Posts made in March, 2019

17 November 2010

Berlin

Berlin had recently piqued my interest as an emerging “world city”, one that has had an exciting transformation and an art and music scene people have compared to 1970s New York. Thus it was to my surprise that I received an invitation from my friend Joel to spend a few days in the German capital in November. I quickly grabbed the opportunity to experience first-hand this intriguing city and its much written about creativity and originality. And there were initial clues that Berliners had that quality in them – the landlords for the two rental apartments we booked were both American artists who have migrated to Berlin, one an African-American dancer in his 40s and the other a 20-something musician from Virginia.

Kyoto. March 2015.

It was wintertime when I visited Kyoto and I was resigned to viewing its gardens and pavilions before they peaked in beauty and color in the springtime. I was expecting to see the gardens at their most drab, but I figured I should, at least, try to visit. So I took the public bus from my ryokan and then walked a few more blocks until I reached Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion) in the eastern part of the city. It felt like a typical winter day. I actually thought the temperature was pretty comfortable. But there was a crispness in the air that forebode something magical was about to happen. And then, suddenly as if on cue, light snow fell quietly onto the scene and I was spellbound …