Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Sleepless in Berlin and GRE...
Berlin has undergone a lot of changes since I was last there in 1999. We stayed at the SAS Radisson in East Berlin, the area renamed as "Berlin Mitte". The hotel was close to Alexanderplatz, Bebeliplatz, Berliner Dom, and the Fernsehenturm.
We passed by the Judaischer Denkmal on the way to the hotel but I did not visit it. My colleague did and he said it was quite amazing. Slabs of stone of various shapes and sizes to commemorate those killed in the concentration camps.
I did not have much free time there since I arrived Monday lunchtime and the Welcome reception was that very night. Some of us were bad, we went to yoga instead and got to the Welcome reception late and then buggered off to dinner at the really great Italian restaurant (Bacco il Bocca; I think!) I had a baked fig with goat cheese and speck and then tagliolini topped with shaved truffles.
The excursion on Wed afternoon was to tour the civilian bunker underneath the Gesundbruennen train station. It was an interesting yet sobering tour. We learned about the origins of the triangle and what the different colours represented. I did take some photos but have not downloaded them yet.
On a knitting note, I completed the Gumdrops sweater while in Berlin. In fact, I stayed up until 4 am last Thurs to complete it. I am wondering if I should even bother putting those "gumdrops" on (bobbles) since it looks great without. The annoying thing is, I think Marlis has actually almost outgrown this sweater!!!
GRE: is next week. Did not get any studying done while in Berlin. Why was I so optimistic to think that I would?????????
We passed by the Judaischer Denkmal on the way to the hotel but I did not visit it. My colleague did and he said it was quite amazing. Slabs of stone of various shapes and sizes to commemorate those killed in the concentration camps.
I did not have much free time there since I arrived Monday lunchtime and the Welcome reception was that very night. Some of us were bad, we went to yoga instead and got to the Welcome reception late and then buggered off to dinner at the really great Italian restaurant (Bacco il Bocca; I think!) I had a baked fig with goat cheese and speck and then tagliolini topped with shaved truffles.
The excursion on Wed afternoon was to tour the civilian bunker underneath the Gesundbruennen train station. It was an interesting yet sobering tour. We learned about the origins of the triangle and what the different colours represented. I did take some photos but have not downloaded them yet.
On a knitting note, I completed the Gumdrops sweater while in Berlin. In fact, I stayed up until 4 am last Thurs to complete it. I am wondering if I should even bother putting those "gumdrops" on (bobbles) since it looks great without. The annoying thing is, I think Marlis has actually almost outgrown this sweater!!!
GRE: is next week. Did not get any studying done while in Berlin. Why was I so optimistic to think that I would?????????
# posted by hy : 12:01 p.m.
