Yesterday Uta and I walked around the Sansouci Palace in Potsdam, drove through the Brandenburg countryside for a few hours, and toured Martin Luther's house in Wittenberg. It reminded me that France ruled what was good taste for a long time, that Germany still has family farms, and that Martin Luther was a powerful catalyst for independence. It was quite stirring to see a real indulgence, look at the robe Luther wore when challenging the Diet at Worms, and to wander through his living room, the home of the Table Talks where he shaped his thinking in conversation with friends.

I may not be posting here for a few days. This is the slowest internet connection I've used in years. My wife's uncle's PC predates USB ports, so I can't upload photos. And this German keyboard is driving me bananas. (The number-row upper case is °!"§$%&/()=?`. Other keys that have migrated are: *+~'#;:µ><. In addition to Alt and Control (Strg), there's an Alt Gr control key that gets you @€~. Ö and Ä have replaced the quotation marks. Z and Y have swapped places.) Keyboard as funhouse mirror.

We're off to the auto museum in Wolfsburg.