18. Packing, Those Mean Post Office Ladies and Sneezing Like a Winner

Being the last day in Berlin, it's been a rather slow, packing and planning for Rome tomorrow.

I got up at a reasonable time, and decided to start packing. It's still a day and a half before I leave, but today was post office day, and I needed to see what I could fit in my luggage, and what I needed to ship. I'd bought a sweater to be more comfortable in the cold of Berlin, and since I'm in warm weather for the next thirteen days (Rome, Venice and Lisbon), I'd decided to ship that back home. My suitcase is ready jammed, so I'd have had to wear it, and I'd be uncomfortably hot for sure!

So, packed up my suitcase, then packed up one large and two medium boxes to send back, taped them all up. The boxes come with this instructional sheet, which I thought was pretty silly / pointless but when I turned it over I noticed that it was a little shiny. I thought to myself, "Well that seems like a sticker for some random reason!", and then I realized that they were predict pieces of tape! They give you tape to seal the box with every box. I think that is brilliant. It's the small things, guys, the small things.

Anyhow, I filled them all (love a good puzzle), wrote down what was in each on a separate little notebook sheet, and numbered the boxes to match the list. This was super-useful when I got to the post office within 10 minutes of it closing, and ran into the lovely ladies that helped me. The last sentence should be read as the most sarcastic sentence that ever was said.

I get it, I don't speak German, I showed up ten minutes to close, but... there are levels of civility that I think, without having just punched their puppy in the nose, people in general deserve. I showed no signs of having done that to their dog, so they didn't need to be jerks. But, they were. I kept having to tell myself, "It's not their job to be your friend, it's their job to get the packages home. Just do what you need to, to get the packages home." The sentence in my head that I had to keep fighting off was, "Where's their damn puppy?" lol. I am of course kidding, puppies rule!

Hopefully the ladies were only jerks to people and not packages, and my stuff arrived home safely, and at all.

From there I wanted to go and walk around a mall. They were all closed. All. Europe doesn't play, and as a friend of mine said today, people are petitioning that the Eaton Centre be open on Christmas Day, so we clearly don't see things the same way back home. 

So, I didn't know what to do, so I walked for a bit, then took the train over to a busy area, in which still few shops were open. I sat for a bit, had a call with a friend, and then grabbed some dinner. It was pretty good! I'd been there before and people recognized me, so that was nice.

Today I don't have many pictures to share, but there was an odd moment that happened today that I was surprised by..

THE SUN CAME OUT!

It was literally the first time in a week that the sun came out more than just to keep us all alive. 

I don't have a clue what these buildings are, but the sun hit them, which seemed at the time like a miracle, so you know, I captured a miracle on camera, like that double-rainbow guy or Jesus toast face guy!

Tomorrow marks the final day in Berlin, and flying over to Rome for the first time ever! I can't wait, not only is the weather supposed to be better but... pizza and pasta you guys!

Also, the amount of sneezing that I've been doing today has turned into just hilarious. It's always two in a row, and it's more frequent than I'd requested from the sneezing gods. I mean, come on!

The good news is, as I said, less cold tomorrow and for the next two weeks, so hopefully it will go away very soon!

Ohhh, and I bought this adorable little pin from a street vendor today, so cute!

It's a little weird tiny straw-like owl dude (pretty sure I just cracked the marketing campaign headline right there. Now watch the dollars / euros roll in!), and I think the woman made him by hand, at least I can hope she did.

Alright, I'm going to take my head cold to bed, and will be back tomorrow, hopefully having arrived safe and sound in Rome, with a tale or two more to tell.

Night McSleepersons everyone!