Thursday, November 12, 2009
TechEd Berlin - Day 3 - How many miles have I walked this week?
Found myself in a strange town
Though I've only been here for four days now
I've got blisters on my feet
Trying to find a friend in Friedrichstrasse.
{with apologies to The Jam}
Though I've only been here for four days now
I've got blisters on my feet
Trying to find a friend in Friedrichstrasse.
{with apologies to The Jam}
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
TechEd Berlin - Day 2 - Where's my hotel?
There’s a U-Bahn station near my hotel at Wittenbergplatz which I can use to get to the S-Bahn railway at Zoologischer Garten, instead of walking directly up Budapesterstrasse. Looking at the map, it only saves me about 30 yards so it’s more for variety. So tonight I get off the S-Bahn and bump into the people who work with me on the BizTalk desk at TechEd. They are taking the underground too as their hotel is on the same line as mine. We are chatting on the train and it occurs to me that I am not concentrating on where I am going. As we pull out Wittenbergplatz, I realise that this was the one I needed to get off at. At the next stop, Nollendorfplatz, I make my farewells but they tell me this is their stop too. Not wanting to appear a confused idiot, I don’t mention my mistake and, while they are distracted by a noodle stand (which smelled gorgeous), I sneak back to the opposite platform to wait for the next train back to the station I’d missed. Ten minutes later I am at Wittenbergplatz and climb the stairs to the surface. I recall the morning trip where a woman took a photo of the building opposite (which doesn’t look so impressive at night) and the pedestrian crossing where I waited for the lights to change. I don’t recall the side road next to the crossing being there, though... Off I stroll down the road and soon start to wonder why it is taking so long to find Nurnbergerstrasse and my hotel. Maybe it is because I’m walking in the dark after a busy day? As I reach an Underground station, I check my map. It is Nollendorfplatz - the one where I left my colleagues buying noodles. I had managed to walk in the exact opposite direction and so it’s back up the stairs and on to the platform. Ten minutes later I am again at the stop I need. This time at the surface I am facing the right direction and the building that the woman had been photographing looks vastly more impressive. And there is no side road by the crossing. Before I know it, I am back at the hotel...
TechEd Berlin - Day 2 - It's all work, work, work...
There were numerous Xbox stations positioned around the event with people like this showing how easy Expert mode was. Bastards.
TechEd Berlin - Day 2 - Messe Berlin
The Messe Berlin has an impressive facade at the South Entrance and the reception area is vast.
I love photo-stitching software. This panorama is made up of 6 photographs:
I love photo-stitching software. This panorama is made up of 6 photographs:
Monday, November 09, 2009
TechEd Berlin - Day 1 - Berlin Wall, 20th anniversary
Ah, hindsight...
Back on Saturday when I was packing, I decided to not take my DMs with me. They’re not comfortable enough yet but they would have kept my feet dry. And I forgot to bring the cagoule that I planned to use, having seen the predicted weather forecast.
So here I am standing in the rain for an interminable length of time waiting for some giant dominos to be pushed over. My feet are wet and the rain has soaked through my coat, jumper and T-shirt. And this while being in an umbrella forest. Umbrellas are great – a single person can keep quite dry while sheltering under one. This benefit quickly disappears when overlapping umbrellas form a cascading waterfall of drips.
Two hours. That was today’s “interminable”, as calculated from the photo timestamps. Two hours of being squashed up with lots of other people ensuring no-one poked me in the eye with their opened umbrella. And when the dominos DID fall, I pretty much missed it in the chaos of bobbing heads and cameras.
Did I get anything out of the evening? Of course. Highlights, or at least mediumlights (in no particular order).
Back on Saturday when I was packing, I decided to not take my DMs with me. They’re not comfortable enough yet but they would have kept my feet dry. And I forgot to bring the cagoule that I planned to use, having seen the predicted weather forecast.
So here I am standing in the rain for an interminable length of time waiting for some giant dominos to be pushed over. My feet are wet and the rain has soaked through my coat, jumper and T-shirt. And this while being in an umbrella forest. Umbrellas are great – a single person can keep quite dry while sheltering under one. This benefit quickly disappears when overlapping umbrellas form a cascading waterfall of drips.
Two hours. That was today’s “interminable”, as calculated from the photo timestamps. Two hours of being squashed up with lots of other people ensuring no-one poked me in the eye with their opened umbrella. And when the dominos DID fall, I pretty much missed it in the chaos of bobbing heads and cameras.
Did I get anything out of the evening? Of course. Highlights, or at least mediumlights (in no particular order).
- Trying to listen to Hilary Clinton while her delivery was being translated into German over the top.
- Watching Gorbachev on a screen some distance away when the rain stopped. Apparently also in attendance were Lech Walechsa, Nicolas Sarkozy, Dmitry Medwedew, and Gordon Brown but it was impossible to tell with the umbrella forest blocking out anything worth seeing.
- Glauwein and Rostbratwurst from the stalls
- Hearing Jon Bon Jovi play his new song. This was working hard to avoid being a lowlight. One song – not particularly memorable. Left wondering “why?”
- Fireworks at the end were good (although half-hidden by smoke at times)
- Watching outside broadcast units in action. I was disappointed to see some drunken local trying to gatecrash a presenter’s delivery. Wasn’t even the mildly amusing jape in the background but trying to run in front of the camera instead.
- Seeing the Holocaust Memorial. It was kind of weird seeing people clambering over the concrete blocks like they were playground obstacles.
- On the way back, buying a litre of premium (4.9%) pils for €2.50 from a shop by the underground station.
TechEd Berlin - Day 1 - Registration
TechEd is quite a well-oiled machine. Before you arrive you can print off a bus pass for the city (assuming you registered online) so you can get around with just a slip of paper. The hotel you are ataying in is primed with travel notices to hand out to attendees. When you get to the event, getting your registration pack and swag is a breeze although the queue for the former was a bit too long for my liking (Just-in-time travelling a speciality) as I had to be there ready to work.
Note - Before you leave your hotel to go to such an event, read the emails that you were sent. They may include such comments as "bring government-issued photo ID". Do not, instead, read the documentation whilst standing in line when realisation dawns that your passport is safely locked away in the hotel. Luckily, they accepted my Microsoft security pass and a credit card with my name on it.
The swag was a branded bag. For non-staff, they threw in a metal water bottle to reduce the environmental impact of TechEd - you would make use of the water cooler stations around the event instead of raiding the fridges and coffee stands. Maybe the organisers though that TechEd staff require a constant caffiene to keep working and water would just impact performance?
Note - Before you leave your hotel to go to such an event, read the emails that you were sent. They may include such comments as "bring government-issued photo ID". Do not, instead, read the documentation whilst standing in line when realisation dawns that your passport is safely locked away in the hotel. Luckily, they accepted my Microsoft security pass and a credit card with my name on it.
The swag was a branded bag. For non-staff, they threw in a metal water bottle to reduce the environmental impact of TechEd - you would make use of the water cooler stations around the event instead of raiding the fridges and coffee stands. Maybe the organisers though that TechEd staff require a constant caffiene to keep working and water would just impact performance?
Sunday, November 08, 2009
TechEd Berlin - Day 0 - walking around
It is really hard to imagine what the city looked like in the 1940s as so much rebuilding work has reshaped Berlin but then you come across the ruined Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which really makes you pause for thought.
TechEd Berlin - Day 0 - off to Hearthrow
Interesting conjunction of events for the coming week in Berlin.
1 TechEd Europe event (where I'm helping out)
2 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down (celebrated in Berlin)
3 Remembrance Day (not celebrated in Berlin)
The first should be no problem - smile, act techy and remember the Paracetamol for the hangover. The travel is going well so far even though the train into Reading was running 5 minutes late. On my tight schedule, that was a worry but not critical. As was there being initially no one at the RailAir ticket desk. So now I'm making use of the free wireless on the coach to write this blog post. Ah, luxury travel - don't get Internet access in taxis.
The Berlin Wall festival should be good - I'll need to find out tonight what's going on next week. I don't want to miss the celebrations just because I couldn't be bothered to do a little research. The event has had a reasonable amount of coverage in the UK (TV programmes, newspaper articles, etc) so will be interesting to see how it is covered at source.
On Wednesday it will be November 11th and Remembrance Day. Obviously an important day around the world for those countries on the Allied side. It will be interesting so see if anybody is wearing poppies.
1 TechEd Europe event (where I'm helping out)
2 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down (celebrated in Berlin)
3 Remembrance Day (not celebrated in Berlin)
The first should be no problem - smile, act techy and remember the Paracetamol for the hangover. The travel is going well so far even though the train into Reading was running 5 minutes late. On my tight schedule, that was a worry but not critical. As was there being initially no one at the RailAir ticket desk. So now I'm making use of the free wireless on the coach to write this blog post. Ah, luxury travel - don't get Internet access in taxis.
The Berlin Wall festival should be good - I'll need to find out tonight what's going on next week. I don't want to miss the celebrations just because I couldn't be bothered to do a little research. The event has had a reasonable amount of coverage in the UK (TV programmes, newspaper articles, etc) so will be interesting to see how it is covered at source.
On Wednesday it will be November 11th and Remembrance Day. Obviously an important day around the world for those countries on the Allied side. It will be interesting so see if anybody is wearing poppies.
TechEd Berlin - Day 0 - The journey begins
All journeys have to start somewhere.
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