Katrin and I caught a six-something in the morning train to Rostock with connections to Berlin.
It was hard to leave such a warm family setting. Fran’s parents and brother are warm and inviting. They are truly great hosts and made me feel a sense of home that can really be lost through traveling across time and continents.
I really appreciated the pure structure of the Koster home. It was completely uncluttered and comfortable. A couple of the pictures that hung in the livingroom struck a chord with me. First was a picture of Fran's Mom on the first day of school when she was a child. Kids are often given a new backpack and a cone of supplies and goodies on their first day of school for the new year.
Second was a black and white photo of Fran and her brother Marcus. There is just something timeless about this black and white shot. I wish I could have taken a better photo of it.
The German sense of systematic accuracy continues to impress. For example, this is the active schedule for local bus routes stopping at the Hauptbahnhof. How nice would it be to know with confidence when the bus was coming in the States.
After getting re-settled into the St. Christopher's hostel I had a short list of activities for the afternoon. First was food. Not, just any food would do but the classic Berlin snack or lunch of currie wurst. This treat came about when a German prisoner of war, held in the southern US, came back to his wife raving about southern ribs and barbeque. Her response was to mix currie powder with ketchup and serve it over red wurst. Bingo, the currie wurst was born. The challenge these days is that the Turkish schwarma has taken over as the fast food of choice and it is actually pretty difficult to find any traditional currie wurst.
Armed with directions, I started walking deeper into the former East Berlin. As the streets and buildings got a little rougher, I was getting closer to the prize.
Ultimately, I found the famous Konnopke's under the train tracks some twenty blocks away from the hostel.
With a full stomach, I decided to try to find my German doctor friends from the train ride in Tibet. I must have botched the transfer of their phone number to my electronic database, because it was no longer in service. So I headed to the largest hospital complex in Berlin to try to find them. The hospital was easy to find, but they were not registered there.
A little bummed, I summitted to the ultimate destiny of travelers... laundry. So the "Fast and Clean" was my laundry and internet home for a few afternoon hours.
In case you were wondering... this is what internet laundry looks like in East Berlin.
The weather has been very odd for Germany in May. It is very hot in Berlin with strong evening thunderstorms.
Over twenty people died in the country over the long weekend from weather related accidents and watching this stormfront move through, the fact was easily understood.
