Greetings from Berlin

At last I have arrived in Berlin, but it wasn't easy. The flight aboard Air France across the Atlantic was one of the best I have ever had. The service was impeccable and the meals were in the finest French tradition.

However, once I got to Charles de Gaulle airport, the "fun" began. I had only 45 minutes between the flight from Atlanta and the one leaving for Berlin and I didn't make it. The French require you to pick up your luggage from the baggage carousel and go through customs before rechecking your baggage for the next flight. When I realized I wasn't going to make the flight, I tried to call Paul to let him know that I wouldn't be on that flight but I found I couldn't negotiate the French telephone system. I bought a 7.5 Euro telephone card for the purpose, but when I called his line all I got was a busy signal, so I couldn't communicate my dilemma.

Fortunately, he doesn't live that far from the Airport (Tegel) so he just went home and came back for the next arriving flight. As we drove home, he took me on a quick tour of some of the major sights here in Berlin -- the Brandenburg gate, the Victory Tower, the Tiegarten, Unter den Linden, and several other places of interest. I must return to take pictures, so I plan to take a tour bus around the city and let the tour guide explain the various places. But that will be later in the week.

One forgotten piece of essential equipment was the USB cable for my camera with which I download my pictures from the camera to the computer. It is safely back in Knoxville. So for the moment, I'm unable to get any pictures into the computer and onto the Internet, but I'll persist and eventually, I hope, I'll be able to supply more than just narrative.

Berlin is very warm, in the 80's, and there are trees everywhere. I'm truely impressed with how green the city is, even in the major business sections. Paul tells me that all the trees (Linden) on the Unter den Linden were destroyed during the war and that all the foliage there now has grown up in the almost 60 years since.

One disappointment is that when we went out to dinner last night and I tried to buy dinner with an American Express traveller's check, the waiter was unfamiliar with them totally, so I had to resort to plastic, the universal monetary language. Oh well, from now on it's to the bank to convert these traveller's checks to Euros so that I can speak the native monetary language. The Germans and I will both be pleased I'm sure.
- posted by Perry @ 11:12 AM