Red Eye to Berlin

Long flight. Beth was able to sleep most of the time and I caught an hour or so, but it was a lot of sitting.

The connection at London Heathrow went smoothly. For some reason the airport waits till about 50 minutes before departure to announce the gate, so people congregate in a central area and then totter off to the gate just prior to boarding. The process worked fine, but it left the planner in me slightly anxious.

When we got to Berlin we raided a cash machine for Euros. For reasons yet unknown it rejected my MasterCard ("Not authorized..."), but after a brief panic the backup Visa card worked fine. I'll check with the bank to see what's going on once I get an Internet connection.

We grabbed a bus at the airport for the ride to our hotel. Very little waiting, no transfers, and about 30 minutes total time. One long block of walking and we were at the hotel by 20:30. The office was closed, so we picked up the keys at the bar next door (per instructions on the hotel's front door). I spent five minutes in front of the main door fumbling with the keys before another guest pointed me to a smaller door nearby that led to the rooms. Had I read the instructions in the envelope the keys came in then I could have figured this out on my own, but it never occured to me to do so. Instructions? Who needs instructions?

After dropping off our gear we took a quick walk around the block. Even at 21:30 there was still lots of activity -- stores open, restaurants busy serving people at sidewalk tables, and crowds of people walking about. We debated whether or not to get something to eat, but eventually decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.