Cybertron Flower

I've been to Potsdam (3 days for work) and Berlin (4 days for fun) but then I brought back a cold and all my plans to post about the trip disappeared into bouts of coughing and trying to force myself to get out and do stuff while absolutely not feeling like this. Anyway: this was a good trip, I'd be glad to repeat it (and chances are good that more in the same format to the same places are upcoming). Some random, somewhat illustrated impressions:

** Potsdam **


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Isn't this what people imagine science to look like? (Admittedly, I took the photo to be able to refer back to it later and to ask more questions.)
Potsdam was good. Several hour-long discussions. Good general conversations. Good vibes. A talk that was supposed to be 45 minutes (and I've given a somewhat longer version of it in 45 minutes), but took almost two hours because people kept asking questions. Got answers to some questions that I did not have.
I will be coming for more work in the next years.


** Berlin **

Berlin was also surprisingly lovely - that the first time I did not think "this is not a city I could live in". Well, maybe also because we stayed in the inner parts, but even those I did not like as much before. But then again, the first time I've been to Berlin was in 1999. The city changed a lot since then (and got more expensive).

It felt as if we had a rather lazy holidays - we ended up with a very nice hotel next to Alexanderplatz (if you ever want a recommendation) that just invited one to sleep in. It looked good on the photos when I booked, but I did no expect it to be that big or that modern. And I just love places that have a kitchenette - several rounds of Moscow Mules may have happened. And I am now seriously considering a Nespresso machine.

*~*~*


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Two dinners with shiny_crystal, once of them in a really cozy coffee house - I really hope we'll manage to see each other more often. Twice Korean food (bibimbap; spicy soup and sushi-like rice rolls and fried dumplings). I just love it. And there is no Korean place in Leiden D: Very good Syrian fast food. Oh, and mocca coffees. One of them - at the Syrian place - very stylish.

*~*~*

The Jewish museum is, in a way, even more impressive at the moment, when the upper two levels of the Libeskind building are closed. The last time I've been there I've been too busy with the permanent exhibition there to fully appreciate the building itself; it did pack a punch this time, with me standing there, gasping.

But also the condensed exhibition on the lower level, nothing but a few exemplary last letters, a sewing machine whose owner will not return to pick it up again because he was murdered in Auschwitz. The list of things Jewish refugees were allowed to take with them, even before the world war started (one set of silverware - a spoon, a knife, a fork - per person; nothing they bough after a certain date years ago; nothing of special value which did include things like, say, a photo camera ...). And of course it ended with me standing there, crying.

(But seriously, if you have any chance to visit any of Libeskind's buildings, even if it is not the Jewish Museum in Berlin or the Bundeswehr Military history museum in Dresden, do so - they did not disappoint yet.)

*~*~*

And the next day we went down, into the documentation center at the Holocaust monument. I avoided this one very much on purpose before.


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There was this entry in the short timeline they presented there, that scarily resonated with this article [in German, about mass accommodation for refugees, to be the new normal soon]: Neue Härte: Geht es nach den Sondierern, wohnen Asylbewerber künftig in Massenunterkünften – abgeschnitten vom Rest der Bevölkerung that I read on the very same day :( [eda: in case you are interested - the actual text of this disgraceful decision is in the "Koalitionsvereinbarung" on page 107/line 4994]
(It did very much through me back here, to my own refugee experience and what they suggest sounds a lot worse than even that was ...)
And there was another that I pointed out to ♥ that this was the point where my grandparents on both sides just god evacuated on time. A few days (hours?) later and there would be no me.


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Oh, and than the first room and ... and ... Just read the above, OK? Just read it. I could not make it past this room, but I had to read every single of the entries. Some several times, in the different languages. Trying to understand, unable to.

*~*~*

What else? A visit to the Bundestag. German history museum, which was rather meh to me but ♥ liked it quiet a bit. Pergamon museum, which is still and again amazing. We spent most time in the Islamic arts section upstairs this time - they do have a very nice project in the different museums where they build connections: here is an albarello found in Germany and the other museum has some from the Arabic world which likely influenced the European ones. This was the first time I've seen this kind of network being build and I loved it (and had I had more time, it would also led me to explore more).

*~*~*

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And last but not least (never least) books. Some random ones, some long thought after, some inspiration from shiny_crystal.

I.
I'm in Venice - I met a colleague at the airport who suggested to take a direct taxi boat to the city instead of the bus + boat combo that my guesthouse suggested. We had to wait in line for half an hour (being too loudly upset about politics, but that's what happens when you put together an
Iranian-born Swiss-American and an Eastern-Europe born Jewish German) but otherwise it was the best decision ever. I got a bit of sightseeing that I do not expect to manage for the rest of the week.

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I am regretting that I did not take my camera with me. But on the other hand: I don't think I'll gave time to look around much, anyway.

II.
That said: that review talk on Tuesday? Still not done. Ugh. And tomorrow will be a busy day. (Expect very exciting science results to hit the news; not mine, but it will still be full of excitement.) And I know, I am procrastinating now again, but there is only so much talk I can write given how tired I am by now.

III.
I know that I shop when I am stressed. I lost my black shawl while in Slovenia and it's such a staple that I needed a new one immediately. Also those new skinny dress pants I bought when changing airports in Paris really need different tops that the ones I own, so I now own a wide lightweight wooly sweater in grey and a black popover blouse. And since I was at it, also a set of rose-plated triangle earring (I mean, it happens so often that I find earrings that I live that are silver I had to buy them, right? … On the other hand, wtf my new fascination with gold-colored jewellry? Am I getting old?)

IV.
Also, new phone. Because my old one decided that I abused it too much. It's not fully dead but there was a pattern of guest-touch behavior that made it crash several times and I am not risking being without a phone with all the current and upcoming travel. Unfortunately, I missed that the successor model is half an inch larger when I ordered it. The old one wasn't small, but this one is giant. Well. I am trying to convince myself that whatever phone I would have gotten it would have been the wrong one because it's not my old one. (And I could not have just bought the old one again, I considered, but I ordered it using motomaker in a configuration that was only available from Motorolla USA, not from any resellers D:)

V.
Voltron really isn't a good series. But I keep watching. Because Lotor. And we are at the point when he actually becomes really interesting. (I even tried to go fanfiction, but ugh, nothing along the lines that would interest me D:)

VI.
I complained to sophiawestern (through whom I have one of my current favorite soup recipes) that there is no Kabocha squash in the Netherlands - I only found two sad kabochas at one market stall a few weeks ago. But now my local supermarket has them! Yeah! Take bets on who is going to eat all the Kabocha & chicken & pear salads!
I still have a ton of roasted kabocha and carrot soup in the freezer (the aforementioned favorite soup made from the aforementioned two sad kabochas), otherwise there would be some soup cooking forthcoming next weekend.

VII.
I'm not sure I agree with everything in this blog entry (I often find myself disagreeing with xykademiqz, the blog author), but the last paragraph is important (to realize for both kinds of people) and I absolutely loved the last sentence: I need to emit into the world, hoping the world receives some of it.

Now: bed. And finish that talk tomorrow.