Getting Lost

For Cleo…

Yesterday we decided to go get a little taste of home by going to the fair. Yup, a good old-fashioned American fair with spinning rides, cheesy games of chance, thumping music, and cotton candy. This one was the “Deutsch-Americanisch Volksfestival” (German-American People’s Fair) and their featured place from the US this year was Massachusetts. There are posters all around the city showing Sam Adams, the Red Sox, and a Cape Cod bathing beauty. We had to go see what this was about and get a taste of home. Besides, it was half price.

So full of confidence about our mastery of the subway system, we headed off to Dahlem where this event was being held. First we had to stop off at school to drop off some forms, then to the photo place to have Annika’s biometric pictures taken (remember the adventure at AAA getting passport photos? They’re no good here. Apparently the German authorities are a little bit picky about things like the precise placement of the nose in the photo.

OK, onto the U-bahn, which we haven’t really done yet—but how different can it be? We’re good with the map now, so we know that we take the U6 a few stops down to Hallesches Tor, then get onto the U1, then over to Wittgenstein Platz for the U3 to Dahlem. So, we hop off the U6 and…umm…the U1. Do you see the signs for it? Me neither. How about over here? No, that appears to be an escalator to nowhere. Back this way, I’m sure that we’ll find…our way out. Suddenly we’re outside. But wait! There! A sign that says something about the U1! I can’t really read it, but I think it says that the U1 is under construction and those buses—the ones lined up over there—are a shuttle to replace it. Excellent! This happens in Boston all the time, I know just what we’re doing now. On the bus (kind of a squeeze, but OK). Phew! Off on our way again.

Except…something doesn’t seem quite right. (Actually, I claim no credit for this. I am blissfully ignorant at this point.) Katy’s whiskers are quivering or something; anyway she heads off to ask the driver if we’re on the right bus. A few long moments later she comes back—yes! we ARE going the wrong way! SO! Off at the next stop, cross the street, into the U-bahn station here. Are there trains here? No! More signs that we can’t read! Grr. Back outside. Over here, this looks like it might work—another bus. Back the way we came, back to Hallesches Tor. Which, by the way, STILL has no U1 trains even though it’s at least 20 minutes since we were there last. At this point I’m mostly inclined to find a local Imbiss (food shack) and bury myself in a currywurst and a large beer, but there’s the kids to think of. And the fair!

So, another quick look at some signs we can’t really understand, then off to the escalator to nowhere—which turns out to go up to an upstairs track which just isn’t well labeled. Katy’s cornered some poor driver who may or may not speak English but who confirms that his train (labeled U3—but I thought the U3 didn’t come here?) is actually ALSO taking the U1 route while it’s under construction. So on we get, finally back on our way, our confidence only partially shaken…knees only shaking a little bit…

Postscript: on our way home after the fair, riding the U3. This is good, because now we only have to make one change (remember there isn’t a U1 to switch to). It’s a little crowded, so we have to squeeze to make room for the Italian teenage girls and their mother. They seem to know what they’re doing, full of confidence. Only a few glances at their map. We roll into Wittgenstein Platz, and they bounce up and off the train, heading out to switch to…the U1.

If I had enough Italian, I would have warned them. Or maybe not.