Rain or shine, I was determined to get out as much as I could last week. As you’ll see from some photos, the rain made sure to punish me for that choice. Once I got used to the always possible drizzle or downpour, I just made sure I was prepared. I don’t mind rain, and with the US getting pummeled with heat, rain, and fire, I’ll be happy with what we’ve got over here this summer. I use that word liberally. Like a guy named Marco said: “Here we have renamed the seasons. Winter, Spring, Fall, and … this.” He didn’t actually say “this”, but rather a word with those same letter rearranged.
The Brandenburg gate has been an interesting sight, since it was the prime location for watching Euro 2012 games and thus surrounded by scaffolding,advertisements, and security.
The Bauhaus museum was really great: I didn’t realize how many great artists – not just architects – were involved with that school. Klee, Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy, van Der Rohe … and the institute hired them to teach what and how they wanted; not from some prescribed academic dogma. I’m not sure we’ll ever see anything quite like it. I’m still working out a joke involving the words “Bauhaus Movement.”
Prenzlauerberg is a cool place to see in the former East. There are glimpses of the old, but there’s a lot of activity: street fairs, families, tons of shops. It’s kind of the Park Slope of Berlin, with fewer baby yoga classes.
And then … the “Jazz Fest” – another term I use liberally. Out of the 4 things my friend Dan and I saw, one might constitute as jazz, one other was a salsa-ish mish-mosh of afro-carribean styles (and pretty good), one was in a church where an organist was playing trying-not-to-be-too-square arrangements of Beatles tunes … and then … well, I can’t even bring myself to upload it right now. Stay tuned for, erm, something else.
(mobile devices, try clicking here for some Berlin photos.) http://www.flickr.com//photos/sharkvan/sets/72157630450411908/show/
I’m finally getting through last weeks photos and getting some up here. Most of the fun of changing websites is logistical, and now that I’ve finally made some executive decisions, it should be easy to get on to the fun stuff. Due to the way WordPress is set up, I’ll be using the WordPress/Flickr double-whammy for photo integration and all that. I’ll be posting a variety of things on the blog posts, but you’ll also be able to check out galleries and photo streams from the Images link. If you want to see all of the stuff on Flickr (which should be growing steadily), go here for the all-photo slideshow. (And if anyone knows of a better way to be doing this – let me know!)