Jewels of Bohemia Trip – Berlin

Self knowledge is a wonderful thing. Being aware of one’s weaknesses allows one to build in the necessary safeguards. But when the “one” in that sentence happens to be me? Did I build in safeguards? I’ll let YOU be the judge.

On my last trip, my luggage was left in Munich, when I changed planes, so THIS time I decided to do carry on only, even though we had a direct flight. I still managed to “lose” my luggage. How is that even possible, you might ask?I remembered to check the overhead compartment, so my carry on and backpack DID make it safely OFF the plane.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to take a photo of my bags. Yes, that piece of paper on the floor is indeed a checklist of my luggage’s contents. ( Self knowledge in action— I KNOW I have a tendency to forget stuff, so maybe I DID build in a couple of safeguards).

Perhaps I shouldn’t have drunk so much Prosecco?

Barb, my travel companion, checked her bag, so we agreed to meet at baggage claim. That way I could use the bathroom and brush my teeth while she was waiting for her bag to fly down the chute.

Well, at Berlin’s airport, to get to baggage claim, you walk through 3 doors with little gates that open and close automatically. As soon as the last door closed behind me, I realized that both my hands were free. I had left my pink carry on in the stall in the bathroom. Not a problem. I’d do what I have done in other airports—wait for someone to come thru, and quickly jump in, heading in the opposite direction. Except with multiple doors, that doesn’t work so well.

Plan B. Approach a random airport worker and admit to colossal stupidly. He very kindly walked me to the information desk, where they promptly and emphatically told me there was no way I could go back through those doors to retrieve my bag. No alternative was offered.

Plan C. Approach someone else with my tale of woe. His solution: when someone reports the bag to security, it will be sent to lost and found, and I could get it then. But who knows how long that would take? Hours? Days?

Plan D. Hunt down a group of friendly looking police officers standing around, doing nothing. Repeat yet again, my sad story and confession of a mental lapse. Although initially reluctant, ultimately, a female police officer came to my rescue— walked out of the airport, around to the other side and emerged through those dreaded doors with my luggage in tow. Good thing I had taken that photo!

But that’s not the only memorable part of this journey. At passport control, the officer searched through the pages of my new passport, then proceeded to ask me NUMEROUS questions. The only stamp he could find was from that famous stop in Munich, where my luggage stayed longer than I did. It seems I was missing an EXIT stamp, so according to him, I could have spent the last few months wandering thru Germany, wreaking havoc. Good thing I’m old and look harmless. After enduring his lecture, my full bladder and I were FINALLY allowed to be on our way. So maybe it was HIS fault? His questioning got me so upset that I left my luggage in the bathroom? Hey, it was worth a try.

When we got to the Marriott, we discovered the lobby is being renovated, but at least the ONE available room was far from the atrium and noise.

We stowed our stuff in that room, then we headed for the HOHO (Hop on hop off bus) to see if we could stay awake long enough to get a feel for the city. Believe it or not, Berlin has 4, HOHOs, so we chose the one the hotel concierge recommended.

We were far too tired to do much hopping off today, so we spent our morning riding around. We did stop to grab some lunch at 11 AM, which was a bit of a challenge because most eateries weren’t open yet.

So what do we think of Berlin? Initially, not much. Like our hotel lobby, lots of Berlin appears to be under construction.

Graffiti is spray painted everywhere—but it sure isn’t like the street art I saw in Columbia and Ecuador! It’s random, ugly squiggles.

Then, as we headed west, things started looking up.

We had a nice mix of old and new architecture. Sorry, I don’t as too tired to remember what was said about these two buildings.

I DO recall the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building. We have tickets for a tour next Tuesday night.

This is the 30th anniversary of the building being “wrapped” by Christo and Jean Claude. To commemorate the anniversary, every evening until June 20th there will be a light show from 9:30PM until 1 AM.

There is much more to say, but exhaustion has taken hold.