Potsdam to Pezenas

Its Thursday March 24 and I am writing in the late, sunny morning on the terrace of our friends Margot Paris and Chuck Brook's extraordinary home in this small French town. We arrived via plane from Paris, then another flight to Montepellier where Margot met us and drove about 30k to their home.

We left Berlin on a mid afternoon flight. We had spent our last hours in Berlin packing up then walking a couple of blocks to our first breakfast in a cafe - our habit had been to have coffee, toast and / or an egg and fruit in whatever apartment we were staying at. So... lovely breakfast on a sunny morning at a neighbourhood intersection in Prenzlauer Berg.

We then headed off to a small gallery devoted to the work of Kathe Kollwitz, all the while dragging our bags. Afterwards we caught the train(s) out to the airport. We were apprehensive about this, our last significant travel connection with all its covid protocols. Turns out there were none. No inquiry about vaccinations, no tests, nuthin'. On that plane, short hop to Paris, then picked up bags and on to the next EasyJet flight. Piece of cake.

Step back a day. Our penultimate in Germany. We took a train to Potsdam and in beautiful spring weather rode bikes around the idyllic, Berlin bedroom community for about 3 hours. Visited the summer 'cottage' of Frederich III - know as 'Old Fritz'. Again guided tour proved invaluable. From it we learned; old Fritz was short, had an unhappy arranged marriage, rose at 4:00 to do business of state, entertained Voltaire and lots of other party types and expanded the Prussian empire into Poland. So there. After a great beer at a sunny streetside table we caught the train back to Berlin and made our way to Mies van der Rohe's National Gallery. Classic Mies building (think TD Center in Toronto). The high point of the visit was just before closing the grand modern space was being used to a rehearsal for a dance / contemporary flute performance involving a solo dancer and remarkable music.

Walked back through Tiergarten and through the middle arch of the Brandenberg Gate - the passage once reserved for the royal family.