There's a Train A'Comin' !!!
(Amsterdam Train Station waiting for my Duetchland Coach!)
Hallo Berlin!
I made it to my "homeland!" Haha! I couldn't help but think of my Great Grandmother Lenz who was born and raised in Germany and then left, on a ship, and passed through Ellis Island to start a new life in a "new world." Settled in Syracuse and raised a family. The rest, as they say, "is history." Or, at least "mine" anyway! I'll have to visit Ireland sometime to see how the other half lived, or at least where they lived!
Beautiful train ride. German landscape, just as I had imagined. Bare trees, vast expanse of dry land, ominous, foreboding sky, old stone hallowed out buildings dotting the scene. What I DIDN'T expect to see were SO MANY new, high-tech WINDMILLS! I saw a few while riding through Holland, but saw hundreds riding through Germany, especially once we passed Hannover and were about halfway to Berlin. They are fascinating looking! They look like futuristic creatures. HUGE, with slow spiraling arms. TAAAAAALLLLL and silent and spooky. Something right out of "Blade Runner." Looking like they could have been designed by the APPLE Co. (tripping on mushrooms!) Like a MacMill or something. Sleek, streamlined, white. I tried in vain to get a good shot of them, but it was difficult from the HIGH SPEED train, and through the windows with glare, etc. But, have posted a couple below anyway.
FRISKED by Hunky German Fuzz:
So, I am dozing on the train. Catnapping with my winter coat as my pillow, semi-comfortable, but perfectly content. All of a sudden I am startled into wakefulness by a SLAP on the Ass! (well, the Leg really, but ass makes for a better story!) I pull the scarf off from over my face and gaze up at two HUGE German Hunks in Official Green Law Enforcement Gear. They start speaking to me in German, and I reply with "Excuse me?" (I'm out of it) The one says, "Do you speak English?" I wanted to say, well ummm... yeah, I just spoke to you in English, "Excuse me?" But, thought it best not to rock the boat, they looked like they meant business! The "meaner" (and less cute) of the two says, "Let me see your passport!" So, I fumble around in my backpack and I pull it show to show him (my passport, that is!) He looks at it and tosses it back at me. Then says, "Where are you coming from?" "Amsterdam," I reply. He says, "You carrying any drugs? Weapons?" "No," I say. He says, "Open your bag!" So, I open my bag and he starts going through it. He comes upon something wrapped in a plastic bag with rubber bands around it, pulls it out and says "What is this?" I say, "It's a coffee mug." He looks puzzled. "Open it up!" he orders. I start to unwrap it. It's glass, so it's wrapped in about fifteen-layers of plastic and paper bags. The two mongo- uber-cops are staring at me saucer-eyed, like kids at Christmas. I am unwrapping, and unwrapping, and I get to the final wrap and the nicer one (cuter, and with a slight sense of humor) bugs-out his eyes and lets out an "OOOOOOoooooooo!!!" then smiles ;-) The mean one grabs the mug (by now you can tell that it is a mug by the shape, but it is still covered in one final wrap, so it is unexposed) out of my hand and sticks his hand inside to make sure it's empty. Then gives it back to me. They say, "Have a nice trip!" Turn, and leave. I am the ONLY person on the train that they approached! Do you think it is because I was sleeping with my Palestinian scarf wrapped around my head like a babushka to keep my head warm? I dunno!? But, I was SO RELIEVED when mean-cop didn't unwrap the final wrap from the coffee mug, because the mug is embossed with a giant MARIJUANA Leaf!!! The ONE thing in my possession that had anything to do with drugs!!! One look at that and they would have surely thought I was a smuggler!
When they got outside of the train, I waved my mug in the air and yelled, "They want my MARIJUANA MUG!!!" and the entire train broke out in gales of laughter (in German, of course!) The man in the seat across the aisle from me said, "I take this train every week, and I have never seen that happen before!" I guess I just got lucky! ;-)
Meanwhile!!! The apartment here is FANTASTIC! (Photos below!) It's HUGE. Top floor. Outdoor Balcony! GREAT neighborhood in Schonberg, "Old Berlin" (West) where Christopher Isherwood lived and wrote and set most of his novels ("Cabaret!") Bars, and Pubs, and Cabarets, and Bookshops!" One metro stop from the City Center (Mitte) and Museum Island!!!
A BEEEEEAAAAAAUUUUTTTTTIIIIIFFFFUUUUUL MORNING!!!!!
xoxoxo
JOSEF!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment