Berlin

April 3, 2026

Good Friday. Bright sky, wintery cold. I’ve tried to be mindful of the sacredness of the day through sightseeing and fitful naps and episodes at the Greek restaurant across the street. Good Friday in the city which was the cross upon which half the world was crucified. No one alive in Berlin today is responsible for that. No one alive in Berlin today can fully escape that. Forsythia branches are hung with colored eggs. Too many sights for a single day– when all I really wanted to do was wander through the Tiergarten, lying tantalizingly just down the street.

John appeared in the lobby after five. We drank in Marlene’s and not so much went over old times as tried to catch up on the new. 

Potsdam

April 2, 2026

Frost on the banks, twisting mists from the surface of the waters. 

Beautiful land between Wittenberg and Potsdam, twisted dark forests that reveal Friederich to have been a realist. Potsdam hugely elegant, sophisticated and expensive. Turned loose for lunch, we found My Keng Vietnamese on Brandenberger S, one of the very best restaurant’s I have ever eaten at, tiny as a hotel room. I don’t see how one managed actually to live in Sans Souci, pretty as it was. The nature room delighted me. Frederick the Great deserves more notice in the arts than he has received, I wanted to wander in the park identifying birds. Bought a tiny volume dedicated to Franz Marc. 

Now in a magnificent room in the magnificent Intercontinental in Berlin. Topkapi. Wish I had more time here than the 1 ½ nights given to us.  

Sometime during the bus ride I decided that this would not be my last journey, and I began making a list in my head of future destinations. 

 

Wittenberg

 April 1, 2026

Wittenberg. The Door of the Theses, St Mary’s, the Mother Church of the Reformation with its haunting Cranachs. Gray and then blazing blue skies. Quick snack in a friendly café, where I managed to order in German. Leg pain like a bucket of cold water dashed in the face, but all right now that I’m sitting. 

Ich will nach hause.

Goodbye toasts and rounds of applause for staff and crew. 

Full moon arising in glory over the Elba.

Ich will nach hause.

Messien

 March 31, 2026

Meissen. Lovely tour of the porcelain factory The demonstrations of the craft were fascinating, and left me wondering how in the world the process was discovered. As with Evolution, trial and error cannot be the full explanation.. Bought a little lidded bowl with green garland decorations. 

Rain on the Elbe. A symphony in gray.

It’s not so much travel that distresses me, but the fragmentation of experience.  These little passages with tumult between do not allow any thought or impression to gather to a greatness. Began writing in the lounge, looking out on the town and the rain and the river, which calmed me considerably, a cup of cocoa at my elbow. Now I am reconciled. Now I am at peace.  

Down the river toward Torgau– the scene on the banks of incredible beauty, pastel blooming trees, towering cliffs, paintable farms, eagle hovering, storks gleaning in the green-gray fields. 

People at the table relating tales of their dogs and cats, me weeping silently and, I hope, unnoticed.

Evening ended with a dance party and musical quiz. I imagined that, considering the location, the quiz would concern Classical music and I would win. It was about pop music, and not very musical at all; nevertheless, my team won 3rd prize and came away with a bottle of wine and a candy bar. I am inordinately proud of this.

Dresden

 March 30, 2026

It’s not that I’m not having a good time, but at any point, if some djinn had appeared and said, “You can continue on or be delivered home this instant,” I would have done some real consideration.

A narrow channel of turbulent water lies between my window and a stone wall. Moss grows on the square stones but not (or less) the long rectangular ones. 

Rations on the Viking Alstrid are beyond superb.   

Tour of Dresden with the best guide yet. Zwinger. Palace. Bus tour of the historical spots. August der Starke’s green diamonds and priceless toys. Maybe the best city yet. Then cold rain and wind. Not long enough in one place to do justice.

Sweet young trio (2 violins, bassoon) from the Opera doing Mozart, Hayden, Joplin in the lounge. Sweet. American audiences can’t be prevented from clapping between movements.  

Likely, if the djinn came now, I would say, “Take me home.” 

Bad Schandau

 March 29, 2026

Palm Sunday. Nobody mentions that. We took to the river at Decin yesterday afternoon, sailed this AM, and arrived at Bad Schandau. Looking at the gray river flow past my window is full delight. 

Skipped the trip to an interesting rock formation to wander the town on my own. My own pace, time to employ my morbid attentiveness. In five minutes I was happy. I was at home in myself. I was not bent double with leg pain. Wandered Bad Schandau to the market square, where the church bells were ringing. I decided to go to church. The person who turned out to be the pastor let me into the old church to look around, but it was not being used (probably, I think from going in, because it’s impossible to heat) and service was in a sort of classroom across the courtyard. Very Lutheran. The preludes and interludes on piano were Bach. I could sing the hymns and pick out the meaning of the scriptures, but the rest was lost to me. After service, an old woman stopped me in the garden and talked about the flowers, the burden of her conversation being do not judge the poor little garden, spring (Fruhling) is on its way. Wandered to the city park and down a few streets. Nothing was open, so my desire for coffee remained unfulfilled. Good day, which I needed after the physical uncertainty of the last few. Given my own pace, I can still conquer the unknown country. Lovely little town. Hugely liveable. 

My first walk into Dresden was moving west at sunset, and all the city a golden blur out of which came the ringing of bells. Made it as far as the town square before supper. Little girls ran alongside the boat as it entered town.

 

March 28, 2026

Dawn over Prague. My window open on big industrial headquarters, like Lilly and KPMG, through whose windows one sees people at their desks deep into the nght. Walking tour of the old city yesterday morning. Everyone was freezing and the rat-a-tat guide walked so fast he made himself pant, so it was no fun for me. By the end I could hardly walk; unfortunately, I mean that literally. Learned a lot, though, and saw the sights we were meant to see. Clear light over the beautiful town, dressed up for the Easter Markets. Great gray heron flew by us on the Charles Bridge. Our guide hated folklore, so that any question that hadn’t to do with flat history went sneeringly unanswered. He pronounced “Czechs” as “Chicks,” which startled me every time. “The Chicks finally established their own Republic.” L and I had Prosecco on the hotel mezzanine while the tour finished without us. Supper at Gate, in a part of town which was fascinating to me becuase of its alluring ordinariness. Best duck ever, A couple of bedtime vodkas at the lobby bar with its energetic bartender, who received my last zloti as a tip. Managed without Czech crowns. I find this gargantua of a hotel mildly loathsome. The atrium is gorgeous, but all its energy goes into brutal gorgeousness and none into client comfort. L and J love it. Breakfast is sybaritic.

Took the trolly, which Jim understands and I do not, to Wenceslaus Square, of enduring fame, and to the Natural History Museum. Their model of the male Neanderthal looks exactly like me, if I let the hair on my head grow long.