Zweiten & Dritten Tage

Having slept for most of my first day I resolved to get out and get to know Berlin. This means: I have been walking a helluva lot. Everywhere. For hours at a time. One thing I have learned is that this city is hella spread out. When I look at maps and plan my routes, it always takes waaay longer than I think it is going to to actually walk those routes. I've been using the U-Bahn (subway equivalent) for which my many years of blank NY subway staring has well prepared me, but even so I am not getting around efficiently all the time. I will have to brave the S-bahn at some point I guess. And I'll have to follow the advice of nearly everyone I've talked to and get a bike. Then I'll be a 'real Berliner' apparently. The traffic here is nuts though. I'm kind of terrified of diving into it on a bike.
Speaking of bikes, they are (as you might imagine) absolutely everywhere and the city infrastructure is well prepared for this. There are bike lanes on every street and even bike stoplights at big intersections. the craziest though is that large swaths of sidewalk are designated for bikes only. I had read in a guidebook that these exist, but even so I seem to have trouble avoiding them. I just kind of drift into them without thinking and then someone rings their little bike bell furiously (if it's even possible for one of those things to sound furious) and I have to scoot out of the way , blushing. I guess having lived in NY for so long I have a certain sense of entitlement when it comes to sidewalk space. Going to have to get over that one.
I went into the office for the first time today, just for a couple hours, and it occurred to me that I have only given the barest-bones explanation of what my internship actually is. I don't know if it will help, but check out the company's website, which is unfortunately currently under construction, and watch some of the "productions." Basically they're videos of art pieces, but it's designed to encourage close, prolonged looking.
There are all kinds of exciting applications for this and I'm excited by the possibilities, especially those that play into my long-standing interest in art marketing; that is, how art is marketed to the public.
The apartment search is underway and returning encouraging results. Tomorrow I'll post on the options I'm considering.
Bis bald,
D.