Well, I must have been tired. I awake at about 9:00 to an empty apartment. I didn't hear either H or G leave this morning! I finally struggle out of bed by about 9:20 and make some coffee. Soon I go downstairs and next door to the small supermarket, where I get some pre-made waffles and maple syrup for breakfast. I pop the waffles into the toaster, and enjoy a reasonably tasty meal. Today is sunny, but not warmer. I work on this journal, and then head down to Zoo to find an internet café, have lunch, and do some sightseeing.
I walk the 2 blocks to the U-Bahn and try to decipher the ticket machine. Although there is an invitation in english to use the machine, the instructions during actual use are all in German. It is a touch screen machine, and I touch what I hope is the correct choice. I am given a price of 5.60E, which is the same price as the all-day pass that I got yesterday. So I assume this is the correct choice, put my money in, and get a ticket. I then take the ticket to a nearby ticket validation machine, insert my ticket, and my ticket is punched with the date and time. As an all day pass it will be good until 3:00AM tomorrow morning. A regular single ride ticket is good for 2 hours. After getting your ticket you just get on and off trains and buses as you want. You must keep your ticket with you, as occasionally a bus driver or a fare checker may ask you for proof that you have paid. But otherwise you do not display your ticket or use it at all to travel around. It is almost an honor system.
The Berlin U-Bahn is a comprehensive system with good coverage throughout the city. Each station has several route and city maps, and it is fairly easy to find your way. The various U-Bahn lines are each numbered and colored. This morning I am taking the red line, U-2, to the blue line, U-7. The trains are marked with the final destination in their direction of travel, so you must know this to make sure you get on the correct train going to correct direction. But this is not too difficult. All you need to do is look at the route map and note the name of the last stop.
With my ticket in my pocket I go down to the track level, and soon an on the first train, then transfer to the second train, which takes me to Zoo. This is the stop for the Berlin Zoo. It is also the stop for the Zoo train station (a central train station for regional and international trains), and many shops, offices, and restaurants. I walk about a block to Europa Center, a smallish (by USA standards) shopping mall, where I find an internet café. But I am hungry, and so I go next door to the KFC and get some lunch. Then its back to the internet café. The cost is 3.00E for an hour. This is about the same as I was paying in London.
About the time I am finishing up on the internet H calls me and we agree to meet at 5:00 here at Europa Center. This gives me about an hour to kill, so I walk around the neighborhood, going into a couple large department stores just to look around and warm up. But soon it is 5:00. H and I meet up and go downstairs in Europa Center to the Irish Pub (the same place we all came to on Saturday night), where we have a coffee and discuss what to do next. While I was walking around I was given a free Berlin map, and as we looked at it we saw an ad for a computer store. H is thinking of getting a newer computer, and so we decided to go there. We walked to a different U-Bahn line, took it to the proper station, and then looked for the address, no. 14. Hmmm, nothing seemed to be close to 14. Maybe it is this other direction? So we walk a few blocks, but no, we are not getting any closer. We finally break down and phone them. They are near where we started. We just walked the wrong direction. So we take the U-Bahn back to our starting point. Which direction was it? We call them again, and finally determine which way to go, and after a 5 minute walk we have found the address.
Now, where is the store? The building has an entryway/tunnel that leads into a courtyard/parking area which is surrounded by several doorways. Which one? We walk from one to the other, and finally see a doorway which has a sign with the computer store's name on it. Ok, in we go, up the stairs to the second floor (in USA it is 3rd floor), and enter the store. Well, it is not really a store in the usual sense. It is more like an office and workshop, with lots of used and rebuilt computers and monitors stacked on shelves, along with miscellaneous computer parts, etc. Most of the employees are Arab. We look at the computers. They have a 3 year old Dell laptop for 599E. It is OK, but a new computer would cost 999E. They also have lots of used desktops, starting at 75E and going up to about 400E. H talks to them (in German), and finds that they have another store with more inventory in another part of town. While there we buy a cable to connect my laptop to H's phone line. I hope it works better than the one we got at the flea market.
From there we take another U-Bahn and go to a store named Conrads, which has lots of electrical and electronic stuff. H finds a battery for her camera. We then get back on the U-Bahn and go to a restaurant named Mabuhay, which is a Philippine restaurant. H knows most of the people there, both customers and the owners, and so we get a very friendly welcome. We have a leisurely meal of fried fish with veggies, roast duck with veggies, and rice. Very tasty! Even now on a cold Monday evening the place does a steady business, with families coming in for dinner. Later in the evening, and also on weekends, they have Filipino Karaoke, but no, we will not stay that late tonight!
After our nice dinner we take the U-Bahn back to near the apartment and walk the couple blocks home. As we exit the station we find it is snowing again. It has snowed several times in the last couple days, but it does not accumulate on the ground. It is not quite cold enough. When we get to the apartment G is already there. We all sit around, have a glass of wine, and talk for awhile. I try the cable for the computer, and yes, it works! I will use this cable while I am here, and then I will leave it for H and for G (he also has a laptop). It is soon time for bed, and lights out.
Another lazy morning, as again I do not hear the others leave the house. I finally roll-out, do the usual morning stuff, and have some coffee and a poppy seed roll for breakfast. H had bought some rolls yesterday. This one is really loaded with poppy seeds. It I was an Olympic athlete I would fail their drug tests! It is a very big and filling roll, and I can only eat about half of it.
Later in the morning H phones me and gives me the phone numbers of some of the Dranoff teams that are hear in Berlin. She can only find two. I try one, no answer, but the other one, for SS, answers, and I say hello. She and her sister are working today, but we will try to meet-up later this evening, at least for a coffee or something.
I spend most of the rest of the day working on this journal, and also I fiddle around with an old hi-fi radio of H and get it to work again. Ahh, it is nice to listen to classical music while I work!
Eventually H returns from work. She makes us some dinner--leftovers from the restaurant last night, and also some spaghetti and meat sauce, and salad. At about the time we are done eating G also returns home and joins us. This was his first full day of practicum. He says it was not as difficult as he though it might be, but of course it may be different tomorrow.
Suddenly it is 9:10PM, and I rush out the door to go and meet Sh and So, the Dranoff team. We are to meet a few blocks away at a U-Bahn station which is near where one of them lives. I walk quickly in the cold, and when I get there they are already there. It is so nice to see them! They are twin sisters from Indonesia, and they stayed at my house in 1999 when they participated in the Dranoff competition. Since then Sh has married and will give birth to her first child in May. So teaches piano, and they still perform regularly. We walk to a nearby Indian restaurant, where they have dinner, and I have a glass of red wine. We share some great conversation about music, their careers, music agents, and of course about the new husband and coming baby. After dinner it is time to go, and so we say goodbye until the next time. I walk back home. Both H and G are already asleep, so I quietly go to bed.
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