Busy Week
It's only been slightly more than a week since I posted, but it seems like a ton has happened since then.
As some may have deduced from friends-only posts last week, I found an amicable watering-hole. The Last Cathedral is a Grufti-Club in a narrow basement space that has been cleverly modeled to emphasize high ceilings and fake stained glass. The girls wear black, leather, and fishnets. There is table dancing on Friday nights (only 2 Euro cover). The music is terrible in exactly the right way. It's an interesting challenge to attempt my German at shouting volume and with only about 50% reception. So far, so good, although the only friendly folks I seem to meet are from outside Berlin (2 folks from Belgium and 2 from Frankfurt).
I went on a very random wander through Berlin last week, and found several points of interest:
Klosterkirche - one of several bombed-out churches that has been preserved as a ruin as a kind of war memorial. This one was first constructed in the 12th century, and is very close to the original Berlin Wall (the one that was built to defend the city against barbarian invaders). As one might imagine, there is a lot of great old-and-restored architecture in the area, but the Kirche itself was a special treat, due to the art installation currently on display there. It was the first time I ever saw an inverted cross on an actual church wall.
In a very different part of the city, I came across the Maerchenbrunnen. This is a fountain in a park with dozens of statues based on Brothers' Grimm characters. I recognized Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but there were lots of kids with animals who were unfamiliar to me. Apparently the whole thing was built around the turn of the century and restored after the war.
The Anti-Kriegs-Museum and Friedensbibliothek. Associated in some obscure way with the Lutheran Church, but also with the more weirdo-liberal wing of the peace movement, this is a potential source of useful research materials for me. I swear the librarian was wearing some kind of hair shirt, or Guatemalan woolen pelt, or something.
I also took a tour with the Goethe Insititut's paid tourguide of the gov't quarter, where the Reichstag, Bundeskanzlei, and other Capitol-city type buildings are. I didn't learn that much new, but it reinforces my knowledge of the current politics of Germany to hear about it and see where it happens at the same time. Also good German practice.
This weekend was slower, but I did go to the Altes Museum and look at the ancient Egyptian display. Whereas last week's wander was totally without goal, this one was highly focussed. I looked and looked for an image of Set, but didn't find one. The last stele I looked at said Set was in it, but darned if I could see him. It was described as a picture of the pharoah praying before five or six god-figures, with Set being the last listed. What it looked like was a guy praying before two gods, a male and a female, the male being indisputably Osiris and the female appearing not to be Isis (the plate said Mut, we'll go with that). Below them were several other more obscure figures, who didn't seem to be part of the pharoah's obeisance, but, again, none of them looked like Set to me (and I should know).
I did see several other pieces that looked like Set had been deliberately scratched out by the Osirians, but you never know, maybe it was damaged by Napoleon's troops or whatever else. Maybe it wasn't Set.
The best find, however, was a Scroll purporting to the the Book of the Dead for some princess, that had a very succinct articulation of "Xeper and Remanifest." For those who aren't just scratching their heads at this point, picture this: two panels of a girl in a boat. In the first, she is kneeling before an image of a scarab encased in some sort of glowing halo, or egg, or sphere. The second is identical, except that the scarab has been replaced with a featureless human figure, appearing to be born out of the egg. Couldn't have said it better myself.
As some may have deduced from friends-only posts last week, I found an amicable watering-hole. The Last Cathedral is a Grufti-Club in a narrow basement space that has been cleverly modeled to emphasize high ceilings and fake stained glass. The girls wear black, leather, and fishnets. There is table dancing on Friday nights (only 2 Euro cover). The music is terrible in exactly the right way. It's an interesting challenge to attempt my German at shouting volume and with only about 50% reception. So far, so good, although the only friendly folks I seem to meet are from outside Berlin (2 folks from Belgium and 2 from Frankfurt).
I went on a very random wander through Berlin last week, and found several points of interest:
Klosterkirche - one of several bombed-out churches that has been preserved as a ruin as a kind of war memorial. This one was first constructed in the 12th century, and is very close to the original Berlin Wall (the one that was built to defend the city against barbarian invaders). As one might imagine, there is a lot of great old-and-restored architecture in the area, but the Kirche itself was a special treat, due to the art installation currently on display there. It was the first time I ever saw an inverted cross on an actual church wall.
In a very different part of the city, I came across the Maerchenbrunnen. This is a fountain in a park with dozens of statues based on Brothers' Grimm characters. I recognized Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but there were lots of kids with animals who were unfamiliar to me. Apparently the whole thing was built around the turn of the century and restored after the war.
The Anti-Kriegs-Museum and Friedensbibliothek. Associated in some obscure way with the Lutheran Church, but also with the more weirdo-liberal wing of the peace movement, this is a potential source of useful research materials for me. I swear the librarian was wearing some kind of hair shirt, or Guatemalan woolen pelt, or something.
I also took a tour with the Goethe Insititut's paid tourguide of the gov't quarter, where the Reichstag, Bundeskanzlei, and other Capitol-city type buildings are. I didn't learn that much new, but it reinforces my knowledge of the current politics of Germany to hear about it and see where it happens at the same time. Also good German practice.
This weekend was slower, but I did go to the Altes Museum and look at the ancient Egyptian display. Whereas last week's wander was totally without goal, this one was highly focussed. I looked and looked for an image of Set, but didn't find one. The last stele I looked at said Set was in it, but darned if I could see him. It was described as a picture of the pharoah praying before five or six god-figures, with Set being the last listed. What it looked like was a guy praying before two gods, a male and a female, the male being indisputably Osiris and the female appearing not to be Isis (the plate said Mut, we'll go with that). Below them were several other more obscure figures, who didn't seem to be part of the pharoah's obeisance, but, again, none of them looked like Set to me (and I should know).
I did see several other pieces that looked like Set had been deliberately scratched out by the Osirians, but you never know, maybe it was damaged by Napoleon's troops or whatever else. Maybe it wasn't Set.
The best find, however, was a Scroll purporting to the the Book of the Dead for some princess, that had a very succinct articulation of "Xeper and Remanifest." For those who aren't just scratching their heads at this point, picture this: two panels of a girl in a boat. In the first, she is kneeling before an image of a scarab encased in some sort of glowing halo, or egg, or sphere. The second is identical, except that the scarab has been replaced with a featureless human figure, appearing to be born out of the egg. Couldn't have said it better myself.