The Blue Rider

Painting by Franz Marc

After our fabulous week in Berlin, we wanted to keep on doing fun and interesting things, so we continued on to Munich. The highlight there for me--besides seeing a couple of friends, including the wonderful Pickls--was a visit to the Blue Rider collection at the Lenbachhaus. The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) is the name given to a group of artists who produced many vibrant paintings like the one above during the years 1911-1914. It is considered to be part of the Expressionist art movement and ended when World War I broke out. Check out this link if you want to read more about the Blue Rider group and the Lenbachhaus: http://www.lenbachhaus.de/collection/the-blue-rider/introduction/?L=1

When I was living in Munich I was never able to see this huge collection of paintings because the Lenbachhaus was closed for renovations. It was really neat to be able to see it this time.

New Year's Eve in Berlin

Brandenbug Gate from website berlin.de

Last night was just about the best New Year's Eve I've ever spent. I guess that should not be surprising--we are in Berlin, after all! I had heard about this enormous celebration at the Brandenbug Gate here and wanted to try to see what it was all about. However, we were warned that it is so crowded (over a million people were expected) that it is impossible to see or really do anything there. Also, we didn't relish the idea of standing around for hours and hours in the cold. So we decided to go early, see what was going on, and then go home and watch the rest on TV.

And that's what we did. Greg, Chris, and I arrived in the late afternoon around 5 pm. The area is enormous, stretching from the Brandenburg Gate a kilometer or two towards the Victory Column. The street is closed off to cars, food and trinket vendors line both sides, and there is a huge stage beneath the Gate. After we arrived, we promptly purchased our Gluehwein, watched the band on stage for a while, then strolled along the boulevard all the way to the end. We made our way home, had a nice dinner, then settled down in front of the tube with drinks and snacks to watch the festivities.

We ended up switching between the party at the Brandenburg Gate and a documentary on the Bee Gees (who knew they were so interesting?). A little before midnight the special guest performed on stage--it was Heino, the famous singer of German folk songs! He sang a couple of more modern, pop-style tunes, very cool to watch. He just turned 75 and looked a little funky and out of place up there, but what a treat to see him. At midnight the fireworks went off.

Heino

(Apropos fireworks in Berlin: they are everywhere on New Year's Eve, all day and all night long. Chris wrote on facebook that "New Year's Eve in Berlin is the single most horrifying, deafening and absolutely amazing experience"--which sums it up well! We thought it was probably good that most people who experienced WWII in Berlin are no longer living because it sounded like a war zone out there, and it could set off a lot of post traumatic stress if you had actually lived through the war here.)

It was indeed a memorable evening and a fun way to start the New Year!