Sunday 16 March 2008

London, March 2008, Emirates Stadium

Arsenal vs Middlesborough

London, March 2008, Emirates Stadium

Arsenal vs Middlesborough

London, March 2008, Emirates Stadium

Arsenal vs Middlesborough

London, March 2008, Emirates Stadium

Arsenal vs Middlesborough

My Violet

My sweet Violet lives in Borneo.

Berlin, March 2008

The new parliamentary buildings - a vision.

Berlin, March 2008

Chancellor Merkel's office is in this building, unaffectionately called "The Washing Machine" by Berliners. I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

Berlin, March 2008

Atop the Reichstag, Norman Foster's dome.

Berlin, March 2008

"Okay, Bernice, it's your day to be the scary one - Martha and I are going to play Scrabble in the back."

Berlin, March 2008

The Rhinoceros

The rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he's not a feast.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I'll stare at something less prepoceros.

Ogden Nash

(I think the rhinoceros shares my opinion that Nash is wrong about his homeliness).

Berlin, March 2008

"The Jagged Tooth."

Berlin, March 2008

Sculpture on the Eiermann church.

Berlin, March 2008

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church - the jagged shell of the old church was left as a reminder of the horrors of war and an austere new chapel was constructed in the late fifties by Egon Eiermann.

Berlin, March 2008

Marx and Engels, Alexanderplatz

Marx and Engels

There is misery in all I hear and see
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me

There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
With a girl from Wallasey

She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no way

There's misery in all I hear and see
From people on TV
After their tea when life begins again
They'll be happier than me

There are a thousand meals being made on Saturday
From the view I saw today
I took a bet inside the launderette
With a girl from Wallasey

She spoke in dialect I could not understand
But one thing that she made clear
There was no coming on to her
There was no intellect
That she could respect
If it couldn't see
That the girl just wants to be
Left alone with Marx and Engels for a while
She's writing in the style
Of any riot girl

-Belle & Sebastian



Berlin, March 2008

The Pensive Mandrill

Berlin, March 2008

The Future belongs to Lego Giraffes.

Berlin, March 2008

It's a shame this is so blurry, but maybe you can see that it is Leda and the Swan? From our very strange hotel (the Estrel, Europe's largest conference hotel, reminiscent of central Florida, circa 1986), we had a view of a riverside biergarten, complete with an oh-so-graphic (her womb was visible) neon "sculpture" of Leda and her Swan. Can you imagine this on the banks of the Ohio?

Berlin, March 2008

Knut, in his salad days.

Berlin, March 2008

If you look closely, you can see his sloth-bear neighbor's black coat just above his head.

Berlin, March 2008

Knut, either a) yawning or b) singing Bonnie Tyler or Sade, the unofficial sirens of Berlin.

Berlin, March 2008

The famous Knut, now nearly two.

Berlin, March 2008

These faces are from an exhibit called "Fallen Leaves," or "Shalechet," by Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman. There are over 10,000 faces coarsely cut from iron - visitors walk over the faces, which clang together with an awful noise that reverberates through a series of empty rooms. It was one of most profound experiences in the museum, if not all of Berlin.

Berlin, March 2008

Exterior of the Jewish Museum

Berlin, March 2008

The Garden of Exile, at Daniel Liebeskind's Jewish Museum.

Berlin, March 2008

My mug

Berlin, March 2008

In the Tiergarten

Berlin, March 2008

In the Vaporetto II

Berlin, March 2008

In the Vaporetto Restaurant

Berlin, March 2008

Graffiti on the bathroom walls of the Berlinische Galerie

Berlin, March 2008

1 2 3 4 giraffes

Berlin, March 2008

To a Giraffe
If it is unpermissible, in fact fatal
to be personal and desirable

to be literal—detrimental as well
if the eye is not innocent—does it mean that

one can live only on top leaves that are small
reachable only by a beast that is tall?—

of which the giraffe is the best example—
the unconversational animal.

When plagued by the psychological,
a creature can be unbearable

that could have been irresistible;
or to be exact, exceptional

since less conversational
than some emotionally-tied-in-knots animal.

After all
consolations of the metaphysical
can be profound. In Homer, existence

is flawed; transcendence, conditional;
"the journey from sin to redemption, perpetual."

- Marianne Moore

Berlin, March 2008

IN A STATION OF THE METRO

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

- E z r a P o u n d

Berlin, March 2008

Erik in the Tiergarten.

Berlin, March 2008

Erik in the Neue Galerie.

Berlin, March 2008

Initials E.E., in front of the nEuE galerie.

Berlin, March 2008

Erik, next to the Reichstag and the new parliamentary buildings across the Spree. If you saw the posters for the Joy Division film "Control" last year, this pose reminds me of that. And these buildings...they are just stunning.

Berlin, March 2008

Erik, with kaffee and the TV tower in the background.

Berlin, March 2008

Funerary mask of Queen Tiy, Agyptisches Museum.

Berlin, March 2008

Illuminated cranes.

Berlin, March 2008

This is my photograph of the same view, with the Friedrichstrasse Banhof (train station).

Berlin, March 2008

Version 2.

Berlin, March 2008

Erik took this photo from inside the Vaporetto restaurant -the restaurant's chandelier and illuminated construction cranes. I love these photos - he is a better photographer than me.

Berlin, March 2008

Close-up of mural.

Berlin, March 2008

Mural on a building near the Jewish Museum.

Berlin, March 2008

Knut's neighbor, the brown bear.

Berlin, March 2008

Herr Eaker in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin, March 2008

Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin, March 2008

Indeed I can.

Berlin, March 2008

The deconstruction of the former East German Parliament building, across the Spree from Alexanderplatz.