Summer is approaching! Summer is approaching! And it is fantastic. The delightful month of May is here with all its hot sunny days, warm spring showers and long evenings perfect for watching the sun go down from a beer garden. I have not got that much work but am enjoying the weather - and the other delights this month has got to offer. It is the season for city trips, spending weekends in the countryside and recovering from the profound chill that was the Berlin winter.
As a birthday present - although it is unclear whether it was for my last or for my upcoming birthday - my birthday took me to Madrid for the weekend. It was wonderful. The weather was great, 25 degrees and sunny, interrupted only once by a monsoon-like rain shower which simply induced us to visit a free museum we had wanted to visit anyway. It was not too hot yet, but great weather to be walking around in while taking in the city. We spent half a day at the Museum del Prado, a sparkling gem of amazing works of arts by some of the world's greatest masters - although we unfortunately had to confine ourselves to Spanish painting and its highlights: El Greco, Velazquez and Goya. If only we had had more time... I am normally not that much of a modernist art fan but the Centro de Reina Sofía was a very interesting museum. We saw the entire permanent collection with all its Picasso's, Miro's, Dali's etc. It was very well-presented and gave one a good overview of the development of modern and modernist art (including cubism, dadaism etc.). I might actually understand some of their works now...
And then there was the city itself. It reminded me of Vienna somewhat, in that it was very regal. The whole of Vienna is stately, elegant and haughty, as behoves the seat of an emperor, and Madrid was very much like that, obviously the seat of the royal house of Spain. How different from Barcelona it is! Madrid is neoclassical, stately, traditional and at times pompous and arrogant, whereas Barcelona is fresh, modern and surprising with its playful architecture and sea breeze. I have tried to capture the mood somewhat. For pictures, click here.
Food- and drinkwise, it was wonderful though. The tapas, paella, sangria, Spanish wines and churros y chocolate, were simply bliss. And please don't understand me about Madrid, I enjoyed its stately regality and thought it was very fitting. It is a city in which I could perhaps see myself living someday.
Last weekend, we helped James and Zahra move into their new flat in the middle of the Wrangelkiez in Kreuzberg, a very nice flat in a cute neighbourhood that once again made me reconsider my opinion of Kreuzberg (i.e. that is completely gentrified and filled with yuppies pretending to lead glamorously alternative lives as poor artists) or whether there are still some nice 'authentic' bits as well. On Sunday, we cycled the third leg of the Berliner Mauerweg, from Griebnitzsee near Potsdam in the Southwest to Schönefeld in the South and up to Schöneweide in Berlin. This means we have finished the outer wall (i.e. the one between West Berlin and East Germany, as opposed to the one inside the city dividing East and West Berlin) and have only got a relatively short leg left right through the middle of the city - yet one densely packed with sights. This will make for an excellent trip to make with some of our visitors.
That evening, after working ourselves into a sweat and getting all dirty from cycling through the forests and over sand paths, we went to the Berlin Dom for a special performance of Joseph Haydn's Oratorium Die Schöpfung (Creation) by the Berliner Symphoniker (orchestra) and the Berliner Symphoniechor (choir). They had combined it with classical and modern dance as well as some spectacular visual effects. The whole thing struck Olaf and me as something that could never have happened in Italy, as parts of it would probably have been considered blasphemous. For instance, they tried to include the concept of evolution into the creation of the earth and projected videos and drawings of animals and plants in different stages of development onto the church walls and they also had a live snake participate in the dance symbolising the disobedience of Adam and Eve. All in all, I thought it was marvellously done! Click here for their website with a full description, pictures etc.
Olaf has got a conference in Volos in Greece this weekend and I am going with him. We are planning on staying in Athens and visiting Delphi as well. This is going to be my first time in Greece. Can you believe that? The first time! And me being a classical scholar! I really ought to be ashamed of myself... I am so excited!!!
As a birthday present - although it is unclear whether it was for my last or for my upcoming birthday - my birthday took me to Madrid for the weekend. It was wonderful. The weather was great, 25 degrees and sunny, interrupted only once by a monsoon-like rain shower which simply induced us to visit a free museum we had wanted to visit anyway. It was not too hot yet, but great weather to be walking around in while taking in the city. We spent half a day at the Museum del Prado, a sparkling gem of amazing works of arts by some of the world's greatest masters - although we unfortunately had to confine ourselves to Spanish painting and its highlights: El Greco, Velazquez and Goya. If only we had had more time... I am normally not that much of a modernist art fan but the Centro de Reina Sofía was a very interesting museum. We saw the entire permanent collection with all its Picasso's, Miro's, Dali's etc. It was very well-presented and gave one a good overview of the development of modern and modernist art (including cubism, dadaism etc.). I might actually understand some of their works now...
And then there was the city itself. It reminded me of Vienna somewhat, in that it was very regal. The whole of Vienna is stately, elegant and haughty, as behoves the seat of an emperor, and Madrid was very much like that, obviously the seat of the royal house of Spain. How different from Barcelona it is! Madrid is neoclassical, stately, traditional and at times pompous and arrogant, whereas Barcelona is fresh, modern and surprising with its playful architecture and sea breeze. I have tried to capture the mood somewhat. For pictures, click here.
Food- and drinkwise, it was wonderful though. The tapas, paella, sangria, Spanish wines and churros y chocolate, were simply bliss. And please don't understand me about Madrid, I enjoyed its stately regality and thought it was very fitting. It is a city in which I could perhaps see myself living someday.
Last weekend, we helped James and Zahra move into their new flat in the middle of the Wrangelkiez in Kreuzberg, a very nice flat in a cute neighbourhood that once again made me reconsider my opinion of Kreuzberg (i.e. that is completely gentrified and filled with yuppies pretending to lead glamorously alternative lives as poor artists) or whether there are still some nice 'authentic' bits as well. On Sunday, we cycled the third leg of the Berliner Mauerweg, from Griebnitzsee near Potsdam in the Southwest to Schönefeld in the South and up to Schöneweide in Berlin. This means we have finished the outer wall (i.e. the one between West Berlin and East Germany, as opposed to the one inside the city dividing East and West Berlin) and have only got a relatively short leg left right through the middle of the city - yet one densely packed with sights. This will make for an excellent trip to make with some of our visitors.
That evening, after working ourselves into a sweat and getting all dirty from cycling through the forests and over sand paths, we went to the Berlin Dom for a special performance of Joseph Haydn's Oratorium Die Schöpfung (Creation) by the Berliner Symphoniker (orchestra) and the Berliner Symphoniechor (choir). They had combined it with classical and modern dance as well as some spectacular visual effects. The whole thing struck Olaf and me as something that could never have happened in Italy, as parts of it would probably have been considered blasphemous. For instance, they tried to include the concept of evolution into the creation of the earth and projected videos and drawings of animals and plants in different stages of development onto the church walls and they also had a live snake participate in the dance symbolising the disobedience of Adam and Eve. All in all, I thought it was marvellously done! Click here for their website with a full description, pictures etc.
Olaf has got a conference in Volos in Greece this weekend and I am going with him. We are planning on staying in Athens and visiting Delphi as well. This is going to be my first time in Greece. Can you believe that? The first time! And me being a classical scholar! I really ought to be ashamed of myself... I am so excited!!!
