Mitte Indeed

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Berlin. (Okay, raise your hand if you hear the word "Berlin" in your head being pronounced by Eddie Izzard doing James Mason doing JFK??? And, BTW, I'll be going to the Rathaus Schoenberg tomorrow. That is where JFK famously outed himself as a jelly donut in 1963...)

To begin with, this will be my first extensive blog entry. I suspect I'll ramble. Feel free to comment on how I'm doing.

Berlin - so far vastly exceeding my memories of a very brief stop here five years ago. An astonishing place for a child of the Cold War to be able to so easily come to, wander around in, and soak up the history of arguably the most influential country of the 20th century.

I arrived at the Grand Hyatt Berlin around 2:00pm CET today. It is located in Potsdamer Platz - the historical heart, or middle (Mitte) of Berlin. Seriously fighting an urge for a two hour nap, I headed out for a walk up towards the Brandenburg Tor (Gate). No more than 50 feet from the hotel is the outline of the path of the Wall. Checkpoint Charlie lies about three blocks to the south; the Reichstag and Brandenburg Tor two blocks to the north. This vast area now so urban was truly what we knew as "No Man's Land" during the Cold War. Mitte indeed for this history buff.

I didn't get up to the Brandenburg Tor as I ran across the Holocaust Memorial Site. Four football fields in size. Surreal in how it feels to even look at it. Wait till you see the pictures - to be posted tomorrow. I walked around it - not ready to go in. I will do that tomorrow. By all accounts it is a harrowing experience. To be honest, I was not mentally awake enough today to get all I could out of the Memorial. So, I came back to the hotel to clean up (tmi??).

So, the trip here?? Outstanding. Probably only my third or fourth flights ever on Lufthansa and they were Teutonically outstanding in all aspects of flight execution. Well, except for the First Class lounge in Houston. It makes the hospitality room - not lounge - at V.C. Bird airport in Antigua look like a Ritz Carlton. Really surprising and disappointing.

But then I headed to the plane and once on board, turned left. Turning left on boarding a jumbo jet is always a nice thing...!!! The FC cabin was very clean, modern, almost stark. Teutonic. I had not been on an A340 transatlantic flight before - I think it feels more open and spacious than the 777.

Once the FAs and I did the verbal fumbling that clarified I spreche kein Deutsch, the fun began. A new champagne for me - 1996 Cuvee Grand Siecle Laurent-Perrier. No one else was drinking it (only four of eight seats were occupied) - so I simply couldn't let LH return home with half empty bottles...!!!

Caviar - sigh. I was forced to have seconds when the FA came back with some left over. Strangely enough, I had braised short ribs for dinner. CAL is serving that on some domestic flights in the States these days. This was substantially better.

Finished with cheese and, at the FA's suggestion, tried a "rare" Austrian schnapps. Apple something. A bottle of this stuff added to fuel supplies in the US could drop gas prices in half. Ugh.

Off topic - watched Fever Pitch. Horrible and offensive movie. Nick Hornsby's excellent book about a boy's obsession with Arsenal and how it severely effected his life somehow became a movie in which a failed Saturday Night Live actor was made to (or couldn't do differently) act like the Tom Hanks (ohhh, weird, there he is again) character in Big. Sleeping in Red Sox sheets?? Yet at least the Big character was 12 years old mentally. Avoid at all costs. Even Bostonians.

I slept a couple of hours. Our route (whilst I slept) took us midway over Greenland. Damn, I always miss that part. And, in ten years of flying the North Atlantic, I have NEVER seen the Northern Lights. What's up with that?? I know tons of people who have seen them whilst going transatlantic. I WANT TO SEE THEM.

On my way to Edinburgh (when I connect again through FRA), I'll detail the Frankfurt Airport experience. For someone who loves to travel - and, yes, be pampered - holy smokes!! I was truly in frequent flyer heaven for my three hour layover today. The end of the layover culminated with being driven to the foot of my connecting flight in an S class and escorted onto the plane. More details later.

Not a cloud in the sky between FRA and TXL. The German countryside is beautiful.

On approach to TXL, I did find myself thinking about the airlift. (TXL did not exist then, the Berlin airport at that time was less than a couple of miles from Mitte. TXL is out north of the city). How did all that stuff get into this city under constant gunfire and yet we can't get water to what's left of Biloxi??

Off topic again, I thought I'd get away from the media sniping over Katrina. Nope. All the European stations are all over W on this - no surprise, I suppose, since they've always hated him.

Okay, gotta go eat. The nice check in lady said that Berlin is a city that doesn't really turn on until after 10:00pm. Well, someone else will have to push the start button for tonight because I'm pooped.

Guten Abend.

-g

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Comments

[Jon Heath]

Sie Schreiben sind gerade fein, Herr Carter.
Your writing it just fine, Mr. Carter. (Translation of the title) Tell Booty to boot. Your blog will provide us with interest and sagacity. What a wonderful experience this will be. I hope I can enjoy the journey vicarioulsy. Perhaps, when you return, you can regale us with your unwritten tales as well. Jon