Trying to make sense of Berlin

I’ve written about the importance of having some sort of a plan when one travels, and our friend Elena even tried to help by loaning us a book about Berlin in English. Unfortunately, I was too busy with last-minute details to read in Minsk, and I couldn’t find a book in English anywhere in Prague for less than $40 and that book wouldn’t have fit in my pocket so I skipped it.

As a result, I arrived in Berlin with nothing more than a hotel reservation. After showering and unpacking, I went out to buy a book and look for dinner. The staff was closing up the bookstore as I arrived, but a clerk let me in on the promise that I’d buy the first item I picked up. Then she actually helped me pick the best pocket-sized book about Berlin. When I said that I'd be here for a whole week, she encouraged me to buy the bigger book I saw in Prague, but realistically I won’t sit around in my hotel to read and I won’t read a book that I’d have to fish out of a backpack. The little one I bought looks to be good enough, based on the part I read over dinner.

I met a couple of Hungarians at the restaurant. They’d also just arrived, armed with three books. They promised to give me more information tomorrow, which is a really good thing. My first impressions of Berlin are that it’s much too big and too busy to figure out without some kind of help. I like the fact that there are a whole lot of bicycles here, and I feel sort of out-of-it without a bicycle of my own. I also saw a lot of people in lawn chairs looking at the river. Unable to imagine why people would crowd so closely on a small patch of lawn, I went and asked if something were about to happen on the water. Nope. They’d just finished watching the sun go down. In summary, then, I have no cohesive idea of what Berlin is about. I’ll go work on it, and report back later.

Meanwhile, I discovered on Facebook that some old friends are coming to town tomorrow to start a bike trip from Berlin to Prague. I’ll go see them tomorrow evening, and then I’ll finally be able to tell Alla that Facebook can have redeeming social value.