UMTravels

Yesterday…

Went to the DB (Duetshe Bahn – i.e. the train) Lounge a couple of hours before my train. Why hang out in a train station? Air-conditioning, free soda pop, wine and snacks… sounds like a good reason to me.

Had a first class ticket in a “quiet” section of the car. Apparently that just meant cell phones as I spent the first hour with a young child in our little six person compartment, complete with father and a ton of toys. Something tells me those weren’t his real seats as he moved to a compartment in the next car down with another child and a woman who I assume was his wife… guess it was a time-out for someone.

Butch Budda’s transfer instructions to get to the gathering were spot on… and with a stop in the Berlin Hbf (haugh ban hof, or train station) to grab €200 (200 Euro) for the gathering fee, I still have almost half the €200 I got at the cash machine at the airport (and Ezra’s short €20, should have been probably 25, for the duty-free cigarettes, but hell, there was a ride from the airport included so it all evens out).

By the time I found the S-Bahn (city train) Route 7, it was only ten minutes until the train to the woods. 15 minutes of walking (through at time a pack of ironman/triathelon competitors) I was at Haus am Wannsee – the house on Wannsee, which is a big lake within the city limits of Berlin.

Arrived at cocktail hour to find no ice, but at least there was a freezer big enough to put what remained of a bottle of Jack Daniels. A small saving grace, though I probably should have picked up more since I tend to share my stash with other faeries… too late now, and probably until Monday with Germany’s blue laws (the are finally open until 8pm on Saturdays).

Dinner of these giant fish cakes, and a traditional German potato salad and sliced organic gherkins (pickles, not the British/Nepalese soldiers).

The circle after dinner was more of a welcome rather than a heart circle – lots of logistical stuff about how the house works, but what was amazing for me to realize was that of the 40 people in the circle, 10 or so of them had been at the Terschelling Gatherings of 1996 and 1997. For my time in Frankfurt I had been worrying about if I could actually make it a week hanging out with the faeries in the woods (albeit in a bed, with hot showers, and most importantly a commercial dishwasher that does a load in 3 minutes – faster than you can rinse and load the next tray). I believe the answer is yes – hence, the redemption of Uncle Markie.

Today…

Because of having to upload blog entries via a tethered (and expensive) link to my phone, I’ve changed the format a little in that the posts for the week will be a little bit of yesterday and a little bit of today.

Stunning (and hot) weather for wandering around in one’s birthday suit – this will solve the problem of not packing two weeks’ worth of clothes, spend a week wearing nothing, or more likely, just running a load of clothes mid-week, as they’ve got a washer dryer here, as well as a second kitchen mostly devoted to making coffee and tea. The house has eight bedrooms with a total of 42 beds (mostly bunk beds, all singles).

Between yesterday and mid-day today I’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen doing dishes – it gets me out of doing any meal preparation work… it with the monster commercial machine, it’s quick and easy. Just imagine me in a cook’s apron and nothing else… or don’t.

The weather is supposed to change by late afternoon but for the morning heart circle it was a combination of sun and shade on the beach.

We’ll see if this entry will actually post via the phone.

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