All posts by Becca Pulliam

Berlin

Sunday synopsis

Great day! More beautiful weather

I walked to the Jewish Museum Berlin. Google maps routed me  along a bike path that happens to pass this mural on the side of a several-story bldg. How about that sky? To the right outside the frame there’s the message REFUGEES WELCOME.

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The museum is not to be described in a few words or a photo. One observation: the design by Daniel LIbeskind admits no sunlight. I hope to finish the exhibit tomorrow night.

In the evening I went to a most interesting production of Turandot at Deutsche Opera Berlin. Here’s the curtain call.

Do not confuse this bride with a woman
Do not confuse this bride with a woman

It’s a mediocre photo but a great big cast and I wish you could have seen the staging — Act One especially. Singing Liu, Ellen Tsallagova was wonderful.

Passed the the two jazz clubs A Trane and Quadimodo as I walked toward home, and I hope to get to AT on Tuesday. We’ll see about all these hopes.

Berlin

Concert last night, marathon this morning

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After watching so many concerts online, my dream came true as I took a seat in the real hall with  real music in the real air. The sound is sublime! I stretched my eye muscles (yoga reference) to look everywhere. The program was Korngold and Saint-Saens with violin and organ soloists. Total beauty and engagement.

And after the concert, here’s the studio team of Robert and Thomas with guest, then Peter from Copenhagen, and  Ina from the media team on the right. Hanna not in photo and Holly’s the photographer.  I spent the two previous nights watching them set shots and rehearse. Another dream.

Marathon is everywhere today!

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My hotel is near where the route almost crosses itself, just below center of map. Just now the winner is running through the Brandenberg Gate! There will be many photos and here is mine from two days ago, during marathon preparations.

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Berlin

Landing at Tegel, exploring Wittenbergplatz

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A great seat mate – the mother of four who with most of them was returning to Berlin after three weeks in California – made my flight enjoyable. One of the attendants was on her last flight; she was retiring after 42 years. We landed in the morning so I bought my one-week subway/tram/bus pass and navigated to my hotel. Other commuters helped me figure it out.

Berlin is quiet! Subways are quiet. Streets are full of people, there is traffic, but it’s quiet. It’s a miracle.

Wittenbergplatz and my hotel are chillingly near where Eichman’s offices were, as commemorated by a detailed story on a sign. It’s of the first things I saw while walking close to my hotel.

In the evening a concert opportunity jumped in front of me. It took place in a contemporary church next to one of the oldest and partially destroyed ones. Legendary pipe organ. Then after a good sleep, I went to a yoga class led in German, so I twisted my head around to see what others were doing and it worked out. At Spirit Yoga thanks to a recommendation by Tanja Siebert, who teaches jazz here in Berlin. I’m listening to jazz now on 106,8FM. Want more pictures, less talk. Forgive typos, I’m writing on my phone.

Not on the grid: East Troy WI

Welcome to my blog

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Come to 42°47’44.2″N 88°23’55.0″W and you’ll find the Pulliam Nature Area. Four seasons of fun in southeastern Wisconsin. It’s named for my dad who moved to East Troy in the mid 1940s and fell in love with the post-glacial terrain. As he grew old and the farms morphed into housing developments, he said Let’s save the kettles. It happened! Now the residents live on the rim, their back yards dip into a nature area, and the streets are curved, not a grid.

But now I live on a grid in New York City, at N 40°48’1.9″ W 73°58’7.1″. And this is my new blog.