Window? Fenster?

My german hosts have been very kind about my inability to speak german. Lasse assures me that Berliners are known to be rude and so I should not worry when I forget to say thank you in german or at all. Either way, I have this great place to stay and a computer with which to write to you.
This was taken inside St.Peter's in Rome as the sun was setting. Somehow this was not enough to convince others in my group to climb to the top of this dome.



This is from St.Paul's which is not too far away. It was common to use thin slices of alabaster instead of glass. It lets in an eerie yellow light but the striping in the alabaster makes for interesting patters.




This last window was in Wroclaw Poland (formerly German Breslau). It is part of the chapel to the patron saint of Serbian Refugees. It was cold and rainy that day but still this star and train lit up. Not to compete with the weirdest thing I saw in a church:
This year-round nativity scene in Poland, constructed out of many small moving toys, powered by belts and motors under the table. It included pecking hens, ducks in shallow ponds, Jesus the carpenter sawing a log, and fishermen lifting their fishing poles. Too bad my camera died before I could get a photo of the one foot tall Papa Smurf with glowing eyes. It almost made me feel like drinking hot chocolate and waiting for Santa.

Urban Planning Ideas

When I was in New York, Alec suggested that they ban the sale of bottled water in the city and install fountains for drinking and filling reusabel containters. I doubted the feasability of it. And this is why Rome was considered so great: drinking fountains all over the city. Some of them are more fountain like than others but the non-drinkable ones are clearly labled, which means you can assume all others are for your hydration. Of course, Rome also had an incredible system of aquaducts.

The flip side of beautiful water is the Tiber River. I am not sure what makes it so green but this is a waterfall creating a little fountain of garbage.

I wrote to my friend in Berlin who seems very excited to have me visit. Recently, the city reopened an abandoned airport as a park. He says people fly kites, barbeque. He also says it isn't too far from his house and we will go for sure. I am hesitant to leave Italy just as I sort of figure some of my way around, but there is so much else to see!