Author Archives: arleebug54

A peek at Potsdam

We’ve had what the Germans call a “Golden October” this year, continuing to linger on still in to the first cool days of November. My environmental dashboard notes that this is perhaps more than we Northern Europeans actually deserve; that … Continue reading

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Berlin, Beethoven, and Band Camp

Due to a complete lack of college counseling and a great love of marching band, I started my undergraduate career in 1972 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, thrilled in addition to have been admitted to the … Continue reading

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A little look at Leipzig

So the muse clearly has been…hiding out for the last while. That being said, it certainly hasn’t been much of a time to travel for most of the world, no exception here. My summer teaching was finally over a week … Continue reading

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Roots and Wings: Janet and Jim

This won’t be a travel piece. This will be a homage to two very special people in my life who left the planet in the fall of 2021. If you want to go on a short geographic excursion today, just … Continue reading

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A Quick Look at Lutherstadt Wittenberg

If you know me personally, you know that I have recently suffered the loss of my dear friend J. You may have seen references to her throughout this blog, and if you have the inclination to go back to 2013-2015, … Continue reading

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A Brush with Brandenburg

Everyone knows the Brandenburg Gate, that iconic symbol of Berlin, known in German as Das Brandenburger Tor. You can see a detail of it on the front page of this blog. But it wasn’t until I started looking more deeply … Continue reading

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“Wending” our way through the borderlands…

The travel muse has been on holiday for much of the past year, sitting on some tropical veranda sipping some adult beverage and waiting for this challenging season of lockdowns and quarantines to pass. I’ve been applying myself to studying … Continue reading

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The power of a portrait’s gaze…and the power of an artist

If I were to try to explain my relationship with my father, I would have to fall back on that useful and time-honored Facebook status phrase, “It’s complicated.” To his everlasting credit, however, at approximately the mid-1950s time period represented … Continue reading

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A Christmas like no other…

It’s December 15th here in Berlin, and tomorrow we start a hard lockdown, or, I should say, we start another hard lockdown, where all shops except basically groceries and pharmacies will be closed up tight. My friends in the Netherlands … Continue reading

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Wandering and wondering in Warsaw

The days are shortening and the temperatures are dropping – on this side of the Atlantic at least. T and I took advantage of a mild early fall and a seeming absence of coronavirus spikes to make a quick trip … Continue reading

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