Baltics (6 of 7) - Berlin, Germany

Our cruise ship arrived in Warnemünde (Rostock), Germany, and we had booked an excursion to Berlin. This meant 3 hours on a train each way and an all-day bus tour.

While the bus driver and guide let us off the bus for ten minutes at a time to take photos, some attractions had to be snapped from inside the bus.

Here's a picture of Checkpoint Charlie, the entrance to the American sector of Berlin, from inside the bus. Notice the KFC and McDonald's signs. The Western and Eastern halves of Berlin are represented by a photo of a U.S. Army soldier on one side and a German soldier on the other. 

As we drove around the guide pointed out where the wall had been and there were remnants scattered about. We traveled to several historic sites and the guide pointed out buildings that had been restored to their original glory or modernized to build up the new Berlin. 

We got out at Gendarmenmarkt square to photograph the French and German churches and the Friedrich Schiller Monument in front of today's concert hall (once the Royal Theater).

Another square, called the Bebelplatz, is known as the site of one of the many Nazi book burning ceremonies held in 1933 in some German university cities. This is a very somber place. It is flanked by the State Opera House and Humboldt University.

Remember the book burning scene in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"?

We were disappointed that we did not get off the bus to explore the Holocaust Memorial.

The art museum was also not part of our excursion.

One of the highlights of the tour was visiting the Allied Museum. As you approach the entrance you are greeted by a statue of a sky blue bear known as 'Candy Bear' created by artist Dagmar Weiss. The Allies would drop supplies over East Berlin including candy for the children using handkerchief parachutes.

There was another piece of the wall that had been painted on the Westside. The Berlin sculpture (right) was created in 1985 using a broken chain to symbolize the disconnection of East and West Berlin following the creation of the wall in 1961. The wall was finally torn down in 1989.

We also finally got off the bus to see the famous Brandenburg Gate, designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans the Elder in the style of German neo-classicism and commissioned by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II. It is an iconic symbol of German history and stands as a symbol of unity and peace for its people.

As we stepped off the bus onto the sidewalk leading to the back side of the gate, we encountered this famous plaque, quoting President Ronald Reagan, designed by artist Helga Lieser. To me, it looks like a photographic negative. It was unveiled 19 September 2012 to commemorate Reagan's 1987 speech, which was given 2 years before the wall was taken down. Apparently, there's another plaque (with text only) somewhere else in the city.

Baltics (7 of 7) - Oslo, Norway

I finally got to return to Norway over 20 years after going there on two 2-week-long business trips. Since my business had been much farther North in the country, I only got to take a couple of weekend trips to Oslo. This time we decided to visit the Gustav Vigeland Installation at Frogner Park and the Edvard Munch Museum. While waiting for our taxi, we sat here in this well-decorated area of a sidewalk, another obvious art installation.

The sculpture park was amazing! Upon entering the park you pass through black iron gates. Off in the distance, stairs lead to a giant granite monolith. 

Beyond a large expanse of lawn, there is a bridge flanked on both sides by many bronze figures with the typical greenish patina. Most of the figures were posed in strange positions.

It was fun watching people trying to emulate them for photographs.

This creepy looking baby (right), entitled "Angry Boy", was curiously flanked by a couple embracing as if they were his distraught parents.

There were 212 works constructed out of bronze, granite, and wrought iron. Even the gates (left) had intricate figures outlined in iron. It turns out that this bumpy granite artwork (right) is made up of 121 figures climbing on top of each other trying to reach the top.

The much-anticipated Munch museum was everything I'd hoped for. My daughter and I had been to the Munch exhibition at SFMOMA on a trip to San Francisco to see Tom Petty in 2017. Oslo is where Munch's "The Scream" is on display. People (even my daughter) were posing with it as if they were from the movie, "Home Alone".

There was a huge wall containing posters from past Munch exhibitions. What a historic journey of recognition!

I  enjoyed this one (left) because its subjects (workers) were captured in both painting and sculpture.

On our way out of Oslo, we spotted an old lighthouse in the Oslofjord (a waterway). Turns out it's called Dyna Fyr (est 1875), now a restaurant that may be booked for private parties of 20-30 people. It reminded me of Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where, at Fort Worden State Park, you will find the lighthouse at Point Wilson and Alexander's Castle (an 1883 landmark).

Baltics (2 of 7) - Stockholm, Sweden

While visiting Stockholm, Sweden, we explored a couple of its 14 islands (50 bridges connect them) and visited the Moderna Museet, housing masterpieces by Picasso, Pollock, Matisse (and others).

“Siphon, Glass, Newspaper, and Violin” (1912, or later)

Apparently, Picasso experimented with mixed media collage at one point in his career as he began to explore Cubism.

"The Wooden Horse: Number 10 A" (1948), Pollock

I was pleasantly surprised to find this piece by Jackson Pollock, an unusual 3-dimensional oil painting using canvas, wood, and masonite.

"Apollo" (1953), Matisse

But the star of the show was this large composition by Henri Matisse using his famous cutout shapes. In 2011, I was lucky enough to visit the Matisse Museum in Nice, France.

To end our day in Stockholm, we took an hour-long boat ride before returning to the ship. In the distance, you can see Gröna Lund Amusement Park, on Djurgården Island.

Baltics (1 of 7) - Copenhagen, Denmark

My family and I just returned from a Baltic cruise through seven countries starting and ending in Copenhagen, Denmark. What a feast for the eyes both on the water and at the ports of call! Whether it was art galleries, all the colorful buildings, graceful sculptures, early sunrises, dramatic cloud formations or white caps on the water, it was an artist's dream vacation. The cruise ship was also beautifully decorated with plenty of fine art everywhere.

This painting (left) with its sunkissed buildings flanking the canal was hanging in the ship's art gallery. The artist really captured the mood of Copenhagen. I don't recall which direction the sun is coming from but if I had to guess I'd say it was at sunset. My photograph (right) is much grayer, but you can still see the reflections of the buildings in the canal. The canal tour was also very informative.

My daughter and I got up quite early the day after our late arrival and walked around along the edge of the canal in search of the Little Mermaid (by Edvard Eriksen). We saw a copy of Michelangelo's David with the artist's name misspelled! Luckily for us, not many others were up at 8 a.m. and the buses full of tourists hadn't yet streamed in to swarm the shores. We were able to stroll through a very large park as well. At its entrance were statues of Greek Gods, Hermes and Poseidon.

We had three days to explore Copenhagen prior to boarding our ship, The Hop-On-Hop-Off buses were an affordable and convenient way to see the city and all the sights to be had.

This unusual tower atop the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange (Borsen) is adorned with four dragons whose tails intertwine to form a spire. It's difficult to see them, but there are three crowns on the very top that symbolize the Scandinavian empire (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden).

Unfortunately, the tower was destroyed in a fire in April of 2024, almost 5 years after our amazing trip. Like the cathedral of Notre Dame, at least we were able to see it while it was still intact. So very sad!

We visited two palaces -- Amalienborg and Rosenborg -- and two art museums -- Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK) and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek -- each with plenty to see. The SMK link will take you to the painting of Amalienborg Palace Square (1896) by Vilhelm Hammershøi, and my photo (right) shows you what it looks like today.

Among my favorites at SMK were: Rembrandt, Kirchner, Munch, Matisse, Picasso, and Modigliani.

"Landscape from Saint Rémy" (1889)

See Link, Camille Pissarro (1901)

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was so impressive that I have to highlight my five favorites. They are Van Gogh (left), Pissarro (right), Monet (below left), Manet (below right), and Degas.
Degas sculptures were also on display, along with Rodin's "The Kiss".

"The Absinthe Drinker" (1858-9)

'Pyramids', Claude Monet (1886)

Monet's 'Pyramids' (1886) was quite impressive in person. 

It was fun to see the collection of works by Manet. 

My daughter pointed out that she could see faint outlines of the 1st dancer's arm behind the column.

At Rosenborg Castle, I saw a kind of painting I've never seen before. It was pleated like a chef's hat and behaved much like the interference pattern of a hologram but instead of producing a 3-dimensional image it contained two different portraits. So glad I didn't miss that! My students will love this!!

Visual Observation and Illusion

In my lesson where I teach about Positive-Negative Space, I like to use black-and-white pictures that show contrast and at least two different points of view. For example, in the classic vase-with-a-face illusion, some will see the vase as the positive image while others will see two faces. The positive and negative are often different.

It seems like most of these brain puzzles use faces and heads to pull off the illusion. I almost always see faces or animals in cloud formations. I like to hand out individual copies of these illusions so that students may examine them up close. This is especially important for the princess/old man. If you could turn the Mona Lisa upside down, you would swear that she is smiling.

Probably the creepiest illusion is this one with Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. To me, the imposters look like Jayne Mansfield and Eileen Heckart (from “Butterflies are Free” and “The Bad Seed”). What makes it more difficult for kids is they only know Marilyn Monroe. The bottom two pictures are great to Teach/Learn real (paper icebergs) vs. implied texture and perspective (3 men walking).

The Cowboy (below left) was the most difficult for me to see. Like the ladies in the very first picture (top right) I saw the old people before I saw the younger person's image.

In a book of Aesop’s Fables retold and illustrated by local Seattle artist, Jacob Lawrence, he does an excellent job of depicting a lion and a monkey to create his illusion and positive-negative space.

Salvador Dali likes to use symbolism in his 'dreamscapes'. Here's one containing two sets of animal trios; can you name them?

Finally, years ago, one of my work colleagues shared a photographic illusion from an issue of National Geographic.

See if you can figure it out!