Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sculpting for Art
clay penguin and ivory soap penguin
all of G#2's sculpture projects so far. Did you know that you could carve an Ivory soap hippo too?
clay cardinal, hippo and penguin
ivory tree
Monday, December 6, 2010
Ishtar Gate and the Ancients
The Pergamon Museum really was a brilliant stop on our trip to Berlin. It was a field trip I reveled in for hours. The audio guides held my tweens' attentions AND the pieces on display were really ALL THAT! We are learning about the Israel's time in captivity during the book of Daniel from the Bible in Community Bible Study. This site was taken apart in Babylon and brought back by amazing people to be displayed and preserved. I can't imagine some of these marble statues being ground down to make cement blocks, but is was a way to eradicate detestable images from godless societies. That said, we didn't really see any of the remnants of World War Two in Berlin and therefore nothing of Hitler was glorified or preserved. Just the scale of the Ishtar Gate to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II (604- 562 BC) was impressive. I don't think that I want to leave that kind of legacy though...
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Did it ever occur to you to take your kids to the Brandenberg Gate?
If Napoleon could get there, so can we.
I wonder what Berlin looks like in the summer, but maybe it would be hot. Travelling in the winter has the advantage of adding clothing while bustling about instead of roasting and sweating thru beautiful gardens. AND there isn't air conditioning in much of Europe. Very little HVAC industry. If we wanted fresh air in our hostel room, we opened the window. AND Berlin was full of Turkish people who make BRILLIANT food for our 3rd annual Turkish Thanksgiving dinner.
I wonder what Berlin looks like in the summer, but maybe it would be hot. Travelling in the winter has the advantage of adding clothing while bustling about instead of roasting and sweating thru beautiful gardens. AND there isn't air conditioning in much of Europe. Very little HVAC industry. If we wanted fresh air in our hostel room, we opened the window. AND Berlin was full of Turkish people who make BRILLIANT food for our 3rd annual Turkish Thanksgiving dinner.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Well, If you've ever wondered...
what a field trip to Checkpoint Charlie would be like, here it is.
Berlin was a wonderful experience both for food, transport, interactions with locals and transplants. I was not taken into the museum at this site because I begged for mercy from the Cold War Era history lesson. I'd take the same an ancient or medieval history lesson a dozen times before studying this essential recent time period. I sat at *$ for an hour and a half while the Daddy soaked up history from one of his FAVORITE time periods and shared that interest with the kids. The highlights from our 3Gs were how many ways people attempted to escape East Germany during the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was amazing to them to consider people escaping in luggage, grocery carts or parts of a car.
I watched the gypsies beg for money outside the door and examined the traffic patterns which allowed cars from right and left and then to and fro and then diagonally from oncoming corners to the u-bahn for pedestrians. I marveled at how this corner has changed over the past 21 years. I'm thankful for our visit to Berlin. Didn't think I'd ever say that.
Berlin was a wonderful experience both for food, transport, interactions with locals and transplants. I was not taken into the museum at this site because I begged for mercy from the Cold War Era history lesson. I'd take the same an ancient or medieval history lesson a dozen times before studying this essential recent time period. I sat at *$ for an hour and a half while the Daddy soaked up history from one of his FAVORITE time periods and shared that interest with the kids. The highlights from our 3Gs were how many ways people attempted to escape East Germany during the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was amazing to them to consider people escaping in luggage, grocery carts or parts of a car.
I watched the gypsies beg for money outside the door and examined the traffic patterns which allowed cars from right and left and then to and fro and then diagonally from oncoming corners to the u-bahn for pedestrians. I marveled at how this corner has changed over the past 21 years. I'm thankful for our visit to Berlin. Didn't think I'd ever say that.