Urban Sketcher

At the Meridian Spa, Spandau, Berlin. The central pool.

The three hot tubs and you can see the doors to some of the six saunas at the Meridian Spa.

One of the large resting areas overlooks the main pool.

Zionskirche, Prenzlauer-Berg Berlin. Until Jeff and I walked by there and read the plaque near the door, I had no idea that Dietrich Bonhoeffer had preached here. This was his church. One of our nephews is named after him.

Boutique window in Prenzlauer-Berg, Berlin. I normally like shoes, but not these ones.

Having an egg in an East German egg cup.

In the DDR Museum, Berlin. Controlled by the communist government which suppressed any initiative and creativity, East German product design was soon falling hopelessly behind, much like its products.

This book cover in the DDR Museum reminded me that I read this book in German class back in grade 9 or 10. It was written by an East German author who followed a book by Goethe, while subtly criticizing the East German system. The book became popular in West Germany for this reason, and was selected by my teacher for our class to read and discuss.

A dusty miniature diorama of a typical (?) East German nude beach, DDR Museum, Berlin. As my sister pointed out when I emailed her some of these photos: “East Germans must have had great genes to have bodies like Ken and Barbie dolls.”

Apparently East Germans were even more enthusiastic nudists than the West Germans. The DDR Museum has a whole diorama of an East German nude beach. The nude beaches were the standard, the clothed beaches the exception. As we learned, after German reunification, the signs were switched, so now most beaches are clothed, and only a few are nudist.

iPhones are great when it comes to macro shots — they take very good close-ups, and the tiny lens can peep through small cracks in fences or keyholes. Not that I would do that.

Is it possible to get in trouble for depicting tiny, dusty, blurry nudist dioramas?

Der Spiegel magazine cover from the weekend of November 10, 1989. “The people win”. That was an incredibly emotional time for all Germans, including myself, but even more so for an older generation who witnessed the wall going up, and never dreamed that they would see it come down in their lifetime. How easily it all suddenly collapsed. The people just weren’t taking it anymore.

The Trabi, of course, is the infamous East German-made car brand Trabant.

For New Year’s Eve, I wanted to go out to a big party for once. We usually celebrate at home with friends, sometimes we just have a small gathering, some years we have a larger party. So I booked us tickets for this big party with five dance floors in a cool building with an inner courtyard. We both enjoyed it very much and were there from 11 pm to 3 am, trying out the different dance floors and the Karaoke bar, which featured mostly German songs that Jeff didn’t know, but I had fun grooving to the Udo Jürgens hit from the late 70s “Aber bitte mit Sahne”.

Two of my sketches were published in the Dec. 29/30 weekend edition of the Berliner Zeitung, the main newspaper here in Berlin. You can click on this image to see it open in another page, then click on it again to magnify.

Our late brunch at Anna Blume Cafe involved a 3-tiered contraption for two starting with savoury items at the bottom to the fruit and sweet jams at the top. When you have this breakfast at 2 pm, who needs any more food for the rest of the day? I am all for eating just two big meals a day.

Despite many holidays in a row, the Berlin garbage and recycling collection department is clearly not about to add extra shifts, they are just letting it pile up until they get around to removing it on their regular rotation.

From our line-up for the Altes Museum, we could see the Berlin TV Tower and Dome. This is what happens when you subscribe to the night owl lifestyle. You finally start doing something just as it’s getting dark.

Staircase in the Altes Museum, Berlin. I’ve been captured by the grand staircases in the museums I visit. Perhaps because those are usually the only places where photography is allowed. That said, all of the Berlin State Museums do seem to allow photography, so I was able to capture some art that caught my eye. See below.

Portrait of Theodor Mommsen by Franz von Lenbach, 1897. While I am a big admirer of abstract and modern art, the sheer craft of draftsmanship is something that most people, including artists, never master. The ability to create reality in a drawing instills awe in people, and in me too.

“Old Man and Raven” by Ilja Repin, 1885. The light and shadow and the economic means in which they are depicted in this very small painting, and its energy, captured me.

“Young Man Standing” by Adolf von Hildebrand, 1881-1884. I think there should be more portraits of gorgeous young men, not just always women.

“The Bronze Age” by Auguste Rodin, 1875/76. Ditto.

“The Princess Warwara Wassiljewna Galitzin” by Heinrich Friedrich Füger, 1798(?). I was drawn in by the orange shawl — my favourite colour.

Yes, Germans eat solid chocolate on their bread. I am a big nutella fan, but had not actually tried this particular way of delivering chocolate into my stomach first thing in the morning. It is basically a thin chocolate bar on your breakfast bun. With butter. Sans prayer. Take that, you Kindergarten-Tante!

Jeff’s travel medicine cabinet. He’s had a bit of bad luck to get a cold on this trip.

Riding first class on the ICE on this trip. There is not a big difference to 2nd class except it is less crowded, they take your food and drink order at your seat and bring it to you, and the seats and compartments are more spacious. Now that I just wrote that, it makes it sound pretty good.

I have been enjoying the train rides very much.