Tuesday, 12:40 pm: A Grand Isle weather blog from Berlin Germany, I hope that's not too confusing. It is for me, since I am switching from Celsius to Fahrenheit and back again. We just arrived back from Alexanderplatz. Ruth and I spent the morning in the city center [Stadtmitte]. We both know our way around pretty good, so getting lost isn't a problem. The highlight of the morning, for me was a visit to the DDR Museum and glimpsing into the recent past, both for Ruth and her family. Ruth and I traveled extensively, for Americans, in the former German Democratic Republic. Like the museum it's all history now, and most likely, I am on somebody's list, highlighted in yellow. Ah, it's good to be scrutinized and keeps a bureaucrat employed. After a cramped flight from Philadelphia to Munich we arrived on time. The most difficult part of the Munich Airport was locating our rental car. It reminded me of Steve Martin in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", except it was in a multi-story parking garage. And like Seinfeld, the car rental company knows how to make a reservation, but not keep them. Luckily for us, they upgraded us to a much larger car at no extra cost. I guess they DID keep it, but rented it out. There seems to be a contradiction there. At $6.00 plus a gallon [equiv.] we would have preferred to get a subcompact car. After blasting north on the Autobahn for five hours we arrived in Berlin, none the worse for wear, and pumped up on espresso. Now I just need to dig out my German safari vest out of my luggage so I can blend in and pretend I am a middle-aged German male. Current values in Berlin, Germany: Temperature: 72 [F.] Barometer: 29.62 & steady Humidity: 33% Wind: 10 mph light and variable Skies: Clear with light haze