Show Posts
12031
The Outpost Cafe / Roshina's trip to Berlin - a teenagers (rather long) view - for the Doc. pt 1
« on: May 20, 2009, 01:27:07 PM »
Guess what - She writes nearly as much as me...! the rest is her's Doc...
Dave... I was going to set her up as a separate user but we only use 1 address... she now can play about three songs - do I risk letting her play thru my rig...
Roshina's trip to Berlin - April 28th to May 1st...
Heathrow, terminal 5…
With the reputation of terminal 5 we were all expecting at least one or two bags to go missing and end up on another continent if it left the airport at all, however, I will quickly add that both outgoing and incoming not a single item of luggage was lost by the staff of terminal 5 and the service was excellent.
Please note, apologies in advance, but I am like my father, this may…will end up as an essay..!
So we checked in and continued to security, we discovered wearing lace up converses was not so much fun when we had to take them off for the x-ray machine…oops. I also realised I was wearing earrings I had made from old computer chips, I was sure there was going to be some questions as they went through the machine, but no it was fine. After the items passed through the machine the woman supervising on the other side, who appeared to have difficulty with English confused us totally; the sign said DO NOT REMOVE TRAYS, yet the woman persisted and said, take all your stuff, take the trays, go, go over there, so we did, then she decided to shout at us and say something along the lines of can’t you read, the sign says not to remove the trays etc etc, but nonetheless we did what she said… but enough of that.
We had an hour or so before the flight so we split off into groups to wander which involved one of my friend’s rucksacks falling off its straps and another trying to eat it (don’t ask) whilst another bought about 3 packs of 40 bars of kinder chocolate as it was on an offer for £10, one of the packs was gone by the time we returned to the UK… When the class regrouped we discovered one of the boys had lost their bag containing their boarding pass; however I think they still had their passport but I didn’t catch the full story, nonetheless it was sorted out and I think the bag was found. As we walked into the boarding lounge (or whatever it’s called) I saw a number of faces drop as the prospect as a flight with 26 unruly teenagers dawned on them! We then got on a bus; sadly it didn’t do a chitty chitty bang bang and sprout wings, but spoilt our fun and dropped us off at the plane. We boarded the plane, sadly only passing through business class and were set for Berlin.
I won’t bother with the details of the flight, I’m not quite as sad as my dad…yet
Oh actually….it was quite amusing when a few of my friends discovered if you take crisps on an airplane the bag blows up as if it is going to explode, it was funny…
Anyway, we arrived in Berlin at Tegel airport and moments before passport patrol one of my friends was greeted by a breathless flight attendant who had ran from the plane as she had left her bag on board… We collected our bags after a long wait and me being my paranoid self sure that my bag had been lost, rummaged through or stolen, but after a while it arrived. We went to the coach, but had to go back to the airport for a snack for lunch as the teachers were expecting something on the flight but they had nothing more than cereal bars. Being vegetarian, well almost vegan as I am fussy as I detest cheese, can not stomach cream and any milk sauces or mayonnaises etc blah blah, eating out, let alone overseas can be difficult, all the boys and a few girls went to Burger King but the other five of us found a bakery type shop opposite it and I found a nice cheap bread roll.
As we were just about to set off on the coach with out tour guide, someone piped up that they needed the loo, the one on the coach was locked, then the key didn’t work so it was back to the airport and a few minutes later he received a round of applause as he returned…
We then got to the hotel, we were scheduled to arrive at 3.50 or so and leave the hotel again at 4.30, we arrived at 4.27. We were staying at a hotel called Transit Loft and as the lift didn’t seem to work we all had to climb the 7 flights of stairs with our suitcases…fun… the staircase stank a bit and the first impression of the hotel wasn’t so great. We checked in and had enough time to splash some water on our faces, shove our suitcases on the beds and run back down the hall. Our group of four friends and I, 2 studying history like myself, one studying humanities and one tagging along for a cheap holiday as she put it….. 2 nights, £450…cheap…??? were the first back to the lobby followed by the other 4 girls who had had time to change in 4 minutes!! However, to our, and the teachers surprise we waited another ten minutes before all the boys showed up, nearly everyone of them had changed clothes, shoes and put on their make up or whatever. So we set off to a bowling alley, not much to say there, followed by a stop off at Aldi as we had had practically nothing all day and the hotel didn’t provide drinks, the tap water in the bathroom was a little dubious…The boys were under strict instruction to only buy water and soft drinks as the teachers couldn’t cope with them high on coca cola, but it seemed we couldn’t buy any water anywhere in Berlin that was still. So we stepped into the Hard Rock Café for another dose of carbohydrate, chips, salad, griddled courgette and veggie burger, swallowed with a nice glass or two of descent music (and cola) as opposed to the dance and rap stuff we had heard on the coach. Although, for the Hard Rock Café, the hardest rock I heard was only the Foo Fighters, not that I’m complaining as you can’t really have too much of their music. I then managed to get some photos and saw some cool guitars (Metallica, Guns n Roses, ZZ top, Green Day, AC DC, Def Leppard.) I also saw a Prince shirt and a tambourine from the Who but sadly people were eating at that table and I thought it rude to push their food out the way, kneel on the table and get a photo, plus I didn’t know how to say ‘sorry’ in German.
While there I bought a Hard Rock Café pin, it was 8 Euros so not a cheapy, but I thought that it was unlikely I would ever be there again so… One of my friends however bought a T shirt and a hat totalling about £45. On the way back to the hotel our driver kindly gave us a mini night tour of the city including the Brandenburg gate, the site of the Berlin wall and the Reichstag.
a Billy Gibbons guitar...
A Byrds guitar - Dad say its Roger McGuinns Rickenbacker...
Angus Young's SG...
We got back to hotel, and settled in to our room. The ceilings were very tall, sadly it was a room with nothing more than the basics, but I’m not complaining. However it was disappointing when I found the bottom of the itchy duvet cover had several rips in it, now that’s not really what you expect from a hotel is it? We closed our curtains which was a task as they were so long, later we heard a noise next door in one of the teachers rooms and the curtain shook, we discovered the curtain cord went through our room to the next and so on. Not much more to say there other than the fact that we all nearly fell out of the shower every time we used it because the step was so high, about one and a half foot! and there was nowhere to put your towel to dry your eyes before you got out, luckily we didn’t break our necks.
continued...
Dave... I was going to set her up as a separate user but we only use 1 address... she now can play about three songs - do I risk letting her play thru my rig...
Roshina's trip to Berlin - April 28th to May 1st...
Heathrow, terminal 5…
With the reputation of terminal 5 we were all expecting at least one or two bags to go missing and end up on another continent if it left the airport at all, however, I will quickly add that both outgoing and incoming not a single item of luggage was lost by the staff of terminal 5 and the service was excellent.
Please note, apologies in advance, but I am like my father, this may…will end up as an essay..!
So we checked in and continued to security, we discovered wearing lace up converses was not so much fun when we had to take them off for the x-ray machine…oops. I also realised I was wearing earrings I had made from old computer chips, I was sure there was going to be some questions as they went through the machine, but no it was fine. After the items passed through the machine the woman supervising on the other side, who appeared to have difficulty with English confused us totally; the sign said DO NOT REMOVE TRAYS, yet the woman persisted and said, take all your stuff, take the trays, go, go over there, so we did, then she decided to shout at us and say something along the lines of can’t you read, the sign says not to remove the trays etc etc, but nonetheless we did what she said… but enough of that.
We had an hour or so before the flight so we split off into groups to wander which involved one of my friend’s rucksacks falling off its straps and another trying to eat it (don’t ask) whilst another bought about 3 packs of 40 bars of kinder chocolate as it was on an offer for £10, one of the packs was gone by the time we returned to the UK… When the class regrouped we discovered one of the boys had lost their bag containing their boarding pass; however I think they still had their passport but I didn’t catch the full story, nonetheless it was sorted out and I think the bag was found. As we walked into the boarding lounge (or whatever it’s called) I saw a number of faces drop as the prospect as a flight with 26 unruly teenagers dawned on them! We then got on a bus; sadly it didn’t do a chitty chitty bang bang and sprout wings, but spoilt our fun and dropped us off at the plane. We boarded the plane, sadly only passing through business class and were set for Berlin.
I won’t bother with the details of the flight, I’m not quite as sad as my dad…yet
Oh actually….it was quite amusing when a few of my friends discovered if you take crisps on an airplane the bag blows up as if it is going to explode, it was funny…
Anyway, we arrived in Berlin at Tegel airport and moments before passport patrol one of my friends was greeted by a breathless flight attendant who had ran from the plane as she had left her bag on board… We collected our bags after a long wait and me being my paranoid self sure that my bag had been lost, rummaged through or stolen, but after a while it arrived. We went to the coach, but had to go back to the airport for a snack for lunch as the teachers were expecting something on the flight but they had nothing more than cereal bars. Being vegetarian, well almost vegan as I am fussy as I detest cheese, can not stomach cream and any milk sauces or mayonnaises etc blah blah, eating out, let alone overseas can be difficult, all the boys and a few girls went to Burger King but the other five of us found a bakery type shop opposite it and I found a nice cheap bread roll.
As we were just about to set off on the coach with out tour guide, someone piped up that they needed the loo, the one on the coach was locked, then the key didn’t work so it was back to the airport and a few minutes later he received a round of applause as he returned…
We then got to the hotel, we were scheduled to arrive at 3.50 or so and leave the hotel again at 4.30, we arrived at 4.27. We were staying at a hotel called Transit Loft and as the lift didn’t seem to work we all had to climb the 7 flights of stairs with our suitcases…fun… the staircase stank a bit and the first impression of the hotel wasn’t so great. We checked in and had enough time to splash some water on our faces, shove our suitcases on the beds and run back down the hall. Our group of four friends and I, 2 studying history like myself, one studying humanities and one tagging along for a cheap holiday as she put it….. 2 nights, £450…cheap…??? were the first back to the lobby followed by the other 4 girls who had had time to change in 4 minutes!! However, to our, and the teachers surprise we waited another ten minutes before all the boys showed up, nearly everyone of them had changed clothes, shoes and put on their make up or whatever. So we set off to a bowling alley, not much to say there, followed by a stop off at Aldi as we had had practically nothing all day and the hotel didn’t provide drinks, the tap water in the bathroom was a little dubious…The boys were under strict instruction to only buy water and soft drinks as the teachers couldn’t cope with them high on coca cola, but it seemed we couldn’t buy any water anywhere in Berlin that was still. So we stepped into the Hard Rock Café for another dose of carbohydrate, chips, salad, griddled courgette and veggie burger, swallowed with a nice glass or two of descent music (and cola) as opposed to the dance and rap stuff we had heard on the coach. Although, for the Hard Rock Café, the hardest rock I heard was only the Foo Fighters, not that I’m complaining as you can’t really have too much of their music. I then managed to get some photos and saw some cool guitars (Metallica, Guns n Roses, ZZ top, Green Day, AC DC, Def Leppard.) I also saw a Prince shirt and a tambourine from the Who but sadly people were eating at that table and I thought it rude to push their food out the way, kneel on the table and get a photo, plus I didn’t know how to say ‘sorry’ in German.
While there I bought a Hard Rock Café pin, it was 8 Euros so not a cheapy, but I thought that it was unlikely I would ever be there again so… One of my friends however bought a T shirt and a hat totalling about £45. On the way back to the hotel our driver kindly gave us a mini night tour of the city including the Brandenburg gate, the site of the Berlin wall and the Reichstag.
a Billy Gibbons guitar...
A Byrds guitar - Dad say its Roger McGuinns Rickenbacker...
Angus Young's SG...
We got back to hotel, and settled in to our room. The ceilings were very tall, sadly it was a room with nothing more than the basics, but I’m not complaining. However it was disappointing when I found the bottom of the itchy duvet cover had several rips in it, now that’s not really what you expect from a hotel is it? We closed our curtains which was a task as they were so long, later we heard a noise next door in one of the teachers rooms and the curtain shook, we discovered the curtain cord went through our room to the next and so on. Not much more to say there other than the fact that we all nearly fell out of the shower every time we used it because the step was so high, about one and a half foot! and there was nowhere to put your towel to dry your eyes before you got out, luckily we didn’t break our necks.
continued...
