Arrival in Berlin

Our flight landed in Berlin around 9am. It took perhaps another half hour to gather our checked bags, and then we spent a solid hour trying to figure out how to get to Arne’s uncle’s apartment. For some reason Arne’s German phone was not working, so we had to find a pay phone to call Ewa, who was supposed to give us the key to the flat. We got on the subway and met her a few stops away from the flat, then got back on the subway until we reached the stop called Kaiserin Augusta Straβe. Once inside, she showed us a map of Berlin and told Arne how to get to the nearest grocery store. She left for work.

I collapsed immediately on a pair of mattresses laid on the floor for us in the guest room. Arne still had some scraps of energy left, so he went grocery shopping at Lidl. We ate a hasty lunch and proceeded to pass out on the mattresses. That was at 1pm. I didn’t register any degree of consciousness until 7:30. By the time we were both awake, Arne realized 1.) that it was ten til eight, 2.) most stores in Germany close at eight, and 3.) if we were going to eat dinner we needed to haul ass to get to that store. We managed to get inside and rushed around the store trying to find something we could fix easily. I tried to help him find a couple things, but the aisle markers were useless to me since everything was written in German. We decided on hot dogs, and also bought some things for breakfast.

We were eating and watching the beginning of Wall-E on my laptop when his uncle Yoachim arrived. He helped us eat the rest of the hot dogs and then told us all about Berlin and some things we definitely needed to visit. We made plans for the next couple of days. Yoachim went to bed, Arne and I finished watching Wall-E, and then we went to sleep. To my surprise, neither of us had any trouble falling asleep despite the fact we both slept all day.