TravelingGirl2005

September 11 - Berlin

While everyone else on the tour probably arrived today, I had already been in Italy for a week, so I got up early to catch the flight from Rome to Berlin. Once I got in I checked into the hotel (my roommate Kathy had already checked in, but wasn't in the room when I got there), I needed to do laundry.

So I packed all the dirty stuff in my day pack and went in search of the laundromat the lady at the hotel directed me to. Given that it was a Sunday, pretty much everything else was closed. I got there and couldn't figure out the machines. There was a central control panel from which you put in the money and started the machines (by number). One of the guys there spoke English and helped me out with getting it working. I haven't had to sit and wait for my laundry in a long time, and had forgotten that there's something sort of zen about watching your clothes go round and round. Or that could have been lack of sleep from getting up early for the flight from Rome.

Then I went in search of food, and had one of my favorite meals of the vacation. I had doner kebap (chicken). It was amazing - spicy and salady and warm and yummy. (Although I'm not convinced that that wasn't what caused my later intestinal difficulties.) Since I still had time to kill after dropping off my clean laundry in the room, I wandered the nearby area and took some photos. The neighborhood was interesting - seemed like it was going through some sort of transition. There were lots of pierced/tattooed kids around, but also families (saw lots of folks out with the strollers and walking dogs). The graffiti in the area was cool too(this was a whole side of a building - I'm not really sure if it was graffiti or a mural, but it was colorful).

After going back to the hotel to chill out for a bit (and chat with and get to know my roommate Kathy a bit), we met with the group for our first meeting at the hotel. Our guide Ben introduced himself, asked us to give our names, where we were from and if we'd taken any tours before. We then, as a group, agreed to the following things: we'd wear our money belts, we'd be on time (especially for the bus), and that we'd laugh at Ben's jokes. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right? This is where I cop to the fact that I never wore my money belt. Not one day. I carried it in my backpack or purse a couple of times (mostly because of border crossings on the bus), but didn't wear the moneybelt under my clothes like we were supposed to. I don't know if this should be a cautionary tale that you should do what your guide tells you as it's for your own protection, or a cautionary tale that if you're careful it's not necessary to wear the belt. Take it whichever way works for you.

We then did a short orientation walk around the neighborhood, with Ben giving us information about Berlin, Germany, etc. We went to a little park
and did a name game to get us all familiar with each others' names. We had to say our name plus the names of everyone else in the circle who had gone before you. Luckily, I was near the beginning of the line, so I didn't have to remember very many, but you still got to know everyone's names as you were trying to help others remember all the folks in front of them. Little kids ran into the middle of our circle, got bored and ran back out. In the category of "it's a small world", I found out that the co-guide, Christoph, is the fiance of the guide I had on the tour of Italy that I took in 2003 (Taunya).

We went to dinner as a group. I think it was a salad, and then chicken and potatoes. I forget what the dessert was, but I have an impression that it was yummy. (I also have to cop to the fact that while I intended to take pictures of the various foods that I ate, I was inconsistent. I think I got better about noting the foods in my journal and worse about photos as I went through the trip.) It was sprinkling when we walked back to the hotel, where everyone turned in as many of them had just arrived that day (and some had not even made it to Berlin yet).

posted by Unknown @ 10:23 PM