Well, I'm back. I spent my stopover night in England with my cousin JD at Lakenheath Air Force base, which was fun. We got Burger King (which I haven't had in years) and watched movies and went to a pub for dinner. Now, when you go into a little hamlet in the countryside that consists of 6 houses ad a pub, you don't expect those few buildings to contain the extraordinary, but we found it nonetheless: The pub serves Tex-Mex. I'm talkin chips & salsa, chimichangas, the works. So my last night abroad, in the English countryside, I had chicken enchiladas for dinner. They weren't bad, either! JD and I told the server we were both from Texas and to send our compliments to the chef, and the owner himself came out all excited to meet real live Texans, hehe. It was great. I also got to see the bases where my cousin works as well, and as I'm the first family member to make it over for a visit, so I took a couple pictures of F-15s and the like.
We woke up at 4am to get me to Stansted Airport to catch a bus to Gatwick, and ended up spending 2 hours on the road barely moving because the M-11 (the equivalent of I-25 or I-35) was closed for 50miles due to an overturned lorry. I got to the airport to find that the bus wouldn't get me there on time, so I took 2 trains and the Underground but made it in good time. The flight was of course uneventful, but when we landed in Charlotte, NC for connection they confiscated the 2 bottles of Spanish wine I'd had in my checked luggage as gifts for my mom because I'm not 21. I wanted to cry or to scream at them, but settled for telling the woman it was total bullshit. She offered to let me keep the bottles, like that would make me feel better. Luckily they didn't see the scotch, because if they'd poured out a $60 bottle of scotch I would've taken someone's limbs off. Nevertheless, I was pissed for all 3 1/2 hours of layover I had there. The world looked up after that though. I bought an ice cream just before boarding and they gave me one twice the size I'd ordered, and then I got onto my next flight to discover I'd been bumped up to the extended leg-room section for free, in a window seat, so I managed to doze for a few hours. That was nice.
I met Annie and Megan at the airport, and we made the drive back to Boulder and I slept like I haven't slept in a month. It's good to be back, and I look forward to sharing more pictures and stories with all of you in the coming weeks. Thanks for all the love and support, and happy travels!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Last day in Berlin...
The title says it all. It's raining again, like it was the day I arrived, which is suitably poetic. I haven't posted in a few days because despite everything that's been going on I feel so at home here I felt like travel blogging about it would be odd, so let me catch you up:
Sunday we went to the Zoologischer Garten Berlin, which has the largest number of species of any zoo in the world. Around 14,000 animals of 1500 species. We saw most of them, including the famous baby polar bear Knut. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, Knut was born in the zoo, but his mother rejected him and there was a huge international debate on whether to let humans raise him or let him die as he would in the wild. Of course they let him live, and is now the main drawing at the zoo. Funny how nature and economy sometimes go hand in hand... Anyway, he's getting much bigger now, and while still a cub isn't the little dainty thing you see in early pictures. Adorable nonetheless. The whole layout of the zoo is to keep the animals as unconfined as possible, and when you walk in the front gates the first things you notice are an elephant 50 feet to your right and a black rhinocerous 50 feet to your left. No fences, just little 10 foot wide moats between you and them. Of course they don't do this for the big cats or birds, but you get the distinct impression that they're trying to give these animals as much freedom as possible. I liked it.
After the zoo we went to a little neighborhood festival nearby, where we watched a transvestite belly dancer, drank a couple Caipirinhas, and watched independent short films in English and Deutch. Monday I went to the second-largest mall in Europe, KaDeWe, which is really artsy for a mall. They have rotating art displays in all the atriums, and each of the 7 floors has a different theme for art. The top two floors are all gourmet food, the rest clothing, etc. Something the Europeans do that I like a lot is sort things by color. Every store, boutique, or shop orders all of their stuff by colors, and it saves a ton of time for the shopper. KaDeWe is basically a giant Neiman Marcus or Harrods, so I couldn't afford 99% of the stuff, but I did find a shirt I really loved on sale that I wore out that night to... dum dum dum... Dr Pong's!
Dr. Pong's is a great concept for a bar. There's a ping-pong table in the front room, and you get 30 or so people around it, and you all run in a circle hitting the ball one at a time. If you miss, or overshoot, you're out. It gets down to 2 people and the winner gets a shot, so all of the really good people get really bad quickly and the rest of us get a chance at glory! I didn't win any, but Ingo only didn't make the final 3 times in about 20 rounds, and won more than 10 of them, so it was fun to watch. Of course, I forgot my camera, so unless we decide to go back tonight, which is unlikely, you'll have to wait and see it either for yourself, or once I come back.
Yesterday was pretty chill, we just hung out around the apartment, making brief sojourns to the market down the street at meal times, and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and read on the balcony.
I've been trying to be as helpful as I can in exchange for my free room and board, and so have been cooking meals when I can. Not much of a burden, since as you know I love to cook. Yesterday I made vanilla pancakes from scratch for breakfast/lunch and pasta with brats (what else?) for dinner. Today I'm going to go find and have another döner kebap before I leave town. I'm don't know how I'm going to live without them... Also, yesterday was the end to the "ratty 'stache" that Ingo and his coworkers have been competing in for the last month, so I was employed to dress his up as creepily as possible to go with the frightening facial hair. Photo enclosed. And yes, he won.
Anyway, tonight will be spent hopefully at a funk/jazz dance club, and at the very least in the company of friends. Tomorrow I'll make the sojourn to the airport and thence to London for the day, and on Friday will be back in Boulder. It's hard not to be sad at the thought that my trip is coming an end. In lieu of this, I will not think at all for the next 48 hours, employing only the minimal life-sustaining functions required to eat, sleep, dance, and get on a plane. Until then, ich bin Berliner!
Sunday we went to the Zoologischer Garten Berlin, which has the largest number of species of any zoo in the world. Around 14,000 animals of 1500 species. We saw most of them, including the famous baby polar bear Knut. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, Knut was born in the zoo, but his mother rejected him and there was a huge international debate on whether to let humans raise him or let him die as he would in the wild. Of course they let him live, and is now the main drawing at the zoo. Funny how nature and economy sometimes go hand in hand... Anyway, he's getting much bigger now, and while still a cub isn't the little dainty thing you see in early pictures. Adorable nonetheless. The whole layout of the zoo is to keep the animals as unconfined as possible, and when you walk in the front gates the first things you notice are an elephant 50 feet to your right and a black rhinocerous 50 feet to your left. No fences, just little 10 foot wide moats between you and them. Of course they don't do this for the big cats or birds, but you get the distinct impression that they're trying to give these animals as much freedom as possible. I liked it.
After the zoo we went to a little neighborhood festival nearby, where we watched a transvestite belly dancer, drank a couple Caipirinhas, and watched independent short films in English and Deutch. Monday I went to the second-largest mall in Europe, KaDeWe, which is really artsy for a mall. They have rotating art displays in all the atriums, and each of the 7 floors has a different theme for art. The top two floors are all gourmet food, the rest clothing, etc. Something the Europeans do that I like a lot is sort things by color. Every store, boutique, or shop orders all of their stuff by colors, and it saves a ton of time for the shopper. KaDeWe is basically a giant Neiman Marcus or Harrods, so I couldn't afford 99% of the stuff, but I did find a shirt I really loved on sale that I wore out that night to... dum dum dum... Dr Pong's!
Dr. Pong's is a great concept for a bar. There's a ping-pong table in the front room, and you get 30 or so people around it, and you all run in a circle hitting the ball one at a time. If you miss, or overshoot, you're out. It gets down to 2 people and the winner gets a shot, so all of the really good people get really bad quickly and the rest of us get a chance at glory! I didn't win any, but Ingo only didn't make the final 3 times in about 20 rounds, and won more than 10 of them, so it was fun to watch. Of course, I forgot my camera, so unless we decide to go back tonight, which is unlikely, you'll have to wait and see it either for yourself, or once I come back.
Yesterday was pretty chill, we just hung out around the apartment, making brief sojourns to the market down the street at meal times, and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and read on the balcony.
I've been trying to be as helpful as I can in exchange for my free room and board, and so have been cooking meals when I can. Not much of a burden, since as you know I love to cook. Yesterday I made vanilla pancakes from scratch for breakfast/lunch and pasta with brats (what else?) for dinner. Today I'm going to go find and have another döner kebap before I leave town. I'm don't know how I'm going to live without them... Also, yesterday was the end to the "ratty 'stache" that Ingo and his coworkers have been competing in for the last month, so I was employed to dress his up as creepily as possible to go with the frightening facial hair. Photo enclosed. And yes, he won.Anyway, tonight will be spent hopefully at a funk/jazz dance club, and at the very least in the company of friends. Tomorrow I'll make the sojourn to the airport and thence to London for the day, and on Friday will be back in Boulder. It's hard not to be sad at the thought that my trip is coming an end. In lieu of this, I will not think at all for the next 48 hours, employing only the minimal life-sustaining functions required to eat, sleep, dance, and get on a plane. Until then, ich bin Berliner!
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