fall

Today fall arrived, with a vengeance. Woke up to a rainy, cold, dark, windy day. Time to turn on the central heating.
Plans for today? None yet, will consult my good friend the internets and my recently arrived Lonely Planet city guide to Berlin. It's an excellent book, written in a funny yet informative and professional way and is clearly aimed at those young of heart, with lots of information about going out, art and even a chapter dedicated to gay and lesbian Berlin. That doesn't mean it does not include poshy places to eat and drink or a decent introduction to the history of Berlin. Lots of practical tips as well about the public transport and daily life in Berlin. A large part of the book is actually available for free on google books, check it out. I bought it for 12 euro on thebookdepository.co.uk.

Last night I had to get back from Alexanderplatz to my place, which turned out to be not as easy as getting there. Subway service is shut down during the week between 12 and 4 o'clock (or something like that), which means I had to rely on buses and trams. And while those do work fine as well, the system of those lines is much more complicated than the straightforward subway system. Basically, I just ended up getting lost and walking around for 45 minutes trying to find the right bus stop.
A big thumbs-up however, for the Bluespot terminals found at tram stops in the centre of Berlin. These are computer terminals which offer you city maps, public transport time tables, lots of other stuff and even internet access - for instance to check the bvg website and generate a way to get home, like I did. Brilliant things, and the best thing: they actually work. Easy to use as well, with a heavy-duty trackball and on-screen keyboard. As I had to wait for twenty minutes for my bus to arrive, I killed some time by surfing, which you can do at do-able speed for up to 500 seconds.

Funny thing: after the 500 seconds end, the machine doesn't simply jump back to its main page, it actually reboots - after giving you some obscure windows memory access violation error. Oops? I'd have programmed that better.






Before the whole bluepoint story, I went to a jazz bar which is called Schlot for a small free concert. Wasn't jazz actually, more folk-rock-pop by a small local band. Music was pretty good, 3.5 euro for half a litre of beer which is a normal Belgian price. Which was nice as well :)

Oh, and I've discovered admission-free berlin, which lists, erm, admission free events. Free is good. Will check that out.