We defer to the conservative traveller in us. About dawn, we order a cab from the hotel’s front desk in Berlin to take us to the Tegev airport. We really don’t need to waste any remaining brain cells on decyperhing an unfamiliar s-car plus a-train alternative route. A cab ride is our perfect alternative. PS: There is a cab company that operates in Berlin under the name, Plan B. My kind of town.
The hotel’s night clerk says that the taxi will arrive in “four minutes.” Throughout this trip, we are told tht the wait for whatever will be “four minutes.” Four is a very arbitrary number, and this is a wonderfully strange idiom. But so is as our own general advice projecting something “in about five minutes.” Does the extra minute of the English idiom indicate more prevalent leisure? Or does the lower number tell a lot about Eastern European anxiety? After all, just how much time is available to anyone in this life? It’s doubtful that either theory holds, but it’s fun to guess.
Our cab and driver that carries us from Berlin’s posh Adlon /Kempinsky Hotel where we have tea is a delight. He wears a tropical, flowered shirt and jaunty sailor’s cap. He says gaily that he owns his perfectly maintained 1959 Peugeot in which we ride, and lives on a boat on the River nearby. From the upholstered, vintage backseat where we overlook the cab’s tailfins, we watch in comfort as the evening’s rush hour traffic sails by.
Our taxi driver who arrives early the next morning is conscientious and kind. He whisks us directly to the international airport. Berlin’s Tegev airport has a pullout for arriving cabs with a monitor showing all flights. We are understandably glad – after only four hours of sleep – for another dose of German efficiency as our cabbie checks the monitor and takes us promptly to the proper curb in front of our departing airline.
The night before, we attend an Intrepid departure dinner, then reconvene for a nightcap in the Australian sisters’ room at our hotel. Coming full circle, we realize that this is the same small group who now toasts its good-byes, that quite accidentally met at the start of the Intrepid tour in Helsinki only two weeks before. Judi and I had walked a distance from the ferry dock before selecting a random tram stop. Similarly, Annie and also the sisters selected the same tram stop after watching the marathon and visting the market, respectively. “Gorgeous!” to borrow an expression from our Australian friends.
The German manner of airport check-in is to wait until all preceding flights are checked in. So, having extra time, we find a coffee counter and pass the time conversing with a young Israeli. She’s curious about US politics, as are many whom we encounter. She shares insights about her own Region. It’s an interesting counterpart to the conversation on the train that Judi struck up with Jamil, a young Turkish Moslem travelling from Lithuania. He declined a handshake on religious grounds, but was generous in sharing glimpses of his personal life.
When we land at the Moscow airport, there are signs of an ever-enlarging world. Visible from our seats in the coffee shop, there is a well marked door to the airport’s mosque. There is no shared place for religion. Simply, a mosque.
The two hour flight on Lufthansa from Berlin to Moscow goes quickly. It includes soft pillows and a breakfast of whipped egg served over chicken and spaetzle – all brought by well-groomed stewardesses. The Lufthansa ladies on these international routes must have great access to shopping. Most wear different designs of pearl earrings. My own faux silver hoops are rapidly oxidizing from air pollution and travel abuse, so they may not make it home. It’s a vacarious treat to see that some women fare well in the good jewelry department!
The flight cruises into Moscow over long stretches of pine forest. There are new neighborhoods carved into the terrain, with expansive new homes. At the airport, runways are under construction and a modern, new terminal awaits our arrival.
As we exit on the covered jetway, three unsmiling officials stand mute. They look very young in their uniforms with broad-crowned, hard billed hats.
A series of posters showing scenes from each season, shout Welcome in silence.
notnyet 