for the love of egypt

today was a cold, cold day. last night it snowed again! which makes things so beautiful and magical but also treacherous. in some ways, it is easier to walk on unpacked snow than on the horrendous ice here, but it can also be very dangerous when there is only a little snow because one then does not see the ice under the snow. so i fell. but it was alright: i'm resilient and well padded, and it left no scratches. so all is well.

sorry for the dangling wire. the snow on my coat and tights reveal the treachery of the sidewalks here. pshh, sidewalk: NOT EVEN. more like icewalk har har.

on to more important news: today, i visited the Neues Museum,--the New Museum--which can be found in berlin on museum insel(island). i actually really dig museum island. the architecture harkens back to an older era and while the rest of berlin is very modern and interesting looking sometimes i just want to see something a little older. anyways, the New Museum now houses the collection that was previously found in the Altes Museum (Old Museum...yes, very original), i.e. amazing egyptian and roman artifacts. german academia has a very strong egyptology tradition and the Neues Museum houses a very famous bust of Nefertiti, which the egyptian government really wants back. (there's a great article about egyptology in a recent New Yorker, if you care to peek in.) of course, the german government doesn't want to return the statue. when i was in the Nefertiti room, i eavesdropped on a tour guide who was talking about how important it is for germany to keep this statue, as it is a mark of pride. but on the other hand, there's an exhibit in the museum that centers on artifacts found by a german archeologist in the mid-19th century at what is believed to be the ancient city of Troy; the Red Army took a great deal of this collection back to the former Soviet Union as spoils of war in 1945. this apparently violates all kinds of international laws, blahblahblah, mentioned on at least 5 placards throughout the exhibit. of course, the fact that the germans have the Nefertiti statue on display doesn't violate the rights of the egyptian government. hmph. not that i'm complaining or anything, because i was very happy to see the bust. it was extremely beautiful, actually.

i find this kind of discussion so interesting, but hope i haven't bored you to death. alright alright, here are some pictures already.

akhenaten and nefertiti. actually, in german it's norfretete and echaneton (or something), which really confused me for a second. this isn't THE nefertiti bust of course; you're not allowed to take pictures in her special room. if you'd like to see a picture of the actual bust, check out the museum website here.