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Potsdam, Germany
Happiness ain't ever how you think it will be so
Erich Mendelsohn's 1924 masterpiece, one of the most important buildings of Modernism, a building conceived as a sketch (literally) in the hellish trenches of World War One- the Einstein Tower was and is one of my very favorite buildings. Located in Potsdam only a half hour (or so) by local trains from Berlin, the Einstein Tower is just a quick left, right, left, left, right, left, left, left and left along a series of poorly marked roads and woodland paths that lead from the train station- in retrospect I guess its amazing I ever found it in the first place.
For anyone (and by anyone I think I mean like two or three of you) with an incredibly good memory or perhaps a time machine, the Einstein Tower may seem vaguely familiar. Years and years ago at one of my many graduation parties (the one for my undergraduate architecture degree to be exact), my intrepid mom (by request) recreated the Einstein Tower with layers of load bearing (though tasty) cake topped with layers of white structural (though tasty) icing. Sure the final product may not have been completely accurate- it did look a little vertically crushed after all- but it was still the best Modern Expressionist cake anyone could ever want.
It is technically possible to tour the Einstein Tower, but it is not the easiest thing to do. Tours are limited to once a month, require reservations and are currently on hold as some interior work is being completed. Luckily there is another option if you want to see what's happening inside. On site next to and within view of the building is a little tiny version of it, complete with a cutaway showing what's happening in the tower part of the Einstein Tower.
While a lot of tourists take the train ride out to Potsdam, virtually none are headed to the Einstein Tower. The real tourist attraction is Sanssouci Palace and Gardens, the summer home of the King of Prussia back in the 1700s when there still was a Prussia and a king to rule it. While it always good to be king (at least until the eventual revolution), Sanssouci feels relatively modest compared to what you might have already seen in St Petersburg or Versailles. Still the gardens (especially from the main picture postcard view) do their best to be impressive, with all of the statuary, stairs, fountains, vineyards and symmetry you would expect to find in a king's backyard.
After a brief stopover in Hamburg (nothing to see here, move along, move along), I made my way through the Interzone and on to Lübeck, my last real stop in Germany. At one point Lübeck was one of the most powerful cities in the world, today... not so much. In fact when I was checking out of my art hotel in Berlin, the possibly fictional, Dieter looking guy behind the desk asked me where I was going next. After I answered Lübeck he immediately asked me if I had friends or family there, implying there was little other reason to travel so far out of the way. He may have had a bit of a point, Lübeck is not exactly filled with non stop world class museums or a checklist of attractions- in fact the one thing I really wanted to see (the Holstentor, located on the upper right) was hidden behind scaffolding. And so it goes.
After the crushing summer crowds in Munich, Berlin and Cologne, I guess it was a relief to be somewhere in Germany that just wasn't all that busy. It was certainly pleasant and quite scenic- lots of preserved (or rather rebuilt) buildings, lots of pedestrian streets, a nice canal/moat circling the town and at least one public square (pictured below on the left) where it looked like the main church (Marienkirche) was eating another building.
