Potsdam Politics

Potsdam is the capital of the Brandenburg province, and a short train ride from metropolitan Berlin. I think they were geared up for the election, too. This crane lifted three guys at least 120 feet, we figured, for perhaps a signal relay to a venue behind the Potsdam Brandenburg Gate.

This was definitely not the time to have either the wrong color skin or the wrong color passport. An Al-Qaeda video was broadcast a few days before the election, and it was taken very seriously. Police with bullet-proof vests and rifles at their waists were all over the train station and airports.

Stranded at the Reichstag

On the way to the next museum on my list, I was feeling really smug about getting around in Berlin, when the bus stopped in front of the Reichstag - home of Germany's Parliament. The driver made a long announcement which of course I didn't understand, and most of the people on the bus (a big double-decker) got off. So I did too. I had noticed a lot of film crew trailers around; I walked up to the Brandenburg Gate, which looked like it was getting set up for a concert. Still not getting it, I saw they were blocking streets and barely letting any traffic, even busses through. Finally I find the bus to take me back to the station, which then gets stopped for a long time for a whole lot of police, mounted police, and finally a motorcade around a big black Mercedes, which slips into Bellevue Palace, which is the residence of the German president. (The flag flying indicates the president is in residence. I don't think those dogs are there for exercise) The blockades, platforms and film crews? Sunday is election day. Angela Merkel (who is exactly my age) is supposed to be the clear winner. Moral? Always scope out local events. The Berlin Marathon messed up everyone else last week.

Museum Island

Construction and bikes everywhere. Everybody in Berlin rides a bike (it's flat). Mostly 'step through' or what we think of as 'girl's' bikes: that includes macho looking guys with shaved heads.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin

The Pergamon is one of four enormous museums in the "Museum Island" in Berlin; this is in the Mitte, the historic part, which would have been in the east German side, behind the Berlin Wall. The museums date roughly from the 1800s; the Pergamon is shrouded almost entirely in plastic , which gives it kind of a "Christo" effect .

Gemaldegalerie, Berlin

This is the finest collection of European art, in the best setting, I have ever seen. This is a closeup of an Albrecht Durer portrait; in his eyes you can see reflections of windows and even moldings. The gallery is in a new facility: the collection is as if all the art books you used to look at just fell open. Vermeers, a room full of Rembrandts, Hals, Cranach, fabulous loose Rubens, Bosch, van der Weyden...

Not Exactly how I pictured Berlin

The Charlottenburg Palace, in Charlottenburg, which before unification was the affluent part of West Berlin. Except for things like this it reminds me of Durham. The interior is overwrought Baroque, but with very fine Chinese porcelain. The clipped bay trees in painted whiskey barrels are very cool.

Rosie, Danville Train Station

My old friend Rosie (nom de blog) is the best, and certainly the most indefatigable, cook I know. Her recent posts on dealing with a pig's head are something other than else. Her recent posting on the Danville, Virginia, central market reminded me of this. Photograph in the Danville station, around 1972.

Where Greek statues go when they're tired.