
a relaxed sunday afternoon formed the end of my brief summer vacation. took the train out to potsdam to check out mark and metropole, the current exhibition at the house of brandenburg prussian history. the exhibit attempts to trace the interdependence of the city of berlin and the mark brandenburg, the state in which it is embedded, and while it had its high points - such as theodor fontane's desk chair and the axe of one of berlin's medieval executioners - the narrative began to grow thinner after the end of the nineteenth century. perhaps this was due to the primarily east german sources of much of the documentation, or the arrival of modern disposable culture with the onset of the twentieth century. but, berlin obsessive that i am, i still found myself thrilled by the antique photographs of journalist marie goslich and the oil paintings of local scenes. decided to return to the city by boat, or at least to cover some of the distance on the water, and so booked passage on the good ship paretz over to wannsee. as we cruised under the lange brücke and along the freundschaftsinsel it was a breezy, beautiful day and the havel was thick with sailboats and pleasure craft. little did we know that we were being still being attacked from the air by those dastardly british! early this afternoon the 250 kilogram bomb was discovered by construction workers....
Comments