German Beer and More.... Part I.

I arrived at the Immigration & Customs booth at the Berlin airport after my two segment flight from the Magic Kingdom.
He took my passport, flipped open the front page with my picture, accepted that it was the same person as in the image standing in front of him, scanned it in his magical device, looked for the only page in my passport that now had multiple stamps on all pages except one, did his duty with his stamp, and handed it back for me to go ...... all in less than thirty seconds.
Only when I said at that time that "maybe its time to get a new passport" (as now my one remaining unused page was now used) did I get a smile from him ..... otherwise all efficiency.
Yes, somewhat different from the "differences in efficiency" from my point of departure. No talking to his buddies, no going to get tea, no directing traffic while the line in front loomed large. Just efficiency.

I had routed through Istanbul, a city previously visited, a fascinating crossroads between two cultures, where the airport was nice but with the air of being somewhat more "gritty".

First Istanbul airport.

Now Berlin.

Yes the atmosphere could be a parallel universe. Different sides of a coin.

The image of the electronic board at this bus stop also tells the story ... the buses being monitored such that us impatient riders can tell how many minutes the next bus will arrive to take us to our destination ..... just try this in the region in which I am now situated! But all is not perfect as one is able to note the poster that some "vandal" plastered onto the board.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, as the title suggests.
Clearly Germans are known for their beer ..... and wine, and cars (aka VW, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche), pharmaceuticals (eg. Bayer ... aspirin) and more, presently the economic powerhouse of the European economy. Were they not the ones who lost WW II?

At any rate the reason for my brief trip to Berlin was to attend a conference, the MASCC or International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer.
A moderate sized conference with a large mix of international attendees.
My hotel was a ten minute walk to the venue which was nice allowing the blood to get moving while progressing along a pleasant green cityscape.
"Green" was appreciated that being a sporadic color where I am residing.

Now an unexpected event has just happened in our discussion of "efficiency" ..... I am now unable to download pictures!
Is this not ironic?
Has the program stopped responding or has the "internet surveillance" decided that I have said something unacceptable?
Usually at this time, being Friday morning here, the locals are still asleep such that internet traffic is at a minimal, so usually the uploads work reasonably efficiently .... there I go again with that "efficiently" word.
In any event my Blog will have to continue at a later time, as Part II, with this segment being read first.

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