Today is the beginning of Holy Week, and I don’t think it could have started much better for me. Let me first get the blog caught up on yesterday’s events.
It was to be a cooler weekend (it has been in the mid-fifties), so I decided, on recommendation by friends and co-workers, to visit the Deutsches Museum. It was below freezing in the morning, so after a 30 minute bike ride to the Innenstadt, I could not feel my hands! I guess I should have checked the weather. Unfortunately this would have been hard to do since my internet has not been working all weekend (I update this now from a local Starbucks). In any case, I first visited St. Anne for mass. The church was located near a monastery on the river and it had a gorgeous clock tower under its steeple. It reminded me of home, where our church in St. Henry also has a clock face.
After mass, I made it to the museum with the rest of a large crowd waiting at its front doors. It opened at nine… and people were anxious to get in! I found out why later in the day. I spent perhaps six hours, nonstop, absorbing as much of the museum as possible. It was the premiere science and technology museum in all of Germany. They literally had TONS of exhibits. I have never seen so many artifacts, displays, and hands-on gadgets. Full size planes and boats, machines of antiquity, pottery, toys, instruments, trains, cameras, televisions, encryption machines, telescopes, microscopes, watches, farming equipment, computers, models of breweries, scenes of history, micro-technology, machines of the future, windmills, motors, water mills, and even an observatory on the roof… this place was loaded with stuff to explore!
As I climbed to the higher floors, the crowds became less and the noise subsided. I think most people get burnt out before reaching the last of the exhibits. I am like a sponge at museums, and even I was getting worn out! If you are a museum buff, you NEED to check this place out. Conveniently, they had English subtexts for most of the exhibits. Some of the later ones did not include this text. In fact, many of the exhibits and exhibit halls in the upper floors were under construction. Hundreds of exhibits were recently shipped in, and it looks like the place is constantly growing and being updated. I think the most interesting exhibit was their special display exhibit on the 1950’s. It’s funny to see so many of the “hot” items of the day came from the USA during that period. Jukeboxes, diners, and the latest in cooking household technology all resembled the period as we know it in the USA. 
After exploring the Museum, I found a book store and picked up a couple of essentials for this week. On recommendation I found a good German bible and a good German dictionary (really more of a thesaurus). These will be very useful for helping me with the language too. I’m learning more and more words each day.
That would catch us up to today…
I went to mass this morning for Palm Sunday and was met with one of the parishioners I met last week. She had told me last week that she would find out where I could find a Missal for the order of the mass in German. She sat down next to me this morning with a big smile and handed me a brand new book that translated the mass and basic prayers in SIX different languages… including English, German, Italian, and Latin. She called it an early Easter gift. How nice was that?? I couldn’t quite express enough in my broken German how much that meant to me… especially since I would need it for the Italian masses this week while in Rome! How coincidental? …or not. That made my weekend and I was very touched by the kindness of the elderly lady.
After mass, I got caught up on some assignment from home and UC before lunch. Mainly today has consisted of two of my favorite things to do… and I haven’t done them in perhaps MONTHS… I did some reading (as in a novel… NOT a text book), and I went on a run! Both were amazing. On the run, I had to laugh at some of the things I saw in the park. My favorites were the two boys fighting with sticks and the old men nearby playing chess and cards at small tables under some shady trees. That is what Sundays are made for! Everything is closed. There’s no work. Why not go to the park?
Like I said before, this has been a great start to the week, and I anticipate the week will be one I remember for a while. Three days until Rome!
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