Wednesday, October 30, 2002

toast arrival

"Everyone prefers belief to the exercise of judgement."
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

My plane arrives at Heathrow and it's another day. I am just connecting here. This requires that you take a bus (there was a long line) and go through security. There is a big crowd at security. In spite of that, I'm through it in plenty of time. At Heathrow, they announce the gates on overheads at the last minute. Then they have signs admonishing you to get to the gate on time and saying how many minutes to the gate (10, 15, 20). They do this because each gate has additional security, I think, and no place to lounge until you get to the gate. The general waiting areas have lots of shops and snacks and chairs. And overheads announcing the gates.

On the flight to Berlin I am next to two men. They are Americans. One is Caucasian and wearing a baseball cap with some admonishment about Jesus. The other is Black and wearing a puffy ski jacket he never removes. Before I notice the Jesus cap I think they are business associates. The Black man (who is younger) talks about being stopped by Bobbies as he returned to his hotel last night. I am a little sympathetic except that he has claimed the arm rest between us in an agressive way that spills his enormous jacket into my seat. I can't sit with my spine straight. The talk turns to their real work...street preaching. They travel around and preach on the streets! The older man talks about preaching in a pub. They talk about their interpretations of the bible in which they sound confident and certain.

The flight is thankfully short. They give us a tortilla wrap and some yogurt. I'm not really hungry but I eat it.

Flying on British Airways from/to London from Berlin uses the 'old' Tegel gates that are arrayed in the heart of the airport. Things seem familiar. Passport control is at each gate and goes fast. My bag seems to come off last but I pass the indifferent custom agent (as does everyone else) without a word.

I wander around the airport until I find a manned booth for BVG. I'm not sure what it stands for but it is the agency that operates buses, U-bahns, S-bahns, Strassenbahns (trams). I get a seven day pass for the city (not including outlying lines to Potsdam and such) for twenty-two Euros. Euros and dollars are so close that I am, for sanity, considering them one and the same.

I find the 109 bus and board. I enscribe the wrong end of the ticket and notice this later and do it on the correct end. You only show the ticket if challenged or after eight o'clock on the buses. It will be interesting to see if this faux pas lands me in trouble should this happen. I had gotten a suggested route from a machine. It involved getting off this bus at the first available U-bahn and then changing U-bahns. With a bag this seems perhaps quicker but more strenuous. So, I ride the 109 to its end (Zoo Station). I find U9 and get to a stop near the hotel. I'm confident of this because I've stayed there before.

I check in with my hotel and get my room. The staff is nice, as usual, but not overly confident of English. I mention that my friends will arrive this evening around six.

On the bus, I saw an Easy Everything Internet shop on the Ku'Damm (local slang for Kurfürstendamm). I have an idea what it is close to and I decide to go back there and send an 'I am safe' message.

I take the U-bahn back to it and find it pretty easily. I buy a ten Euro pass from the machine. The system works pretty well and they boot the machine after you use it for security. FFP is up early and it's early afternoon here so we exchange several e-mails while I'm sitting there.

I'm pretty exhausted so I go to the hotel and shower and read a book and watch TV, drifting in and out of sleep.

Around six I wander out in the cool air thinking my mates will come soon. My room faces the courtyard or I could watch the street from my window.

I finally go inside but they call shortly and are in their room. My friend LG's cousin picked them up at the airport and has parked in the neighborhood and they are up to walk to KaDeWe (an amazing Berlin department store) for a welcome toast.

I've been in this area on several previous trips (three or four) and things seem familiar and yet different. It isn't that far a walk. We go to the sixth floor of the store and wander a bit until we find a little bar with Moët and Chandon. We have one glass, then two, toasting our friendship.

Unsurprisingly I go to sleep quite quickly when we get back.

JUST TYPING
It takes so, so long.
The trip.
And yet it's miraculous.
To arrive so far away in such a short time.