Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Thursday, 13 November 2003

# 6 PM (GMT+1)

Dara and Nathan and I went to lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the TV tower in Alexanderplatz. The view from the observation deck is good, albeit blocked by haze today. In this revolving restaurant, only a narrow strip with all the tables is moving; the rest stays still, in particular the kitchen and the exit. This is not what I had envisioned but I suppose it's more practical.

After lunch we went walking in the plaza west of the tower. Directly between the Red Rathaus (seat of the old city government) and the Marienkirche is a fine statue of Poseidon surrounded by naiads representing the four principal rivers of Germany; also various sea creatures, and centaurs with webbed frog feet. Farther west is the Marx-Engels-Forum, built by the old DDR. The centerpiece of this is a bronze statue of Marx and Engels, done in a spare style which works quite well. Around them are metal slabs with tiny photographs of I know not what, and stone slabs with relief figures of struggling people. It rather wants a commentary, or at least an explanatory placard. There isn't even an artist credit.

We also stepped into the Marienkirche, which is plain red brick on the outside but beautiful white gothic stone arches on the inside. It was under renovation, there was a service in progress, and some people were setting up to take high quality photos of the interior art, so we didn't want to stay long and get underfoot.

# 1 AM (GMT+1)

We arrived at the Ostbahnhof at 7:30 and got a taxi to Dara's apartment. I'll be gone by the time the troupe come back from touring, so one of the actors is letting me house-sit her apartment for the week. It's a really nice loft apartment in the same building as Dara, with a good view on all sides — I'll take pictures tomorrow. For now, Dara and her boyfriend Nathan are going out to a movie, and I'm going to bed. Jet lag + long train ride + up too late last night drinking = exhausted.