We're both pretty wiped out now. Kat is already asleep and I'll be heading to bed once I wrap this up. Tomorrow we start our tour of Berlin in earnest.
Today was taken up mostly by travel and then a tiny bit of exploring Western Berlin. The flight from Portland to Amsterdam was long, but I think we held up pretty well. Unfortunately neither of us got any sleep on the flight. Kat actually scored the special vegetarian meals that cost extra because someone across the isle from us had apparently mistakenly paid for them and didn't want it so she traded. We had a couple free drinks apiece, watched some movies, and read our books to keep busy.
On the Delta operated international flight they have these iPad-like things mounted on the back of every headrest, so you can watch movies, play games, follow the flight path, listen to music, etc. Pretty cool idea if you don't think about what it means to have a touch-screen device basically strapped to the back of your head...
I swear the elderly gentleman in the seat behind me thought he had to jab his finger through the screen to get it to work. Every few minutes: Jab! Jab! Jab! You could hear his meaty finger smacking on the screen as my head recoiled from the impact. Stab! Stab! Stab! He couldn't seem to make up his mind for very long on what to watch or play or listen to either, just constantly tapping on the back of my head. I think I would have actually preferred an unruly child kicking the back of my seat to this particular form of torture. When I used my screen I tried to touch it ever so gently and quietly so as not to propagate any further forward the chain of annoyance.
Our check-on bag was checked all the way through from Eugene to Berlin, but we were told when we checked-in that we would need to go through customs in Amsterdam before getting our final boarding passes to Berlin. We weren't too worried about going through customs, but during the flight little-by-little Kat started to become paranoid that they might decided to confiscate our delicious plane snacks that she has so thoughtfully purchased and carefully packed for us. I think she even considered eating all her snacks just to be sure they didn't go to waste. I on the other hand tried not to eat my precious snacks and instead ate and drank anything and everything that the airline provided and any of Kat's leftovers as well. I must think that's the only true way to get your money's worth. Unfortunately, something about eating on the flight or just travel in general doesn't agree with me and I began suffering from terrible gas pains by the time we reached Amsterdam, which then graduated to full on explosive diarrhea once we hit Berlin. Kat complained of gas issues during the flight too, but she seems to have not progressed to the dreaded second stage.
Customs turned out to be no big deal. We followed the signs to the passport area, walked through with no real problems, Kat was able to keep all her snacks, and after only a little bit of confusion we eventually found the right place to get our new boarding passes printed out. We made it to our final connection with time to spare. When we got onto the last plane is when I think exhaustion started to catch up with us. It had been nearly 20 hours since we'd woken up in Eugene. Although we're both still happy with our bags at this point and how they distribute the weight, they're still pretty heavy to be hauling around airports, up and down stairs, and into overhead compartments and such.
The last flight was a short one, but once again I managed to put in front of someone that liked messing with the back of my seat. I think this guy's dinner tray was loose or something, because he would grab both sides of my chair and really slam and push on it to put the tray up, which he seemed to do pretty often. Is it me? I mean is it unreasonable for me to expect people to have a modicum of consideration for the person in the seat in front of them? Just leave my freakin' chair alone, dammit!
Anyway, we finally got to Berlin. Our checked bag arrived safely, I purchased a pair of WelcomeCard public transit passes for the three days we'll be here, and Kat found our shuttle to the hotel near the airport. It was noonish and we needed rest at this point, but we were a bit early for our check-in time at 3pm. We ended up paying the extra few Euros to get in to our room early so we could shower, brush our teeth, go to the bathroom, and take a nap.
Three or so hours later Kat woke up with a painful cramp in her leg. It went away eventually, but it was enough to get us up and moving again. We had no real plan for the evening, but we knew we wanted to get some food and not get too far away from the hotel. After consulting the guidebooks and the front desk we found our way to the bus stop and headed down to Bahnhof Zoo where we planned to look around and find a meal.
While there I took a few pictures of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a bombed out old shell that they've let stand in the middle of the urban environment. Then we wandered down the commercial shopping streets of Kurfurstendamm and Kantstrasse, eventually coming to a nice little park, Savignyplatz, and found a pub, or kneipe, for dinner, Dicke Wirtin. Kat ordered the schnitzel and I had the currywurst washed down with a couple of Berliner Kindl.
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