Europe 2007 (Part I)
Before I go into recent events, I figured it might help me to go through a number stories from Sean and my trip to Europe.
"Picture it, Sicily, 1955"...no wait, that's Estelle Getty's character's lines! But what a good place to start! "Picture it...Berlin, 2007"...
...and I arrive to meet Sean's friend Ulrike (whom I had never met except for a few messages over AIM). Thankfully, after a seriously long flight (in which I was actually able to huddle by myself in two seats and doze most of the way), we had time before Sean landed and I took a much needed flop onto the bed for an hour nap.
We scoot back to the airport in time to wave frantically at Sean as he exited the area where you debark from the plane. Unfortunately...we had been waving him to STOP...but alas...he just thought we were happy to see him (which was also true). You see...the baggage claim is right when you land...you don't have to travel 14 miles like you do at airports in the U.S. So...we had to wait until it cleared customs (once you exit that area...you don't get back in) and ended up in a shack just outside the terminal (which took about an hour).
Once all that hullaballo was over, we went back to Ulrike's and had a beer at her brothers pub (which was conveniently located across the street from her apartment). As you might can see from this picture, there is a model train on the ceiling!
The next day we were schedule to go on a tour with other guys who were attending a Leather and Fetish festival called "Folsom Europe". Berlin is a walking/public transit system so once we got off the tram, we had a small hike to find the hotel where the tour bus was departing from. I asked "so...how will we know where we get on this bus?" and as I emerged from the leaves of the trees planted in the median we had to pass through, I heard him say, "Oh...we'll know" and he started laughing.
Across the street, loading into a tour bus, was about 100 guys fully decked out in leather regalia whereas Sean and I...well, we were wearing something apparently, a little less normal for this crowd (which means jeans and a polo LOL).
The tour went quite well and we were carted all over Berlin and learned and saw many interesting points of its history that we, later, were to revisit again (like "Checkpoint Charlie").
Our next big trip was to see the German Parliament house which has an incredible architectural feature, the domed mirror. After queuing for about 30 minutes (that's what they say over the big sea..."queue") we made our way inside to one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen...
What it represents is that when you are down in the parliament house and you look up...the mirrors show you exactly who you are working FOR. I think we need one of these in our Senate and House since what I know of politicians...they mostly just work for themselves.
We did manage to get to a few bars in Berlin and see (really...just seeing is enough) what goes on in those backrooms...
And then...we were off to the actual "Folsom Europe 2007" event...and I'll talk about that on my next update!
1 Comments:
Glad to see your back! Great pics too.
Mike
5:17 PM
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