Webstrings: Remy van Kesteren on life & harp
Berlin
Last weekend I went to Berlin with my two brothers, to celebrate the birthday of the youngest. It was my second time in the German capital, and it was great. There is a lot to discover in this major city. The diversity in architecture throughout the city clearly shows the remains of the old wall separation. Plattenbau reminds of the old eastern bloc ambitions, while the Potzdammer Platz, one of my favorite squares in Europe, is the most visible symbol of the new Berlin.
Berlin was obviously designed to be bigger; its spacious streets are longing for public. But this extra space provides many remote areas where the students and artists live their liberal lifestyles. This results in a great night-life, with countless of festivities organized in the most unpredictable places: remote apartments, the 11th floor of a building, and abandoned factories house some of the worlds greatest, unending parties.
Before we went back home on Sunday, quite knackered after a long night, we went to the very impressive Jewish Museum. The museum is designed as a lightning flash by Daniel Libeskind, and covers two millenia of German Jewish History. It made a very big impression. On the way back home we happened to share our plane with Dutch novelist Joost Zwagerman, who is mostly known for his television performances. Zwagerman is always very keen on advocating decency, but this time he apparently was in too big a rush to apply some courtesy of his own. And so he roughly pushed aside my brother in order to be the first to wait for the luggage (which arrived twenty minutes later). Well, anyway, it was a fantastic weekend! But now back to work, because Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November I will play the Debussy Dances.