Sick in berlin

Wednesday before I left Portland I went to the Western Doctor for drugs to kill off the Steve Vorhees Plague that has been effecting everyone at the office. The Doctor said "if your tonsils swell any more you won't be able to breath." Well that certainly count my attention and I got some steroids and went to he acupuncturist Wednesday evening. By Friday I was much better and the plague seemed to be dissipating.


Yesterday it came back with a vengeance. I went home early and after finally finding a cab I made it back to the hotel and asked them where I could find a pharmacy. The helpful people at the front desk sent me to Alexander Platz. Well Alexander Platz is not exactly a small area. I wondered around barely able to swallow looking for somewhere to get drugs.

The Grocery Store doesn't have a drug area like they do here in the US. I asked; cashier but she didn't speak English. A nice lady in line pointed me to the train station. The train station is pretty big to and I couldn't find it there so I went into a store and asked where the pharmacy was.


The two women there don't understand "pharmacy" so I make coughing noises and point to my neck and nose. Finally they say "oh Pharmecian" (dear lord thats practically the same) and point me around the corner to the big red A. Why couldn't have some one told me about the big red A an hour and a half ago? They are practically everywhere. You can't go more than 3 blocks without seeing one.

Pieces of the Wall

This evening Stephan Noske the tech lead from IDMedia and fellow cyclist/ tri-athelite took me around parts of Berlin. We started at Check Point Charlie and then walked up the path of the Berlin Wall to the Sony Center. Throughout the city there are brick stripes in the pavement where ever the wall used to be. Unless you knew or had someone tell you you would totally miss it.

Stephan was a great tour guide and had a lot to say about the Old GDR. We looked at the GDR cars. There was am 18 year waiting list to get one. As soon as you had a kid you put your name in on the list.

One of the coolest things I saw part of the old emperor's palace. After the wall came down the Sony Center was built in what was essentially no-mans land. During the construction they discovered the palace. It was too fragile to move so the built around it. Very, Very Cool

Here is the photo album from today's adventures.

Berlin Feb 5, 2008

Berlin Baby

I'm in Berlin, home of the porcelain bear statue. Everywhere I go there seems to be one. So far the trip has been quite fun. I finally arrived in Berlin Sunday at about 3pm local time and dropped my bags at the hotel. After that I went searching for food and coffee to keep me awake. The mass transit in Berlin is amazingly good. The concierge pointed me to Hackesher Markt.

So far travel and being in a new country has been pretty fun. I've dranken/drunk/whatever so much coffee today to try and stay awake and combat Jetleg. Tomorrow I go to ID Media and meet that team. I'll keep everyone apprised of my German Experiences.

International Travel or Stuck in Frankfurt

I am finally doing some international travel. On last min notice I am on my way to Berlin for a week. I am super excited or at least I was until I missed my Frankfurt to Berlin Connection by 3 mins. Now I'm waiting for the next flight which is in 2 hours. There is one nice thing. It' super sunny here and I am enjoying it through huge bay windows

My second laptop battery is about to die, I burned through the first one and most of this one on the plane trying to catch up on work and prep for my week here in Germany. was going to watch episodes of Arrested Development 3ed season but inserting the DVD was as far as I got. So I'm Signing off

Joel,
Frankfurt, Germany