Istanbul Layover

I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the Marriott airport hotel in Istanbul. I arrived late last night and my flight to Tokyo doesnt leave until tonight. I was going to go into the city center for lunch or something just to check it out but that seems like too much of a pain in the ass for just a few hours. Money exchange, figuring out transportation, etc. Instead I'll sit at the hotel bar and have a few drinks.

Even though I've only been at the airport, this hotel, and the drive between, it seems like Istanbul is heavily under security. Just to pull into the hotel lot we had to go through a security check, then to enter the building you need to have your bags scanned and go through a metal detector. The air here smells like the city is on fire. So maybe it's better that I'm staying in the hotel til my flight.

Breakfast in Brussels

I went to New York for Thanksgiving and on the way back to Berlin flew through Brussels. I got in at 745 or so and my flight to Berlin wasn't until 5.

10:30. Breakfast.
The Mannekin Pis Statue dressed in condoms. At least he's well protected.

Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 Year Anniversary

I went to the huge celebration of the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The night started at my friend Chris' apartment for dinner and pre-drinks since he lives near Potsdamer Platz. The festivities were supposed to start at 7, then the main event at 8. So around 730 we walked towards the Brandenburger Tor, only to find out that the main street with everything has been blocked off for 2 blocks on either side. I guess it was already full and they were forcing people to go to the very ends. We did not like this so we walked through a building, out through its courtyard and through a hole in the fence and came out just behind the police blockade. I guess they either didn't see us or assumed we lived on the street because no one stopped us. Turns out we had entered right where the international press section was, so it was relatively uncrowded. We stood right along the rails where the long row of large stone 'dominoes' were set up, and only about 2 or 3 blocks from the gate itself where all the performances and speeches were going on. My favorite part was that atop the few buildings along the route were angels standing on the ledges and corners. People dressed normally but with giant life-sized angel wings, lit from underneath with spots and just watching over the crowd. It was really moving. But for some reason I can't find anything about it online, no pictures, only one reference in a Brazilian newspaper. I did my best to get some pictures but the bad weather, nighttime lighting, and lack of tripod made it difficult to get any decent pictures in the bustle of the crowd. I did find one video on youtube that someone took with their phone. The video itself is poor quality and not too exciting, but if you want to see another shot of one of the angels click here and at around 35 seconds theres a cool shot.
There were speeches from Gorbachev and Hillary Clinton; performances by Bon Jovi, Paul van Dyk, and other performers that I didn't know. Then they pushed the two blocks in the middle and this wall of 2 meter high slabs all fell over in a row like dominoes down the street. It was really cool to watch, especially from right up close where we were.

This isn't my video but it's short and it shows what it looked like and is actually from about the same distance from it I was.

Then the night ended with a mediocre fireworks display.

Just to be here for such an historic event was exciting. Eating sausages and drinking beer while celebrating and partying with those around. Afterwards the partying continued practically all night, the city was alive with celebration

USA

I went back to the US for 3 and a half weeks in October. I spent most of the time in New York, a week in LA, and a a night each in Atlantic City and DC. It took about the first week to get over the reverse culture shock, as it was my first time back in the US in almost a year and that was the longest I have gone so far being away from my home country. But it was nice to hear everyone speaking English.

IFA

This week I went to the world's largest electronics fair (called IFA), held every year at the Berlin Convention Center. All the companies have some kind of display that showcases new products as well as history or whatever. Some companies had entire halls, like Samsung and SONY, and others just had small little tents, like Blackberry, etc. But it was huge. I have never seen so many flatscreen TVs. I spent about 7 hours there, and didn't even make it to each hall. The new big things are 3D television, and even more innovations in image crispness and overall thinness. It was a lot of fun. I went with my friend Stefan from Munich who I actually met in Panama. He works for Bosch Siemens (appliances), and had to go for work, so he got me a company pass to go with him. I also got a free lunch and beer out of it, since we had access to the Bosch Siemens special area where they wine and dine the buyers.

my failed attempt to capture the 3D TV

Ireland

I finally have pictures from the people I went with so here's Ireland:

My friend Adam and a few of his friends, a few of whom I was already acquaintances with, came to Berlin for a few days. We did some touristy stuff, much of which I hadn't done yet. Then we flew to Ireland. There were there were 7 of us (we met up with a friend from Ireland and he came with us for the time there), so we rented two cars. And drove the entire island and stayed in every major city and saw everything there is to see in Ireland. We put over 1,000 miles on the cars in 4 days. We got lost every day, but those sometimes hours-long detours really took us to some of the best parts of the country side.

We flew into Dublin and Drove to Cork, spent the night, then went to Blarney Castle the next day.

I kissed the Blarney Stone. Rated the World's Most Unhygienic Tourist Attraction. It's at the very top of this castle, along the wall on the left. You have to get on your back and bend over backward while grabbing onto bars to hold yourself. It's pretty high up. But I'm brave like a superhero so I didn't cry (too much).

After the castle we were on the road again to Galway. We would stop off in towns like Limerick and Kerry for beers in pubs, finally making it to Galway by about midnight (which turned into a recurring theme for the rest of the trip). Not to waste any time, we hit the clubs. At one point that night I was riding a mechanical bull. We eventually all got up the next day, and got back in the cars to head to the cliffs of Moher. Really beautiful. Very windy.

After the Cliffs of Moher we drove towards Belfast. If you look at the map above, the Cliffs of Moher are between Limerick and Galway, and we were going to be driving to Belfast, attempting to stop at some monument or cemetery (or both). This was when we got lost for a good few hours and ended up finally in Belfast at exactly 12 Midnight. Of course we still went out that night, and of course, since it was a Sunday night in Belfast at about 1am, we had the entire club to ourselves. I'm not even exactly sure how it got started, but for some reason the hotel staff believed we were a famous band from the US, but since they didn't know who we were, we wouldn't tell them. They absolutely loved us and treated us like royalty. They would whisper and watch us in the bar. And didn't yell at us when we got noise complaints from other guests.


The next day we got up to go see the Giant's Causeway, on the farthest northern point on the island of Ireland. What we though would be a quick 2 hour trip before heading back to Dublin of course turned into a 7 hour detour, but well worth it to see the Northern Irish coast and Giant's Causeway.
After the Causeway it was in the cars and back to Dublin, another 4 or 5 hours. We finally got into Dublin (about Midnight), checked in to the hotel then hit the clubs. the next day was the bus tour of Dublin. Stopped at all the major sights, like St Patrick's Cathedral and the Guinness Brewery. First and last full Guinness I will ever drink. Like chilled jet fuel


This was the last day of the trip. My flight left at 6am, so I decided it was best to just stay up until i had to take my cab at 4. So after dinner we went to the casino, where everyone was up at least a hundred euros...except me. While everyone else was hitting black jack every other draw, I was almost always dealt 12, then a face card on the hit. After all my money was gone, I was eventually banished from the table for bringing bad luck to whomever I was standing next to. Luck of the Irish my ass