Roderick awakes in an unfamiliar room. Oh,right, the Novotel Berlin, on Anhalter Strasse. He pokes the lump in the bed; Molly groans.
"Hey, we slept more than twelve hours. We should get going." They had arrived yesterday, badly jet-lagged, and after dragging around Potsdamer Platz for awhile returned to the hotel and went to bed early.
Molly groans again. Roderick steps into the shower and tries to figure out how it works. It's one of those hand-held affairs secured to the wall with a little hook so you can shower, but it only really works for small people.
"Hey, let me in." Molly slips into the shower and between the two of them they manage to figure out the mechanics of the shower and get clean while fondling.
Exiting the Novotel, they walk up the Anhalter Strasse, then left on the Wilhelmstrasse. As they talk, they chat, or rather Roderick chats and Molly listens.
"Why does everyone complain about Kaiser Wilhelm II? All things considered, he wasn't such a bad Kaiser."
"Well, he did start a war that ended badly."
"Yes, there's that."
"And he invaded Belgium."
"Okay, granted. But except for the War and the invasion of Belgium, he was a pretty good Kaiser."
"His advice to the Emperor of Austria-Hungary was terrible."
"Yes, I suppose."
"And there is the gratuitous naval buildup, that alienated Great Britain."
"Yes, there's that."
"And the pointless diplomatic blunders."
"Okay, but except for the War, the invasion of Belgium, the naval buildup and the diplomatic blunders he wasn't a bad Kaiser."
"Not to mention the tasteless statues he put in the Tiergarten."
Roderick had to admit that Molly had trumped him on that point. To paraphrase the motto of Beauneville Latin, anything is acceptable as long as it's in good taste.
They continue along the Wilhelmstrasse, past the old Air Ministry.
"Now Goering, he's another underrated one."
They continue to walk and talk along this vein.
Arriving at the Adlon, they take the elevator to Natasha's suite and knock on the door. Her valet answers.
"Yes?"
"We're here to see Natasha."
"I presume she's expecting you?" The valet milks the word "presume", as if in fact he couldn't imagine that Natasha would expect such vermin.
"Um, yes, we're supposed to meet up here."
"And you are?"
"Roderick and Natasha."
"Wait." The door slams.
A few moments later, Natasha opens the door and welcomes them. "Sorry about that. Ernesto's new."
"What happened to the other one?"
Natasha shrugs. "I need variety. Have you eaten? Order anything you want from Room Service."
Roderick is indeed feeling peckish, and scans the menu. "Any chance I can get some scrapple?"
Natasha looks at him like he's retarded. "Come on, Roderick, this is Berlin, we can't get German-American food here."
Roderick settles on currywurst for breakfast; Molly orders yogurt. While they wait, they explore Natasha's suite, which has more square footage than the average American single-family home.
"It's the Brandenburg Gate Deluxe Suite" says Natasha. "The Presidential and Royal Suites weren't available. Some fucking head of state from somewhere."
Roderick thinks it's a shame that Natasha's hospitality options are limited by the ins and outs of world diplomacy.
"So what's the plan for today?" he inquires. "After we eat, I mean."
"We're going to walk up Unter Den Linden to the Alte Nationalgalerie so we can see the work of great German artists like Menzel, Schadow, Thorwaldsen, Canova, Schadow, Begas, von Hildebrand, Meunier, Thoma, Feuerbach, Böcklin, von Marées, Leibl and Trübner."
"Wow!" says Roderick. I've always wanted to see the works of Menzel, Schadow, Thorwaldsen, Canova, Schadow, Begas, von Hildebrand, Meunier, Thoma, Feuerbach, Böcklin, von Marées, Leibl and Trübner."
"They also have a large collection of paintings by Max Lieberman."
"Wow, Max Lieberman. I totally want to see that."
"Then we'll check out the art of the Goethe era including landscapes by Jakob Philipp Hackert, portraits by Anton Graff and his contemporaries and works of the German artists working in Rome, such as Peter Cornelius, Friedrich Overbeck, Wilhelm Schadow and Philipp Veit. And we won't want to miss the frescoes illustrating the story of Joseph, commissioned for the Casa Bartholdy in Rome, which are a major achievement of the period."
While Natasha speaks, the food arrives; Roderick tucks in. "Frescoes, right. Must see," he says, between bites of currywurst.
"We're saving the best for last. After lunch, we'll check out paintings by Caspar David Friedrich from all phases of his artistic career. Also, the works of Carl Blechen, Philipp Otto Runge, Gottlieb Schick, Joseph Anton Koch, Carl Rottmann, Eduard Gaertner, Johann Erdmann Hummel, Carl Spitzweg and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller."
"I've always said that if you haven't seen Blechen, Runge, Schick, Koch, Rottmann, Gaertner, Hummel, Spitzweg and Waldmüller you haven't truly lived."
Molly thinks that so far the shower was the best part of the day. "Caspar David Friedrich, doesn't he inspire you? I mean that and pornography?"
Natasha is busy and doesn't hear Molly's question. Molly snuggles against Roderick. She's feeling antsy for a piano, any piano. She drums her fingers on the coffee table, playing Busoni's Preludio e Fuga in C minor Opus 21 in her imagination. She can't wait for Anna to arrive.
