VLDB 2003 - Newsletter #6:  Arrival in Berlin, On-site Registration and more
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Contents
  - Arrival in Berlin
  - Conference office
  - On-site Registration
  - Speakers Breakfast
  - Proceedings
  - Telephone
  - Weather
  - Daily newsletter

 

Dear VLDB participants,

 we, the organizers, are eager to meet you in person, a good week from now. And 
 if you did not register so far, remember you just have a few days to register 
 online, but another opportunity in Berlin to register on-site. 

Arrival in Berlin
-----------------
Since we offer a large number of hotels all across the city it simply is too 
cumbersome to provide you with all the details about how to get to each and 
every hotel from your point of arrival in Berlin. But at least we give you a few 
useful though general hints. 

There are three airports. Berlin Tegel (aviation code TXL) is the busiest with 
arrivals from Western Europe and America. Berlin Schoenefeld (SXF), the former 
East Berlin airport, is mostly served by Eastern European airlines. Small 
airplanes (propeller and turboprop) arrive at Berlin Tempelhof (THF). The 
easiest way to  downtown is the JetExpressBus TXL from Tegel or the 
SXF-Airport-Shuttle from Schönefeld. Taxis are rather expensive, 15 - 20 Euro 
from the Tegel airport to Berlin-Mitte (downtown). Once you are downtown, or if 
you arrive at one of the three major railway stations, Zoologischer Garten, 
Lichtenberg and Ostbahnhof, the dense network of public transportation is your 
best bet. For details on all matters of public transportation see 
http://www.bvg.de/e_index.html . You can plan your individual route using the 
online route planner http://www.fahrinfo-berlin.de/bin/query.exe/e?L= . 

Paying the fare is actually rather simple. You can buy a ticket from a counter, 
a vending machine or from the bus conductor. The price  is 2,20 Euro from the 
airport. All tickets are valid for a maximum of two hours, no matter which route 
you travel, what the means of transportation (bus, U-Bahn, S-Bahn), and how 
often you change from one line to another. Don't try to economize for the rest 
of the week, because after you checked in at the VLDB registration desk, you can 
ask for a ticket good from Monday, Sept. 8th until Saturday, September 13th. For 
those of you arriving one or more days earlier, day tickets are a good choice. 

Conference office
-----------------
The conference office is located on the first floor in the Senatssaal
(see http://www.vldb.informatik.hu-berlin.de/overview_hu_level1.htm ).
Office and registration desk already open on Monday, September 8th, 9 a.m. . 
Fees may be paid cash or charged to your credit card. 
The conference office can be reached during the conference as follows:
Phone: +49-30-2093 2126
Fax:   +49-30-2093 2375
Email: vldb2003@bwo-berlin.de

On-site Registration 
-------------------- 
As mentioned before, on-site registration at the conference is possible. Ask at 
the registration desk or proceed directly to the conference office. Day tickets 
are also available as an attractive alternative for those unable to attend 
all the time. 

Speaker's Breakfast
------------------- 
We encourage the session chairs and the speakers of all research and industrial 
sessions to meet at the "speaker's breakfast" on the day of their session 
(including the first day, Tuesday) . A gratuitous breakfast buffet is being 
prepared in the "Cum laude" restaurant on the ground floor in the west wing of 
the lecture building (8 a.m. - 8.55 a.m.). Session chairs and speakers should 
discuss all issues of their sessions on this occasion. 

Proceedings
-----------
The proceedings, published by Morgan Kaufmann, contain about one thousand pages. 
So be sure to leave some space in your luggage. Each participant (except day 
ticket holders) will receive a copy together with a CD-ROM.

Telephone
---------
You can buy pre-paid telephone cards at any post office and at most news stands. 
They work for national and international numbers. Public phones are (almost) all 
provided by Deutsche Telekom. Just slide in the card and dial your number. No 
provider-numbers or PINs to dial! For cell phones, Europe (and more or less the 
rest of the world) uses GSM 900 or 1800. Visitors from the US will need tri-band 
cell phones. Check the Website of your provider for roaming charges. By the way, 
cell phones are called "handies" in Germany and Germans tend to use this term 
when speaking English.

Weather 
------- 
The summer in Berlin was dry and hot this year. According to the 
weather forecast it can be chilly in the next few days. So be prepared. We 
suggest to  have a look at 
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/10384.html before leaving for 
Berlin. 

Daily Newsletter
----------------
This is the last pre-conference newsletter. We plan a daily newsletter during 
the conference. In addition to the electronic version paper copies will be made 
available. If you intend to publish something that seems relevant to all 
conference participants, please send a note to vldb2003@inf.fu-berlin.de.
  

Best wishes and bon voyage,  
 

Peter C. Lockemann, Johann-Christoph Freytag, Heinz Schweppe, Alfons
Kemper, Bernhard Mitschang


P.S. You can find an online archive of the newsletters at
http://www.vldb.informatik.hu-berlin.de/news_newsletter_main.html.

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