I started this blog yesterday and then the internet went down for the whole day and night.
It’s amazing how dependent we have become, in every area of our lives, on the internet and how marvelous it is that I can be writing of my daily activities and others, on the other side of the planet can read them immediately.
So here are some random observations that I have made during my stay here in Berlin.
It’s fall here in Berlin. The trees are all in their festive colors although I have not seen the maples that grace the Portland area with their brilliant jewel colors.
The tempuratures have been mild, between low 40’s and low 50’s. Inez and Sabastion tell me that in the couple of weeks after I leave the snow will begin to fall and that they can get quite accumulations. But there are no mountains in the area so to celebrate the season they build a ski slope in downtown and make the snow to cover it.
From what I am hearing there is no snow expected for Mt Hood before Thanksgiving so maybe we need to build one of these to tide us over until the snows begin. I don’t know what it costs to go down the thing but it can’t take more than a couple of seconds to complete unless you are a really poor skier like me and then it would take longer bacause I would be on my bum most of the time.
There appears to be quite a baby boom here in Berlin. I have not seen any of those things that Americans carry their infants in at all times, that snap into the car and become a car seat. Instead, I see “baby buggies” everywhere. At least we use to call them baby buggies or the English called them “prams”.
Like these lined up in the lobby of our apartments.
The walk / don’t walk signs at the intersections are different in east Berlin than they are in west Berlin. The eastern “Ampel” man, as he is called, ample being German for street sign, has quite following.
Last night Inez and I went out to eat (something we have done much of) while Sabastion stayed behind to work on the internet problem.
We went to a local pub that Inez has noticed is always packed, always a good sign, to have dinner. We decided to make it an authentic experience. We ordered a weiner schnitzel, which I always thought was a German, but the waiter immediately informed me was Austrian and a glass of French wine and there was my “local dining experience”.
The night before, on our walk home from the museum, Sabastion pointed out a resturant and said “that is a German resturant”. He said they are few and far between, most of them having closed, because the young people do not want to eat the food they grew up on but now choose to eat Mexican or Sushi or ……(sounds like home, doesn’t it)
At curbside they only recycle glass. This surprised me. Especially when you think of how much we are recycling and composting in the Portland area, and how much more we need to do.
The world is a big place when you are away from the ones you love, but a small place when you realize how interconnected, dependent and influenced we all are on one another.
