Berlin Rocks!

Berlin – what an awesome city! Finally saw Vishal after 2.5 years since we graduated. Also met his Swedish housemate, Lars who welcomed me into his home and was good entertainment value.

The weekend was full of spontaneous random singing, bollywood dancing/twisting (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8JHzPzARNc) , punches and arms wrestles - for once, I actually may not have been the craziest person in the vicinity.

The Berlin Linier Bus was 43 euro return. The bus took about 3.5 hrs, which is longer than the Ice train but is a lot cheaper. I sat up top on the double decker bus and I’m sure I could feel it swaying from side to side on the Autobahn. There were cars passing us quite quickly so they must have really been gunning it.

On Saturday we rented bikes and saw the sites - the old buildings, parks, checkpoint Charlie and what was left of the Berlin wall. Also saw some nice display cars including a Ferarri and Bugati Veyron.

It was the first time I had ridden a bike in at least 15 years. The weather was great and I had an absolute blast - it is days like these that really make the hard days worth the struggle.

Every so often I got a whiff of sewerage, which was absolutely horrible. Also I noticed the requirement to pay to go to the toilet at most public places (also the same in Hamburg) – even at McDonalds! I’ve seen it cost anywhere between 30 cents and 1 euro, so it really depends on how desperate I am – the most I’ve paid is 80 cents.

It was a real struggle on Monday! I was supposed to go on training courses for the next 2 weeks for Airbus Catia Methods and Primes (PDM system), but they were cancelled due to lack of participants. The next English courses are not until end of August so it might be awhile before I am productive at work.

Last Wednesday we had the equivalent of ‘Beer on the Balcony’. It was held at the Veritas Beach club next door which is literally a beach club with sand, deck chairs and beach volleyball. It was a shame the weather wasn’t great but we still managed to have a good time in the undercover areas. It was interesting talking to colleagues who are not based in my office and finding out that more than 2 job descriptions, other than cad or stress monkey exist.

That’s all for now – more pics on facebook:

Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130237&id=782988985&l=a93e08400b

Hamburg: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130246&id=782988985&l=d1919449b7

Viel Spaß.