Week Seven (ii) - Potsdam, Museums, and Running Again!

Sat 23.2.13:

Lulu, Susan, and I visited the Dahlem museum in the morning to see a few of the tribal art exhibits.

Hopi figurine

I thought this was a cool design

We saw lots of Native American art, sculptures and headdresses as well as artifacts - more figurines, boats, and hunting/fishing equipment - from various island cultures, including Lulu's island of Kiribati!

Couldn't help but laugh :)

Lulu with the Kiribati skirmish armor - the weapons are
laced with shark's teeth and stingray spines!

Berlin vor Ort today was a tour of Potsdam. We started at the Grünewald station to see the Track 17 Memorial, which remembers the deportation of Jews from that station and lists the dates, destinations, and number of Jews aboard of trains that departed the station. It was a particularly moving design, bringing us directly to the site of departure, seeing the numbers of deportees, and just imagining from there the conditions.

and this view only shows half of the segments

Each segment is inscribed with these details... 

Offerings left in memory

Then we visited Potsdam and went straight to Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's Rococo-style palace. When we saw the view over the gardens, I was reminded of Versailles, though on a smaller scale of course.

In summer, apparently all the terraces are in full bloom with vineyards!

Gorgeously feathered duckies :)

We caught a glimpse of the Chinese House but didn't see its gorgeous entrance or interior, sadly.

Snow-laden Chinese House

Frederick the Great gets a tribute of... potatoes (he introduced them to Prussia) 

Walking through Potsdam itself felt very relaxing - we saw several official buildings, but Dr. Jander was eager to show us his favorite creperie as well as Gutenberg street and a gorgeously designed cemetery for Soviet soldiers. It was a gorgeous day (considering there's no sun here haha) so we enjoyed the chill air and views of the town, river, and parks.

This street felt particularly European and
quaint, lined with interesting shops

The Soviet military cemetery

Turrets!

Awesome street art, some sort of robotic insectoid

 Afterwards, I decided my heels had recovered enough to try running once more, so I taped them up and set off into the falling snowflakes! Tentatively at first, and then gradually faster as my heels didn't protest, I ran alongside the U-Bahn line, utterly joyful to feel the wind on my face once again :) I kept running longer than I probably should have, given my uncertain heel condition, and when I got back I napped for two hours, had some dinner, and fell back asleep at 10:30 - glorious!

Sun 24.2.13:
Esther, Keziah, Molly, Sarah, Sherri, Susan, and I met up for a leisurely English brunch, featuring some scrumptious scones :) Afterwards, Keziah and I headed to the Topography of Terror. This museum stands on the site of the former SS main buildings used to orchestrate the regime's decrees. The exhibits provide a lot of information and display several pictures of the main SS leaders or events put on by the party.

A staged photo of the liberation of political prisoners

Dissent or noncompliance existed (albeit rarely in public)

Other items on display:
 - charts depicting the SS department's hierarchy and structure
 - a letter ordering the 'accidental' death of political prisoner Georg Elser, Hitler's would-be-assassin
 - extensive descriptions of how the Nazis consolidated power and how daily life changed in Germany
 - details of what happened to the major perpetrators after the war; nearly all were sentenced to death, though we were surprised by the few light sentences, and even one man who lived under an alternate identity until he came forward 30 years later

After a while, we felt overwhelmed, and saved the rest for another day. We walked next door and found an exhibition by Margaret Bourke-White, the first female photographer to work for Life magazine, take pictures in a combat zone, and capture photos of the Soviet Union. All her photographs were the originals, developed on silver (?), and gave fascinating glimpses into the US wartime industry, the Soviet Union wartime life, and Germany during and post-wartime. On display were Bourke-White's correspondences with renowned individuals such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Ansel Adams, among others. In one to the Roosevelts, she specifically asked for a print to be given to the electrician, who was always promised photographs by all visiting photographers but never received any, and she wanted to break that trend - how adorable! She also had a memorable picture of Joseph Stalin, with an interesting tale. After trying unsuccessfully to get him to smile warmly, she inadvertently spilled some peanuts on the floor, and apparently Stalin began smiling and/or chuckling at the sight of the secretary and this American photographer/journalist hurriedly snatching them up off the floor. She said she managed to get two photographs of Stalin genuinely smiling before his face turned stony again, and it was as if there was no happiness in those eyes.

Art from the 'informel' movement

Franz Radziwill - speaking against the war and its aftermath

We then visited the Neue National Galerie, featuring 20th century art including some by Picasso, Munch, and Dalí. Other exciting pieces: a video of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, a room full of circular compositions, abstract sculptures, and pieces utilizing laser lights.

Double Mao, double Marx 

Andy Warhol's Double Elvis

In the 'Light Room' - kaleidoscopic patterns reflect off the walls and cubes 

'The content of this painting is invisible; the character and dimension of
the context are to be kept permanently secret, known only to the artist.'
Very clever, you artist, very clever

A really cool compostion

For dinner, Keziah and I met Sherri at Little Saigon, which has a hilariously translated English menu (one option was 'cervical steak' - later we realized it was probably steak loin). We had some warm, comforting bowls of pho, and then Susan, Iqbal, and I started the E40 homework... and we were still working at 3am :/

Other random snippets:
- we saw several electric Smart cars plugged in and charging
- we passed a wall consisting of tens of small mirrors, so that the reflections kept changing with as the wind blew