Say what?

[fabrisse]

I was running late this morning. Since it's pay day, I decided to be less late by taking a cab. As we turned from 4th Street onto Pennsylvania Avenue, I saw the Newseum's sign for the Berlin Wall VR Experience.

I don't know what to say. The wall itself was just a wall with guards. It cut through the Brandenburg gate, and, if I ever get back to Berlin, I'm going to have the thrill of walking through it.

The idea of walking through "the deserted streets of East Berlin" just doesn't do much. (n.b., the streets were often deserted, it's true. I didn't recognize Alexanderplatz in the Bourne Supremacy because I'd never seen it with people before.) If there was a way to go into the museums, maybe, but unless there's something explaining "Moscow Gingerbread" housing and the Russian insistence on leaving the bullet marks on the buildings, I don't know what the experience can impart to someone too young to remember the Cold War.

Comments

[eanja]

Given the blurb, I suspect that a big part of this is free exposure to VR (well, with admission), which is great advertising for the VR company. If I were there, I'd be tempted to try this, just to see if VR is all it's cracked up to be, since I've always thought of it as something that would be expensive to try (and insufficiently interesting in that context). It seems a bit limited as an experience to me as well, beyond the general oddness there would be in really feeling like you were somewhere else. But I guess if you need something usable by all ages in a confined space and short time there is only so much you can do. Not sure if I've been to the Newseum- given the wide range of free museums in DC, I've never been in the area long enough to have one with $25 admission on my radar.

[fabrisse]

If you come visit [notice the subtlety of my hint], there are usually discounted tickets available through Goldstar.

I imagine Houston is providing a great deal of work for you, based on your entry. What about Puerto Rico and/or Florida?

Hugs.

[eanja]

Houston is just one client, so it's more just a lot of travel relative to the actual amount of time works (heading back out Friday- same day round trip). Nothing in FL, so our client may have been luckily spared much damage. PR is in a state of damage way beyond anything my company can help with, and unfortunately probably will be so for months. (I did one work job down there in 2015-16, took vacation around it and think PR is the most interesting places I've traveled.)

I really do need to come down and visit you. Next week I am taking some time off to head down to my parent's for my Dad's 80th birthday, so it might have to wait a bit, but I keep forgetting how easy you would be to reach for a weekend.