Catching up on our stay in Radebeul

I can't quite remember where I left off.

The day after we arrived in Radebeul, we spent the day in Dresden, looking at the scenery and old (and newer) buildings, including a church [Frauenkirche] that was rebuilt after reunification. It had been a pile of rubble following the Dresden bombing of 1945 and the wreckage was a memorial during the GDR era. I will need to edit this post later with the name, which I know but can't recall (and if I try to flip between here and Facebook, I'm afraid I'll lose this post).

On the 23rd, we spent the day decorating the two Christmas trees (one downstairs and one upstairs outside on the balcony) and later that day walked around the old section of Radebeul (with buildings dating back to the 1400s and 1500s).

Christmas Eve we met N's brother and his girlfriend and later enjoyed a dinner of sausage and potato salad. We also unwrapped gifts. (I like the lowkey way that Germans celebrate Christmas. I wish Americans would do the same).

Yesterday was Christmas Day, and it was the first white Christmas in a decade. We spent the day in Moritzburg and walking the grounds of the castle.

This is a bare bones update.

In Radebeul and Dresden

L. and I arrived in Radebeul yesterday morning, which was mid-afternoon Michigan time. I need not tell anyone who has flown to Europe how that throws off your body. I am sure most people are aware of it, but me being someone who took this damned long to travel to Europe, it was tough. 

Older son and his girlfriend N.'s father picked us up at the Dresden airport. We drove to their house, which is in a fairly quiet residential area of Radebeul. It was once farmland during the GDR era, went fallow after reunification, and then was developed into housing in the 1990s and 2000s. It is, I suppose, the German approximation of an American subdivision, but with winding streets and houses right next to each other and much smaller gardens (yards). The houses here have more character, too. They are all two-story and colorfully painted. Germans have the right idea. There seems much more a sense of community here compared to middle-class, suburban America--in which people live in their own bubbles and rarely communicate with neighbors. I feel as if I am gaining insight into why, at least to a certain extent, the U.S. has social problems rarely seen in Europe.

So after we arrived, we ate with the W. family (I just feel as if I should grant others some anonimity in this blog). We then walked through a somewhat open and rural and then woodsy area of Radebeul. People have their own little gardens [kleingartens] and farms with well maintained and dare-I-say "cute" little sheds. It is something we see more now in the U.S., but not quite to this extent.

We also walked through a cemetery [Heidefriedhof] with some World War II memorials, one large one dedicated to the Nazi death camps and German cities decimated by bombing. It was quite a moving experience.

The later the day got, the more fried we felt. After playing a few games of Uno, we went to bed.

Arrival in Frankfurt

Greetings from the Frankfurt Airport. We arrived safely and now just must wait another few hours for our connecting flight to Dresden.

Amazingly and embarrassingly, this is my first ever trip to Europe. It took me far too long. Now that we have a son who has embraced German culture, is attending a German university, and has a German "significant other" with a family who wants to meet us and invite us to their home, we are here. Covid be damned, we are here.

Aside from my Covid immunization card falling in a narrow crevice next to the baggage conveyor belt at the Lufthansa desk (the woman at the desk was able to fish it out), and L's TV screen not working on the flight, it was an uneventful trek from Detroit to Frankfurt. Now I am just feeling groggy, and will likely feel even more fried when we reach Dresden.

At Metro Airport

I am currently waiting at the Lufthansa gate for our flight to Frankfurt. Going through TSA always fills we with dread, but it never seems to be quite as bad as I expect. The Omicron strain and Covid spike, combined with international travel, had me a little extra on edge.

I am feeling like about the only person waiting who doesn't speak German.

Besides my phone, I am passing the time with the latest Entertainment Weekly. I had considered also buying The New Yorker to combine high brow with middle/low brow, but who am I kidding? I do not feel like reading The New Yorker. (Another "high brow" possibility was The Atlantic, but the cover had me so depressed that I quickly nixed that. I don't need to be reminded what a political shit show America is. I know.

That's all for now. Wish us luck.

Another dispatch from the Covid hellscape

How many times during this pandemic did we think we were "over the hump"? How many times did it feel like life was getting better? At this point, I've lost count.

I remember going to SuburbsFest in early October--which now feels like a long time ago--and seeing a flicker of light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. We were almost entirely maskless, while we listened to and/or performed music, recorded podcast episodes, and traipsed around D.C., and life actually felt pretty normal.

Now it's late December and it seems we are in the midst of the worst spike in Covid since this pandemic began two years ago. (Two years already! Can you believe that?). 

Between the never-ending Covid situation and our precarious political climate, am I the only one who feels like I'm living in a fututistic dystopian novel?

So in this big Covid spike, we are headed to Germany to visit our older son and his girlfriend's family. It should be an adventure. This will be my first ever trip to Europe. Chose a hell of a time to go, didn't I? 

I will try and post pictures of Germany here and on the various "socials."

Some thoughts about Get Back

I probably shouldn't have waited a full week before writing about The Beatles' Get Back documentary, which began streaming on Disney+ starting on Thanksgiving. So if you are interested in my thoughts, here you go...

I'll just start off by saying I loved all eight hours and could have easily watched 18 hours.

Many of our preconceived notions of the Beatles were changed or modified. They didn't seem to hate each other. Yes, there was tension at Twickenham Studios culminating in George Harrison leaving the band for a few days, but everyone appeared to get along swimmingly when the venue changed to Apple Studio on Savile Row.

Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles. If anything, she kept John Lennon interested in the band longer than he may have otherwise.

I liked the scene at Twickenham in which Yoko and Linda Eastman (McCartney) are seen talking to each other. They appear to be having an enjoyable and intense conversation, which defies what I've read that Yoko and Linda were not friendly or at best, had no relationship whatsoever.

How about Glyn Johns: fashion plate. As great a producer as he was and still is, he should have been a rock star and not behind the scenes. I'm only slightly kidding.

Billy Preston was an absolute saint of a man, and obviously a tremendous musician. The second he walks into the Savile Row studio, the mood lightens and the enthusiasm is palpable

I enjoyed all the minutiae of Get Back: the striped coffee/tea cups littering the studio, along with the old newspapers and cigarette butts. The studio looks like a college students' apartment.

I also loved seeing the guys passing around record albums in the studio. I noticed a Smokey Robinson and the Miracles record and the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album lying around the Savile Row studio. I wonder where that record is today? Does it still exist?

That's all I have for now. In short, I loved Get Back. It is great and anybody who thinks of themselves as a Beatles fan HAS to see it.