Saturday, January 9, 2010

Holiday Summary

I've been told to "go update you're blog already" quite a few times since I got home from Switzerland. So I'm going to update all in one fell swoop. Or one swell foop. Take your pick.

So. I went to Berlin. It was COLD, but really fun. I spent six or seven hours in the museum of musical instruments, prompting the guards to decide I was obsessed (and then refuse to adopt me, sigh...). I saw some pretty strange stuff, like....

Are these piccolo violins? Who's bad idea was this?

An "upright harpsichord" or something along those lines...

And, of course, a stradivarius.

I have about 200 more pictures, but this really isn't the place for them. But if anyone wants to see the guts of a piano, or the inside of a valve, or how a reed is made, or really anything else about western instruments, just ask.

A quite a bit sadder thing that I did in Berlin was look for Stolpersteine. Stolpersteine are the result of an art project to commemorate the victims of the Nazis. Through private donations, a man makes a small stone that goes outside the house where any victim lived, that says their name, their birthdate, and where they died.

This is the most I found in one spot...

This says "here lived Uri Aron, born 1942, deported 1943 to Theresienstadt, killed in Auschwitz"

Stolpersteine are obviously not at every house yet, but they're trying, because the artist believes that none of the names of the victims should be forgotten.

The last thing I did in Berlin was see the Berlin Philharmonic play Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. It was amazing. I really can't say anything else, besides that it took my breath away.

Switzerland.... I have no pictures.... but I had a GREAT time. I saw a Baroque Orchestra concert, I saw a Strauss opera (Die Frau Ohne Shatten, which has the strangest plot), but mostly I just hung out. Chilled. Talked with Irene. Caught up on sleep, on thought, on myself. Was held, held someone else. It was wonderful.

So, any questions?