boat ride

We had friends for the weekend (above) and then my youngest sister and her three kids arrived from California Monday morning. So this part of our vacation in Massachusetts hasn't been as restful as the first part. Our kids are enjoying their cousins.

desert mother

We went to a museum of medieval art, the Convent of St. Agnes, and I was particularly happy to see a painting of one of the desert mothers, the early hermits before the monastic movement started. I don't have time to look up her name, but she is characterized by long hair which covered her when her clothing fell apart and three loaves of bread that miraculously sustained her for many years. There wasn't enough light for me to take a decent picture but they didn't have a postcard of her.

Astronomy in Prague

Yesterday we wandered through the old city of Prague and came upon the Klementinum, an 18th century Jesuit university. They had replicas of the instruments used in Prague by Tycho Brahe and Kepler and recreations in place in the observing tower of slightly later similar instruments. Most interesting in the observing tower was the system used to measure local noon at 19th century and give a signal to the town clocks. We visited Tycho’s grave but not the oval chapel where Kepler supposedly got the idea of elipses—it is closed for renovation.

Dresden

We easily could have spent more than a week in Berlin, but now we are on our way to Prague with one night in Dresden. Dresden is a strange place--they are partway through the process of rebuilding the old city back into its historic form. Knowing that most of the old city was destroyed in the firebombing it is strange to see the historic buildings.

Our hotel, Hotel Kipping, was built in 1884 a private home, then served as a boarding house, then a hotel. It was bought in 1932 by the family that currently runs it. During the war it became a factory making diapers, which was nationalized in 1972 (why so late?). In 1990 the family reprivatized the business and in 1993 converted it back to a hotel.

I can't imagine how it feels to people to have lived through so many radical changes in their city and their lives. They seem to want particularly to erase the memory of communism.

Walking in Berlin

This balcony is on Schlossstrasse, a fancy street in the western section of Berlin. But Berlin is a city of apartment houses with balconies, and many have plants. It is also, at this time of year, a city of bicycles. And not just for young people—mothers and fathers in business dress on a bicycle with a kid seat taking a toddler to day care on the way to work. Many of the bicycles are cruisers (no gears)—it is a very flat city.

German collecting

Today we went out to the suburbs to an ethnographic museum. In some ways the native American exhibitions were most interesting, because of the stories of the German collectors who acquired the material. There were some objects even that had been collected by Cook.

The subway system is complicated, with over 10 lines, but once we began to get used to it, it is easy to use. Very frequent trains even on a Saturday, and the nearest station is about a block away from our apartment.

arriving in Berlin

We had a good day of museums for our first full day in Berlin today, with lunch at a kebab stand. I’m amazed by how differently the Germans arrange their museums, much more thematically rather than historically. In the Greek collection there was a room of statues of men and then a room of statues of women. I find I’m not good at looking at things without a camera, so here is a picture of an object that caught my eye.

Our apartment is very satisfactory. Huge—three bedrooms and a living room and an eat-in kitchen. Right off a square called Gendarmenmarket which has two churches and a concert hall—walking distance to the museum island and the German history museum and several others. There is a supermarket four blocks away and we made our own supper last night and tonight. It seemed to me less stressful than dealing with a restaurant when we are tired.

South Beach

This cairn or found sculpture has been rebuilt every year for at least the 10 years or so that this piece of barrier beach has been connected to the shore near Chatham light. The boatyard was closed on Sunday (it doesn't count as summer yet here) and so we walked on the beach from the light instead.