The only weird thing about my hostel was that there was only one key per room. So you didn't want to be the first one asleep because then you had to keep the door unlocked so others could get in and, like me, when I thought I was the last so I locked the door, I wasn't. But it was silly of the hostel to think that I was going to fall asleep with all my possessions in an unlocked cupboard. Not to mention I didn't know there was someone else that was going to come in after me (she check in at like 2am or something). So that poor girl had to bang on the door until someone woke up- which, of course, wasn't me. I was so surprised to see someone else in the room. I set my alarm for the last possible second to have enough time to get dressed, pack up, eat breakfast, and check out. I texted Brendan to see if he wanted to hang out, had a cup of coffee (there was no food) and he called me about 20 minutes later. We decided to meet at the Potsdam Platz where the Sony Center is. I'd read somewhere that the Platz was like Berlin's Times Square, but I guess that had to be at night because I didn't really get that sense. The Sony Center is really cool, though- it's a big dome but open, so on the inside are like restaurants and a movie theater and stuff. Really neat. Potsdam Platz, Brendan taught me, was part of "No Man's Land" so it wasn't even built on until the 90s, so everthing looks new and modern. I could tell. It's amazing the difference between East and West Berlin. I didn't expect it to be so visible. We grabbed a drink and he took me to all the things I hadn't seen yet: the Berlin Wall, the Topography of Terror (where the SS Headquarters used to be), the East Side Gallery (where a really long strip of the Wall is still up and has pretty graffiti on it), and finally the Charlottenburg Chateau. We didn't go inside but we walked all the way around, sort of through the gardens and around to the cafe were I enjoyed my last bockwurst and ice cream, courtesy of Brendan. We got back on the S-bahn and I went to my hostel and he went to meet his friends by the Bradenburg Gate to watch the game. I checked out, went to the airport, and got to the gate. I flew easyJet which is actually a UK airline but I didn't hear any passengers speaking English- and very few were German. Lots and lots of French. I always love flying in Europe because when they see my American passport they sort of do a double take. And the passengers are soooo curious. Sometimes I'll have my visa and my passport out- England has always been very adamant about that. Anyway, I got chatted up by a few people who would just say "United States? America?" and I would say yes and explain my whole situation. And then, usually, they will tell me when they went to the States, what they did, and in some cases, ask if I know such-and-such person, you know, because if they meet one person in Florida, I'm going to know them. ONe guy I was talking to was actually quite interesting. He flew into LA on 8/9/01. He said he that getting back to France after the Towers fell was really difficult and that for a while, they weren't sure when they would be able to.
I still find it amazing, just the whole September 11th thing. It affected everyone! Anyway, that's enough digression...the plane ride was fine- the captain kept updating us on the match, which reminded me of something my daddy probably would do. Spain won, 1-0!! :-) I knew that Liz was going to have something to celebrate that night. When I got off the plane, I thought I would be able to take the metro, but nooooo, it was "closed." Aka- the girl working behind the counter didn't want to have to print tickets. It was only a bit past 11! It stopped running at midnight! So, we had to get on a bus that would take us to a metro/RER station. I didn't particularly mind that, though, because it meant I could just get on and wouldn't have to make any transfers- and I would be going to the even closer metro station to me! After a long sweaty-hot bus ride (standing), we arrived at Denfert-Rochereau and then I got on the 6 to Picpus. It also reminded me that I would no longer be able to ride that metro because they were closing down 3 stations. Seriously closing them. I think they're laying new tracks or something. So ligne 6 will be actually 2 lines for a while. Boo. Not that I use it that much, but it was convienent when I wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower or something around there.
Aaaanyway, I got home, unpacked, and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment