Monday, November 4, 2002

self-protrait with dome being cleaned

self-protrait and Brandenburg Gate

brewing traditional Bavarian beer in Sony Center

The Reichstag

"It is the superfluous things for which men sweat."
Seneca

I have another leisurely and filling breakfast at the hotel. Tomorrow I plan to take the public transportation (U-bahn and bus) to the airport. I decide that doing this alone, with my luggage (now heavier by a few purchases) and with a deadline is a little challenge. It will save $25 or $30 however since my public transportation is already paid for with my seven-day pass. To promote confidence in this plan and to enjoy a free ride around the city watching people and seeing sites, I decide to do a dry run, sans luggage.

I've decided to intercept the TXL (Tegel Express) Bus at a U-bahn staion on the same line as the nearest station to the hotel. I'm happy when I arrive there and see that only one fairly short staircase is required to get to the bus stop.

I am not thinking, though, as I wait for the bus and when one comes along that says Flughaven I jump on. I notice after a few minutes of looking out the window and wondering at the direction that I'm on the Templehof Bus. I get off and cross the street. The same bus going in the other direction comes in seconds.

This miscue takes about 35 minutes and I'm back, waiting for the right bus. It comes and I go to the airport (Tegel). With all that I'm still there before the gate for my flight to Heathrow would have freed up for check-in. I check around the airport getting my bearings for tomorrow. I buy some postcard stamps at the P.O. and note where I can get water tomorrow.

I board the TXL bus going the other way and ride it all the way to Alexanderplatz, taking in the sights. I get off and make my way by S-Bahn back to Unter den Linden and take some pictures of the bears again and use a shop window with rotating mirrors to shoot some artsy self portraits.

Then I'm off to the Riechstag. I visited it in 1999 after Sir Norman Foster's amazing rennovations to the dome were finished. But I feel like going back.

There is a line but I wait patiently as elevator-sized groups are dribbled in, put through security, and get up to the terrace. Sadly, the dome is closed. (Although perhaps this is good considering that the mirrored column in the center with the ramp rising around it make it a great place to waste large quantities of film.) Anyway, it's closed for cleaning all those mirrors and glass panels.

I have a coffee in the coffee shop on the terrace just to sit for a minute and refresh.

The terrace affords views in four directions. From this roof in 1999, one could count seventy or more cranes as construction sprouted everywhere. There are still a number of cranes, but it's obvious that some things are finished. I walk all around the terrace with a panorama brochure fluttering in my hand locating the points of interest. I shoot a few pictures and I decide to get out of the wind.

I head back to a little souvenir shop I've spotted and get some postcards to mail home. Always a fun thing to do if you can find the time. Then I catch the S-bahn again...to Potsdamer Platz. I'm lazy about walking today even though it isn't quite as windy.

When I come up the escalator inside Sony Center, I spot something I haven't seen before...a brew pub. Time for a late lunch of wurst and Bavarian beer...although I don't have one of the one liter ones on offer. In my day, I drank them at Oktoberfest.

I decide to have a last fling with the best department store in the world. I take Bus 200 back to Zoo and U2 to Wittenbergplatz. I wander around. I wonder if I'd be allowed to snap some pictures in the food hall. Drat...I'm out of film in my pack although there is some back in the room. I go to the photo floor and buy some. I wander several areas of the store more thoroughly...toys, electronics, etc. I wander the food floor looking for opportunities to snap pictures of the displays when not too many staff is looking. We have always shot pix of each other toasting and so forth but I've noticed lots of stores don't like you shooting pictures of the displays. I've been busted in Central Market for it. I don't know if anyone notices but no one tells me to stop.

I haven't really worked up much of an appetite because I ate a late lunch. But I decide to stuff myself at the Potato Counter. All sorts of potato pancake and potato combos are on offer. The cheese and mushroom dish I get is delicious and is topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts and such to give it a fresh aspect. I drink a beer with it.

And it's time. Time to catch the U-bahn, go back to the hotel. And pack.

Dirty underwear and socks swell up. But I have those compression bags. Still it's harder to get stuff in than on the other end. Of course, I bought a box of chocolate and some calendars. Picked up a magazine. Finally everything has a nook or cranny in my suitcase or pack, the clothes for tomorrow are out and ready.

JUST TYPING
Shooting pictures.
A way of seeing.
Later.
What you might have missed.
A few frames.
Not as malleable as the
mind's eye.