Odd what makes an impression. The Charlottenburg Palace? Good, very good. Casper David Friedrich? I was fascinated. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that many of his paintings since — some at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, as I recall, and maybe one at the Met and one at the Louvre that I’m not sure I saw. Most of them are still in Germany.

July 8, 1983

Breakfast and then on the bus around 9. The wrong bus. But we found the right one before long and soon were downtown, heading our separate ways. I found the U-bahn and went out to the 1936 Olympic Stadium, still complete with fascist sculpture, which reminded me some of archaic Greek statuettes with their smiles. Saw the pool where The Festival of Beauty diving sequences were filmed.

Took the U-bahn and then walked to Schloss Charlottenburg. First I wandered the expansive grounds and saw the busts of the 12 Caesars and their wives. Went into the palace for a tour. Wore woolies over our shoes and looked at the fine old furniture and the vast collection of porcelain, among other things.

Back on the U-bahn. Met Steve, who had had his hair cut (part of the experience of visiting Berlin, he said), and we went to the National Gallery. Impressive collection, Neoclassical, Romantic, Impressionist, some early Modern, took in Monets, Renoirs, some Picassos. Especially taken with Renoir’s “Im Sommer.” Hard not to be.

Then I saw an entire wall of Casper David Friedrich. I didn’t remember ever seeing anything of his, or knowing much other than the name. Wow. I spent some time with them. Especially “Mann und Frau in Betrachtung des Mondes” and “Eichbaum im Schnee.”

The gallery wasn’t that large, which was a virtue, and later we headed for the Reichstag to catch a bus. En route we passed as close to the Brandenburg Gate as you can without getting shot at.

Back in West Berlin we ate some fish for dinner and Steve returned to the hostel. I walked some more and discovered a glittering shopping center off Budapester Straße. Then I went back to the hostel, tired.