I was still tired and jet-lagged on Saturday morning when I had to catch the train to Berlin. It’s early Spring in Europe; something has bloomed to give me a stuffy nose and cough despite allergy meds. I’d largely packed my bag at 3 am and had been spending the time before sunup, sneezing and trying to catch a nap. At this point, I was traveling from the Movenpick hotel to Amsterdam Centraal quite easily. I was directed to the right track for my train by some helpful GVB folk at the turnstiles. I’d arrived about an hour early due to my restlessness, but it felt good to be outside in the cool Spring air. I have been disappointed to learn that I remember almost nothing of my college German. My early arrival at the platform gave me the opportunity to get on the wrong train because of my lousy German; but to get off the train before it left, because the Dutch speak English well and were able to point out my error. I sat back on a platform bench and the fellow next to me said that he’d been wondering what I would be doing on a train heading to a rural part of the Netherlands. He was also going to catch the train to Berlin in order to change trains in Hannover and meet a Norwegian friend in Hamburg. We had a fine conversation about urban versus rural attitudes in Europe versus America, about moving between countries where you need to learn a new language, immigration and the Celtics – yeah, I knew just enough to fake it. The train came and we parted since I had a reserved seat and he did not. I realized that, for all the pleasure I had in his conversation and company, I’d forgotten to ask his name.

The driving distance between Boston and BWI airport in Maryland is almost exactly the same as the driving distance between Amsterdam and Berlin, about 660 km. The train ride to Berlin took about as much time as the Acela train from South Station, Boston to BWI Airport Station, but the scenery was quite different. The Netherlands had a lot of flat cultivated fields with a bit of industry along the railway; Germany was much more wooded but still with a lot of cultivated areas along the railway. Quite the contrast to scenery in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Acela. Though the train left Amsterdam on time, we were 30 minutes late arriving in Berlin. Fortunately, my hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the train station. My friend, Sarah, helped me connect with her friend Ted who lives in Berlin and has a perfume business (https://www.raerscents.com). I took a taxi over to Ted’s home after checking in to my hotel. I had a great time meeting Ted, learning about his perfume business and life in Berlin, though I was too congested to smell much of anything. I went for a walk afterwards while looking for a taxi and passed by a library I hope to see while I’m here (https://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/en/).

I did find a taxi eventually and headed back to the hotel for a drink and a snack – I hadn’t eaten since breakfast in Amsterdam. Cocktails were not a real feature at the hotel bar. There’s a list of ones they make posted and it is a decent list of about 8 drinks – popular ones, straight from Difford’s Guide (https://www.diffordsguide.com) like Sex on a Beach or Daiquiri. I had to be more persuasive than I’d expected to get the bartender to listen to my directions to make a scotch Manhattan, a Rob Roy, rather than a whiskey Manhattan. Language was not the problem; his English was very good. Rather, it was because I was asking for something different, I think. He made and served a perfectly acceptable drink. I had two before heading to bed.