really.
So I returned the car, caught a taxi to the train station. I was perfectly on time and jumped right onto the train, moments before it went speeding across the countryside. I did crossword puzzles as sleek white train wended between foothills, then mountains, and came out in fields of modern windmills somewhere south of Berlin. It was neat to see how the terrain changed as we progressed. Every city has a spire, the big church in town. Steeples make great navigation points.
I arrived at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and navigated myself to the inner city Sbahn trains, kind of like Chicago's L trains. I got off at the right station and hoofed it towards my hotel, asking directions of passersby as I progressed. I really had no idea where the thing was, and carrying my huge backpack (full of office, tourist, and bike clothes) it felt like a very long walk. I did eventually find it, and checked in.
I walked around the block trying to find something to eat. On the main street, Potsdamer Strasse, there was a Cabaret, an expensive cocktail bar, and some cheapie fast food joints (Turkish fast food). I turned down a side street that looked promising, but didn’t like the looks of the cafes I found there. I completed the circuit around the block, speeding up to get past the hookers. There were probably 10 of them, getting into cars, getting out of cars, standing on a dark street showing off their big jugs.
I grabbed a Doener Kebap (kind of a turkish chicken gyro with extra veggies in half of a pita bread. And then wandered into the spendy cocktail bar. It was mostly men, sitting together in pairs, talking intently, sometimes laying a hand on an arm to emphasize a point. The bartender in front of me wore a jaunty little sailor hat, and poured drinks with happy go lucky energy. I ordered some Hemingway Gin drink and decided to watch the time pass. A tall older Dutchman came to my end of the bar to order a drink. We spoke for a little bit on books and Berlin. He offered me another drink, but I headed back to the hotel. It had been a long day.
Saturday was the Love Parade. I got up and walked around looking for food/coffee, an ATM, and where the heck do they keep the Tiergarten? Behind the Brandenburger Tor, or Brandenburg Gate of course. And you could tell it was the Love Parade from the cinematographers in cherry pickers.
I used my travel pass and caught a bus to the Main Train Station. There I found acceptable food and an ATM that probably charged me an arm and a leg. Ah well.
I took the bus around the city a little bit, watching out the windows. I also walked on foot and got to see some chunks of the Berlin Wall.
Some ultra-modern aspirin tablet architecture:
The Love Parade. What’s to say? The techno was great. I expected the Floats to be more imaginative.
It was something to be part of the 1.2million people on a 4km stretch of road. Everyone was nice, I got into some conversations (in German) with people. The beer was astoundingly cheap. 2.5 euro per halfliter can. Needless to say, I got completely tanked and spent some time sleeping under a tree. It was a tree in the middle of a field. Pretty much all of the bushes were in constant use as urinals.
Oh yeah, the whole gig was taking place in the Tiergarten, an old hunting preserve that is effectively Berlin’s Central Park. Lots of litter on the street toward the end of the night. I cut my foot on some errant glass. but at least in Berlin they litter and have Graffitti!!
on the way out, i was adopted by some wannabe club kids. they marched me over half of berlin, trying to find the next bar. we went past a full club, a goth club, and finally ended up in a catacomb-like club under their L train.
there were 4 rooms, each with high arched cielings of brick and a good DJ playing a distinct type of techno. I enjoyed it. Right up until i realized that it was 3am, and i was asleep on one of the big leather chillout couches.
i got back to the train station, had a McD's cheesburger to help me sober up, and then ate a hot Banana and Nutella crepe because I could. I caught the L train back to my shitty hotel.
In the morning I got up early, caught a bus, then took the L train to the main station, switched trains and headed out to one of the outlying stations, where i could catch the subway, so I could get to the spot where i could get a bus to the airport. it took a bit of doing, but i got to the airport about 3 hours before my flight took off for Amsterdam.
Tegel airport sucks. They check you in at the gate. When i got to my gate they were still checking in passengers for the 10:45 to Munich, and I had to wait over an hour before they started checking luggage for the 12:10 to Amsterdam. This means I had to wait until my mammoth backpack was checked before I could grab breakfast at the airport bakery.
Bitching aside, I got home. Safe, sound and in one piece. Plus I got to enjoy a big bottle of Heineken in the cafeteria of Schipol airport in Amsterdam. That made me a happy traveller.
All in all, I'd say Bamberg is a cute little town that I'll enjoy living in. I'll have to spend some time in Munich, and Berlin has a lot to offer me in terms of nightlife and mayhem. I like all of its paradoxes. I'm ready.
