On Tuesday I sleep in late after the early rises for the last three days. After reading the news, I get out walking and seeing sites. I walk for about three hours with a break for lunch - seeing many old buildings in the Dresden city center. The buildings and architecture are inspiring. In the afternoon I go back to the hotel to finally watch the Formula One race from Austria and then I get out and do some grocery shopping to pick up supplies. After dinner in my room as I finish up the demographic study, I go out walking again to check out the city center at night. Since this is such a northern latitude, the sun is still shining after 9:30 pm, so I don't get to see the city at nighttime since I come home near 9:30pm. But I talk with a few people including a group of people from Aghanistan who want to practice their English.
On Wednesday I wake up at a reasonable time determined to finish off the demographics report. I perform the final edits and find the pesky column selection error that I knew was present but couldn't quite find (which resulted in a duplicate set of demographics being used). So I fix that and complete the report and send it off to the Long Beach City Council candidate for review and subsequent discussion. Before noon I get out walking - again in a random direction just to see what's here. I don't have an agenda today since I'm somewhat "museumed out". But after walking around a lot twice, I get in a good session of programming where I'm just goofing around to find optimal pit stop strategies for F1 cars including tire degradation - a fun little diversion.
On Thursday I get up and keep working on the pit stop strategy algorithm and a couple more hours of work and it will be done. I check out of one hotel, do some laundry, and check into a different hotel. This hotel is very close to the city center and train station, but they want 22 euros per night to park the car. So I go park the car back near my original hotel and walk to the new one. (The original hotel has street parking for 3 euros per night.) Later I walk to the train station and buy train tickets for Saturday and Sunday to take me to the Sachsenring circuit because parking is tight and expensive.
On Saturday I take the train to the Sachsenring circuit. I run into the Aussie guy from yesterday at the ticket counter and start talking with two others Aussies, Brad and Karen, as we ride the train to the circuit. Its about a twenty minute walk to the circuit and then we all go our separate ways to our seats. It is cooler than Assen but the sun is still relentless. Nonetheless I enjoy the Moto3, MotoGP, and Moto2 qualifying even if my favorites didn't do was well as I wanted. I walk back to the train station at the end of the day and Brad and karen are sitting on a bench waiting for the train. So we continue our conversation from the morning and share stories. And another Aussie guy has joined our conversation. When we get on the train we split across the aisle and share space with a native German man. When the train announcer makes an announcement in German, I try to mimic what he said to learn. The German guy laughs a bit at my pronunciation but he helps me out. At the Dresden station we all go our separate ways and expect to run into each tomorrow morning on the train.
On Sunday morning it is raining lightly as I walk to the train station. In addition, there appears to be an organized cycling ride coming up in 30 minutes or so with many cyclists gathered in the light rain to ride. I run into my Aussie friends and we ride the train to the racing circuit. From there we wander around a bit and then we go to our respective grandstands. All three races are exciting (except for the race for first place in MotoGP) but none of my favorites do very well. In fact, my favorite MotoGP rider, who I've followed for 6 years on his way through Moto3 and Moto2, crashed out at Assen while leading and crashed out today at Sachsenring while in second place. I think he's going to start paying me to stay away from his races. When the last race is finished I make haste and get out of the circuit fairly quickly and onto the first train home. From there I have a relaxing evening in my room.
Monday is a transit day as I drive to Berlin and turn in the rental car. From there it is a 6 minute walk to my hotel to check in. I get situated and then go walking - seeing the Brandenburg Gate and the infamous Checkpoint Charlie. On the way back home I stop for a great baked potato with vegetables and then get rained on. What's with the German weather forecasters? Either the weather people don't know how to read the models or they don't know what a probability is because the weather predicitions show a 0% chance of rain and yet it is raining somehwat hard. I'm the only one out in short sleeves and shorts, so I get a few strange looks as I walk through the rain. I have a slow evening with just a short walk to the grocery store for supplies and a conversation initiated by a German lady who says, "Sorry about my bickering with my husband back there, but I saw you smiling and that helped me relax and overlook the argument". I barely noticed that she was bickering with her husband but now we have a long conversation and I just keep saying that we should expect differences/stressors when we travel and we should overlook them and be patient. The couple, only married for a year, did seem nice and I wished them "60 years together" as we were leaving the store and heading in separate directions.
I start Tuesday with a practice run on the subway so that I know how to ride it, how to pay for it, and where to connect for Thursday's trip to the airport. I only ride for 15 minutes to the trasnfer point. From there I start walking over to the east side of Berlin and check out the museums and churches and government buildings. Today is a bit cool with a threat of rain, which never materializes, so it's good walking weather. After more than three hours of walking I find myself back at the hotel to grab lunch and relax. Later in the afternoon I go out walking again and dsicover a number of gay/lesbian bars near my hotel. When I get back to the hotel I do a google search on "gay berlin" and find that I am staying in the gay section of Berlin.
I get out for more than three hours of walking on Wednesday and stop in at the "Topographie des Terror" which tells the story of World War II in pictures, storyboards, and ruins. It also has the last 200 meters of the Berlin Wall that was torn down. Today during the walk and at the bakery I talk with two groups of people and it turns out that they are both Vietnamese groups. SO I practice some of my Vietnamese and we share stories and travel experiences. After the long walk and tour I go relax and code at the hotel - trying to make a generic template for the demographic study so that various shape files and databases can be dropped in easliy. In the late afternoon I go exploring a different area for about an hour before going back to my hotel to pack for my trip home.
I'm awake at 4:45 on Thursday morning to grab a quick shower, checkout of the hotel, and ride the subway one of Berlin's airports. The subway ride with transfers goes smoother than expected. And then I hang out at the airport before returning to Los Angeles via Copenhagen. The flights are smooth. At Los Angeles the immigration is a mess and it takes 30 minutes to get through it. Every other major airport has immigration that is as smooth as glass, why not Los Angeles? I catch the hsuttle bus, a train, and a Lyft ride to get home. I don't even unpack - I just put on cycling clothes and go ride for a little over an hour. I've been awake for 24 hours but it feels good to ride and I'm sure it will help me sleep well tonight. After a shower I upack and do the laundry and sort through the travel papers to see which ones I should keep. I'm getting down fr reding and sleep near 9:30 pm.
I have a productive Friday. It starts with a 50 minut run and trimming the roses that have been neglcected for almost a month. After a shower I get to the grocery store, try to pick up my held mail at the post office (though they don't have it and tell me to come back tomorrow), and then go to the library to get reading material. In the afternoon I have a slow day since it is hot andlater I water the roses for a second time today as I try to jumpstart their growth and health.
On Saturday I get on the road bicycle for 60 kilometers and then get cleaned up. The F1 qualifying from England is disappointing but necessary. Near noon I meet up with Ruby for Thai lunch. Today a very cute Thai girl escorts us in and she keeps asking me how I can speak Thai. Ruby and I have an almost 4 hour lunch talking about lots of different things. When we leave I finally show the cute Thai lady the picture of the orphans and refugees that I keep on my phone from the school building project. I decide not to give her my phone number on this trip but hope to give it to her on a future visit. When I get home I finish off one book already. And then I sort through the mail that I picked up and pay the bills that need to be paid and shred any mail that has my name and/or address on it.
I start Sunday with a good road bicycle ride - though I can feel the tiredness in my whole organism and end up crawling back home a the end afer 60 kilometers. When I get home I trim the sideyard and the roses and the carnations, grab a cooling shower, and meditate. The British Grand Prix is pretty disappointing as the British driver is allowed to win when the team pits the competing driver to throw him back in the pack and off strategy. I watch some of the Wimbledon fial and the Indy Car race from Toronto and have a slow day (but certainly call the police on the neighbors who are again plaiying their music too loud and being incosiderate jerks). As the afternoon wears on I turn on the ai conditioning to stay cool and prepare for my Monday which I've designated as a "get in shape" start day.
I start Monday with a walk to the grocery store for supplies. I start in on updating the crime statistics, te stock market predictions, and demographic study. These are things that have to be updated approximately monthly. In between the coding I vaccum the bedroom and do the dusting. It seems that the house got very dusty during my vacation - much more so than othr longer vacations that I've taken. Near noon I get out and lift weights for the first time in four months - the shoulders having prevented me from lifting pain free. I start in with very light weights and 25 repetition sets to get started. After a shower and lunch I continue on coding. Just as it is getting dark I go out to the garage and start building the test stand from wood for the axial turbocharger model that I was working on a while ago. I'll finish it up tomorrow and then try and decide on some final details to start some basic testing.