Sliver Wedding anniversary and Berlin

Berlin.

We spent five days in the city to celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary, and we had an excellent time. Everything went brilliantly.

The weather helped. It was lovely.

I think what Berlin has, is energy, youth, vigour, and an excitement for the future. Rome, Paris, Florence, etc, all look backwards to their glorious history; their 'belle epoch' and their 'eternal city'. Berlin acknowledges its past, but looks forward as well. You could argue the same with London or New York, they both look forwards. But Berlin does it without the obscenity of wealth all put on show. Berlin isn't showy or brash, it's not all going at 100mph, it has a self assurance that it does things well, quietly, and efficiently, without the waste of its flashy counterparts.

I loved it. My new favourite city. Though time will tell if Rome takes that back...

Friday

Fly out from Norwich to Schiphol, and then on to Berlin - nice and easy

It took a while to get from the airport to the hotel. We didn't at that time understand the S-bahn, U-bahn, and buses.

We got to the hotel around five and rested really, and ate in the hotel

Saturday

Gym

We found the upmarket shops around Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse. Didn't buy anything as wanted to see what else there was.

Lunch in a small Vietnamese restruaunt

Museum Neue - to see Nefertii's head and Priam's gold (copy unfortunately as the Russians took it and won't return it)

Then a long walk to watch the light shows and Brandenburg gate

A lot of walking!

Dinner was BurgerKing near the hotel - yuk

Sunday

Gym (Noah texts and calls)
Museum of Contemporary Art - This included some unusual stuff such as sculptures made from tallow
Joanne was very tired, so we didn't do much apart from popping out to a nearby cafe for a pizza

Monday
Gym
Back to the Brandenburg gate and then the Reichstag - superb stuff. We were very early, but they let us in.
Walked to the Goethe statue in the Tiergarten, and then the Jewish memorial. Bleak and amazing
Then to the 'Mall of Berlin' - yuk, could have been anywhere.
Currywurst and then Biriani
Joanne very tired so early to the hotel

Tuesday
Gym
Shopping time back at Rosa-Luxemburg - Joanne a coat, a green top, and some new trainers. Me a couple of shirts
Back to hotel to rest
Then evening meal in the tv-tower. An excellent time for us both

Wednesday
Gym
The Wall - Too many selfies from people who don't understand. Maybe. It was a killing field
Oberbaubrucke bridge
Ramones museum?!?
Werkhaus and Aufbau haus
Oranienstrasse - cool, hip, hipster, teslar, fixie, graffiti, edgy, arty, - got the kids a t-shirt each. Sat outside a bar and watched the world go by. Cortex records
Berlin State Library - just the best. Icing on the cake. This were so kind and just let us i
Took it easy as Joanne exhausted

Thursday
Off to the airport
All nice and easy
Britain and beige. Dull dull dull. off to the parishes for parochial 2-dimensional blah

John Freely - The Flame of Miletus

Wow! It takes you on a roller-coaster ride through two thousand years of Greek philosophers and their influences on the World. So much in it and so much barely skimmed over. A fantastic reference book to trigger further reading (which is already has especially with Boethius)

Marina Keegan - The Opposite of Loneliness

The girl died in a car crash at around 22 years. These are her posthumously published short stories. They are well written and she wrote with a youthful vigour. A life lost to early.

William Shakespeare - Anthony and Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar

Not read a huge amount over the past couple of months;  part of the ennui that I'm under. But whilst I had a cold, I listened to a couple of audiobooks from a certain William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare - Anthony and Cleopatra

Listened to this as it links in with my general studies around the Greeks and Romans. This play though was based upon the writings of Plutarch's "Life of Mark Anthony" that was translated in 1579 by Sir Thomas North. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

Faulkner - Cleopatra greeting Antony

William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

From Plutarch's 'Lives' again. Excellent stuff though really it should be called Brutus, as he has four times the lines of Caesar.

Copperplate engraving by Edward Scriven from a painting by Richard Westall: London, 1802.

Well, I'm back

It's been a while. Just got out of the habit and inclination for a while. Nothing bad at all, just didn't really have the will to write anything. It's been a good few months for the most part; our silver wedding anniversary in Berlin was very good. A family problem cropped up. No detail for this blog as it's not what it's about. Work and health are good. Just feeling a period of ennui really. Can't put my finger on it, just needing to find something to occupy my mind (or body) is needed.

I have a kind of a start of a plan. May be a false start, but good starts generally follow one or two false ones. So if it's a false start, then lets get it over with.

Body focus is a good place to begin. I've been doing a fast day (or two) over the past couple of months and that's resulted in some stomach muscle definition. That's triggered even more exercise than before. So gym is four times per week, and I'm thinking of getting up early to do exercise every morning at home. See if that gives my mind and body a boost. So that's the plan; to replace the long evening of time wasting with earlier starts of exercise and studying. I'm just not studying in the evening at the moment. Too many distractions whereas in the morning they're hopefully not about.

Let's see...