Eiffel Tower

After dinner, we spontaneously trekked across Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. It was so pretty.

David took an absurd number of pictures that I am encouraging him to post here soon!

Notre Dame

When we got off the train near our hotel, we'd found ourselves right be Notre Dam. David took a nice picture:

And then some selfies:

It is exhausting to work a full day and then travel. 

Hope For Peace

Around noon, I got an email from my choir director asking if anyone would be willing to join a small group to sing Le Marseillaise in front of the French Embassy this afternoon. I agreed to go - I wished (and still do wish) to do something to show support for the victims of yesterday's attacks. David came with, and he took today's pictures.

The French Embassy is located by Brandenburg Tor, on Pariser Platz. As we approached, it became clear that the square, which is usually full of tourists, was playing host to a sort of impromptu vigil. The mood was somber, and police and news trucks were all around. I didn't expect the crowds when I headed over, but maybe I should have. 

The embassy itself was blocked off, and people were gathered by the barricades, gathered to light candles. We formed a small circle up by the front. As someone had pointed out that the words to La Marseillaise are rather warlike, some of us felt more comfortable simply carrying the melody. I think we'd originally expected people to sing along, but instead the silence seemed to grow more profound. After we sang it through once, a single voice continued from the crowd - either a repeat or the next verse, and we joined again near the end.

And then the singing was over. I felt this sense of expectancy from the crowd, like we had got everyone's attention by singing, like we had asked a question - but we didn't provide an answer. I had no idea what it was, so David and I cut out of there. Now, after thinking about it all evening, I wish that we had continued - not with a repeat of La Marseillaise, but with a song of peace.

Because I have profound sympathy for the victims of the attacks, and that was what I meant to show. But I feel there's a dark side to national anthems. I don't think that nationalism is the answer to stopping terrorism, and I don't stand with France if her next move is to close her borders to refugees. And I am worried about a resurgence of Islamophobia - a resurgence of racism. I am worried about the hate and war than might ensue. Let us all hope for peace. 

We're on a boat!

My friend Ferah is visiting, and in celebration of that and my birthday, we took a boat tour of the spree river. We saw lots of great stuff, but my best three photos are of the molecule men:

The Pergammon and TV tower:

And the Reichstag:

The long night

The long night is a museum even where many museums are open from 6pm-2am with a single entry fee. We met some friends and hit up two computer game museums, had an interesting tour of the Altes Museum, and ended the night at the communication museum.  My best pictures are of the Berliner Dome at night from the steps of the Altes Museum:

And the atrium inside the communication museum:

At the Koncerthaus

As part of the Berlin Diplomatic Choir, I sang in the Young Euro Classic with the Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra tonight! It was a little bit like a step into another world - the chorus was a mix of pro and amateur, and it like I was a real musician! Arriving at the Koncerthaus, though, I had no idea where to go...

I had a feeling that I was supposed to enter elsewhere, and indeed, I was told to go to the stage door around back. After dumping my stuff in the dressing room, I made my way to the choir balcony:

Where we ended up first watching the rehearsal for another number with the orchestra:

Before we fine-tuned a few things on the pieces with the chorus. We got a break after a little bit, which I used to take an empty house selfie: 

And a few other photos:

My last picture of the night is on the way to the stage - with the "silence please" light illuminated. 

David also took a few pictures when he came to watch (also our friend Trey came to keep him company, hooray!), starting with a really nice one of the Koncerthaus:

An intermission photo:

And one during the concert:

It was a lot of work, but I was so glad to have an opportunity to sing with some high caliber musicians in such a great venue! The concert was also to honor the birthdays of two composers, and one of them (Giya Kanchelli) was really appreciative of our work (he kept on making a "bravo" gesture to us when he was ushered on stage to bow). Perhaps this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I do hope I can do plenty of singing in Berlin! 

Statsoper and ice cream

We didn't go to the Statsoper (state opera house) or anything, but I did take a pretty ok picture of it from the tourist bus today:

We also celebrated moving to the new apartment by getting ice cream! Hooray!

The tourist bus

I joined the Diplomatic Chorus here in berlin, and we are rehearsing as part of a group for a big concert this Saturday (details here). The rehearsals are mostly at the Georgian Embassy, and from our place in Freidrichshain, the transit involves taking the bus from Alxanderplatz. One of the two busses I can catch is the 100, which is literally the tourist bus.

On the downside, it is mobbed by tourists who inevitably don't really understand how the busses work (get on the bus in front, show your ticket to the driver, get off the bus in back). On the upside, I get a quick tour of some of Berlin's sights. From my seat on the bus (I pick one of the worst views so I don't fight with sightseers):

Above, the Berlin Cathedral (another picture in this post). Below, the Altes Museum.

We also went by the Reichstag, shown below...

And this is the new age building that apparently hosts the Swedish and Finnish embassies:

We also passed the more notable landmarks of the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column, but my seat on the bus was terrible for them today - maybe by the end of the week I'll get a chance. 

Meanwhile, in assembling a kitchen:

Schloß Charlottenburg

Today we met our friend Trey for brunch, then walked to the Charlottenburg Castle (Schloß). It doesn't look like a castle so much as a large house with an elaborate fence and a really nice park/garden/lawn behind it. The castle garden is really nice to hang out in, and on this pleasantly cool Sunday there were plenty of runners, walkers, loungers, and tourists hanging out there.

Day two in Madrid

Our main torist thing was El Teleférico - a cable car that essentially runs from a park to a slightly higher elevation park. Here's the inside of the cable car station:

We took some pictures from inside the car, but the windows were a little scratched, so most of them weren't all that good. Instead, here's David throwing a disk in the park at the top of the ride. Scenic Madrid skyline included:

We then walked by the Royal Palace, which is pretty majestic:

But most importantly, our day ended in chocolate con churros:

Madrid!

I have a conference in Madrid next week, so David and I are taking a mini-vacation here for the weekend. Despite getting in at about 3, we managed to hit went to the Prado Museum (they have free admission 2 hours before closing) and had some tasty food. And took these pictures:

The first few are on the way to the museum and in it, but this one is the Plaza del Sol at night. 

Frankfurter Tor in the rain

I snapped this picture of Frankfurter Tor while running errands around our neighborhood. According to various informational plaques, wikipedia, and David, there used to be a city gate (tor) for the load leading to Frankfurt (not the one in the middle of Germany - the other one). The towers are part of a long strip of buildings that formed the flagship of East Germany's post-WWII reconstruction.

And because I <3 transit, I snapped this one when the M10 tram was going by.

Berlin Cathedral

This is the second (of at least three) times that we need to go to the bank as part of our move. On the way back from our Duetsche Bank branch, we pass over Museum Island, where I took this picture of the Berlin Cathedral and the TV Tower. While some people might artfully try to exclude construction from their scenic photos, I usually get excited about the juxtaposition of old/historic/static with new/modern/changing.

museum für naturkunde

Today was super hot and we were searching for something to get us out of our apartment (where there is no air conditioning). We settled on the museum für naturkunde (natural history museum). The strangest part was this exhibit:

Which is simply a viewing area for some of the museum's specimen jars. I found it super creepy, but it was also both fascinating and very cold (set to 64 F). We lingered there for a while, listening to all our audioguides had to tell us about creepy old sharks preserved in alcohol. 

So Tired...

We didn't sleep at all on the flight, so we are now fighting jetlag to go to bed at a time that could conceivably be called "evening." We made a quick trip to the grocery store and I snapped this picture with David's new phone. It's looking down Frankfurter Allee to Alexanderplatz - the TV tower is almost hiding behind a lamp post.