Our seventh week here was full of surprise, squish, shock, & awe!

Surprise...and Shock!

On Tuesday afternoon, around 5:00, I decided to take a walk around the village. All of a sudden, I noticed a huge cloud of very black and dense smoke, coming from just about where we live. All I could think of was that Les was working away on his laptop, and the town was burning around him. I quickly changed directions, and headed back to the village. The medieval block of buildings 2 tiny "ruelles" away housed a butcher shop, a bread shop, and several other storefronts, above which were apartments. The apartment above the butcher shop had caught fire, and red flames and very black smoke were sprouting out the roof. It took about 15 minutes for the firemen to arrive with 6 trucks and a jeep. Somebody told me they came from 5 different fire stations. They appeared to have all the latest equipment and clothes, and set to work immediately. I've included some pictures in our album titled "Week 7".

Apparently, it was the apartments of a man who works in the mayor's office (in the chateau about 100 meters away and up an incline) and his family, as well as another family. All escaped unharmed, thank goodness. To insure our protection, the electricity was cut off, and when we returned from a nearby town after dinner, was restored. There was a small group of firemen keeping vigil all night. The firemen were still cleaning up their equipment the next morning. We saw them as we were leaving for our trip to Berlin. Whew!

Squish....

Berlin was very interesting, and so was the trip to get there! After checking out the possible ways to get to Berlin, we decided that Ryan Air, Europe's low cost, no frills airline, was our best choice. It's cheap, and the times were convenient for us to travel. They have many destinations within Europe, but all their airports are in out of the way places. So, to get to the airport in Girona (about an hour north of Barcelona), we had to drive 2 hours. Then wait for the flight. Then queue for the flight. Then get grilled about our luggage being too big. Then get on the flight (squish, squish, squish) & watch the screen play involved in a Ryan Air Flight. It was incredible!

We had, luckily, paid the 12.50 euro fee (pp!) to "upgrade" to priority seating. Actually, that's all it gives you, but it's worth every penny. We were in the first row (not squished now!), & watched a very savvy air hostess control the 150 passengers coming aboard. After take off, they start selling: the regular tax-free & refreshment items, then smokeless cigarettes, then lottery tickets, then maps. The 2 hour 20 minute flight arrived on time. The crew told us that they do this roundtrip "run" (Girona, Spain to Magdeburg, Germany and back) at least once a day, and often twice a day, 4 - 6 times a week.

Now in Germany, we had to take a shuttle bus (45 min.) to the nearest train station, then a train (1 hr. 30 min.) to downtown Berlin, switching in between, and riding with bikes and dogs (extreme squish!) the final lap. Upon arrival there, we taxied to our "mini-loft" at 5 Hessiastrasse, and moved ourselves in. The trip took a total of 10 hours from door to door.

We loved our mini-loft. Les has a knack for finding great & unsual accomodations. See our album called "Berlin" for pictures of it. It was quiet, comfortable, & very convenient to Berlin's city center. We were there to see Les' niece Kerry, a student this summer at Humboldt Univeristy. Her boyfriend Moe came in from his summer stay in Warsaw to join us for several days.

The first morning we checked out the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden street, and walked to Checkpoint Charlie & the Wall Museum (terrible!). Then we met Kerry & Moe for lunch, then joined up with our guide from Context Travel, for our tour of the Neues Museum. Obviously, from this week's blog title picture, we were very impressed with the bust of Nefertiti!

Awe.....

Les & I were lucky to have visited Egypt in 1999, complete with wonderful guided tours of the Cairo Museum, the Valley of the Kings, and other wonders. So for us, this was a super refresher course in Egyptology, as our guide Jason led us through the museum, with Nefertiti as the last stop. We were impressed with her beauty, and her excellent condition. We have new appreciation for German authorities who maintain these ancient discoveries for the world to see.

The next morning, Les & I took the U-bahn to Charlottenburg Plaz to visit the newly renovated Berggruen Museum. The collection is mostly Picassos (120!), some Matisse, Klee, & Cezanne. The collection was sold ($100,000,000) in 2000 to the German government by the Berggruen descendants. Hans Berggruen, the original collector, had to flee Germany in 1937, wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle, then became an art dealer in Paris. We were very impressed by the depth of the collection, and by the very informative accoustiguides.

More awe....

After another lovely lunch with Kerry & Moe, we all met up with our second Context Travel tour guide, an archeologist named Iris, who showed us through the Pergamon Museum. Highlights there include the Pergamon Altar and its Gigantomachy Frieze, the Market Gate of Miletus, and my personal favorite, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. I have seen all these things on slides through many of my art history classes, but to actually walk THROUGH them is so thrilling! Please take a moment to check out a few pictures of these incredible discoveries on our Berlin album. Our Charleston archeologist friend Steve Gavel has been trying to convince us of the importance of the German dedication to preserving and showing works of art like this. Now we finally GET IT!

Shock.....

However, we must admit that the last time we were so very warm inside a museum was in Cairo! Although the museums are a very tiny bit climate controlled, it felt like we were actually in Babylon, Assyria, and wherever else. It was about 95 degrees outside, and at least 92 inside!

From there, we decided a river cruise was a good bet, then dinner by the river Spree, before saying goodby to Kerry & Moe.

The next day, our return was as "interesting" as getting there. On the train to the airport, we experienced "houligans" in the car adjoining ours. This caused the lady taking tickets to contact the police, which caused us a 15 minute delay, so we missed our shuttle. However, a nice taxi got us to the airport in good time. And then the adventure really began.

Ryan Air has a "one bag" rule. And they mean it , and enforce it. It has to be a certain size (our US carry-ons are a bit big but within the size restrictions) and the weight cannot exceed 10 kilos. Well....we stood in line (still very hot!) 3 times, and finally, after repacking and redistributing the very meager contents of our bags (& throwing away 3 items), we made it. Les actually had to hide his I-pad in his sweater to make it work.

After that, we flew back with no issues, retrieved our car at the car park, and drove the 2 hours back to Laurens. Door to door again, about 12 hours. Great trip....could have used a few extra days, but Ryan Air only flies when it flies. You do NOT mess with Ryan Air!

Sunday was a beautiful August day in Languedoc. We had lunch in our favorite town, drove up into the mountains, stopping at Roquebrun for a little river-side sit, and then on to St. Pons de Thomiere for a vide-grenier (flea market), ice cream, and a gong concert. Yes, a gong concert in a cathedral in a tiny little Languedoc mountain town. (This happens to be the same town where, last year, we enjoyed an accordeon orchestra concert.) The organist played Bach spiritual music, and the gongs responded. It was most unique. I've put a very short video on the video part of this blog.

So today we start our 8th week. We're not counting down yet, but we are starting to think about "re-entry". Oh dear.

We hope you are all enjoying your summer, which is fast disappearing!

Love,

Les & Elise