Eine Zeit zu ruhen
So I flew from Berlin to Cologne today. It had rained in the morning, and while it was cool and windy in the morning, the sun came out, and it was warm and humid. Schlepping (not only Yiddish but German as well) stuff around to head to the airport, I was schwitzing away like mad. (Again, not only Yiddish but also German.) I had to go to Schöneberg all the way over in the former East Berlin. At one point I had to change trains. the line just ends at this point, and then we had to cross this big long bridge to connect to another train. I thought it was just a quick connect on the map. I thought to myself, would it have killed them to put the end of one line a little bit closer to the connecting train? Then I realized, yes, it would literally have killed them. The long bridge we walked over was where the former Berlin Wall used to be. (Now just a clearing.) We were connecting from a former West Berlin line to a former East Berlin line. Oh. I'll shut up now. :-)
So I made it Cologne just fine. I plugged in my computer, along with my PDA, my cell phone, my headset, my iPod... when i try to sleep, it looks like the lights of a small city off in the horizon. Everything needs recharging. The next day in Cologne is exactly that. I need rest like you wouldn't believe. Berlin was madhouse of go, go, go. This is my third time to Cologne, and I'm meeting with friends, but mostly on the weekend. Since I've been here before, there's not a lot new I'm dying to do, no big parties, although there's definitely several things. But I'm here through the weekend, so I can pace myself a bit better. Only thing I really need to do tomorrow is laundry. There's a "Waschsalon" just a couple blocks down. Not that I took a lot more clothes this time, but in Berlin, it rained a bunch (just a brief small shower here and there, I never even needed a "Regenschirm"), but the worst of it was it just all went into the air, making it real damp. Luckily it wasn't too warm. But still, I'd just sweat and it wouldn't go anywhere. Plus the fact that they smoke in the bars, so between it all, I got a lot of dirty clothes. It'll be good to get some fresh laundry!
For me, I put the "bitte nicht storen" on the door. I'm trying to sleep in, but I can't sleep for long. I don't know exactly why. It could just be 100 little things. An unfamiliar place, creeping jet lag (it is difficult to go here and try to wake up earlier and earlier), total lack of air conditioning anywhere (it's not hot, but I've always slept in a cold room, and I think it just makea it a bit uncomfortable, just enough like the princess and her pea, it just enough so I can't sleep). I think the biggest thing is I can't shut off. The voices in my head keep going over things over and over. What am I going to do tomorrow, how do you say certain things in German (außerdem, I was trying to think of how to say "besides"), is there anything I need to be doing. This vacation is the execution of months worth of work. I just wanted to make sure it's going well.
But so I'll just relax for a day or two. I'm already referring to Cologne as this trip's Paris. (Last year on my trip to Europe, Paris was between a party weekend in Cologne and one in Madrid... I ended up sleeping most all of the time.) And I know I'll need my rest once I get to Munich for Oktoberfest!
Blogdatum: Mittwoch, 06.09.2006
So I made it Cologne just fine. I plugged in my computer, along with my PDA, my cell phone, my headset, my iPod... when i try to sleep, it looks like the lights of a small city off in the horizon. Everything needs recharging. The next day in Cologne is exactly that. I need rest like you wouldn't believe. Berlin was madhouse of go, go, go. This is my third time to Cologne, and I'm meeting with friends, but mostly on the weekend. Since I've been here before, there's not a lot new I'm dying to do, no big parties, although there's definitely several things. But I'm here through the weekend, so I can pace myself a bit better. Only thing I really need to do tomorrow is laundry. There's a "Waschsalon" just a couple blocks down. Not that I took a lot more clothes this time, but in Berlin, it rained a bunch (just a brief small shower here and there, I never even needed a "Regenschirm"), but the worst of it was it just all went into the air, making it real damp. Luckily it wasn't too warm. But still, I'd just sweat and it wouldn't go anywhere. Plus the fact that they smoke in the bars, so between it all, I got a lot of dirty clothes. It'll be good to get some fresh laundry!
For me, I put the "bitte nicht storen" on the door. I'm trying to sleep in, but I can't sleep for long. I don't know exactly why. It could just be 100 little things. An unfamiliar place, creeping jet lag (it is difficult to go here and try to wake up earlier and earlier), total lack of air conditioning anywhere (it's not hot, but I've always slept in a cold room, and I think it just makea it a bit uncomfortable, just enough like the princess and her pea, it just enough so I can't sleep). I think the biggest thing is I can't shut off. The voices in my head keep going over things over and over. What am I going to do tomorrow, how do you say certain things in German (außerdem, I was trying to think of how to say "besides"), is there anything I need to be doing. This vacation is the execution of months worth of work. I just wanted to make sure it's going well.
But so I'll just relax for a day or two. I'm already referring to Cologne as this trip's Paris. (Last year on my trip to Europe, Paris was between a party weekend in Cologne and one in Madrid... I ended up sleeping most all of the time.) And I know I'll need my rest once I get to Munich for Oktoberfest!
Blogdatum: Mittwoch, 06.09.2006
posted by Joe Carlin at 9:08 PM
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