Strasbourg: Welcome to Alsace

It occurred to me today that I have not written a blog in quite some time and I am WAY behind.  To be fair, November was a quieter month for traveling what with the cold and unrelenting gray. I'm not kidding, I don't think that I've seen the sun in 6 weeks.  Actually, the only time I see the sun is when I skype with my parents and they hold the camera out the window. Oh, the power of technology.

Okay, onto Strasbourg. Strausbourg is technically in France, but directly over the border (Main River) and in a region called Alsace.  If I'm remembering my history correctly, Alsace was important for its coal deposits and so it found itself swapped between France and Germany several times through history.  This is why the food has a distinctly German flair, but they speak French. I had an interesting time dredging up my high school French. This was made especially difficult because I'm trying to learn German now. Apparently, I'm incapable of keeping more than one extra language in my brain at a time. I tossed out a lot more Dankes than Mercis. Oops.

Strasbourg is also the only city I've visited so far without a tour book telling what I should see and where I should go.  It's oddly liberating to enjoy a city just to enjoy a city. Below is a collection of random photos from different point through the city.

First stop was the Old French Quarter with a collection of half-timber houses that should look very familiar at this point to anyone who has read previous posts.

Old French Quarter house
Most of these houses were stores or restaurants



One of those rare cases where I'm in a photo from my own
vacation. Thank you Sakeena for joining me in
Strasbourg!



Another cute little house

And what is France without a picture from a bakery window?

That is extruded chestnut paste that was piled on top
of some creamy inside. I didn't get one but had to take
a picture.

Time to wipe the drool off the keyboard.

In Strasbourg there is a very famous cathedral, whose name completely eludes me, but I think it's a Cathedrale of Notre Dame.  Cathedrals to Mary were quite common at that time, 13th century.  These things are almost impossible to take pictures of from the outside because of their sheer size, but I did get a few photos of the interior. 

This is one of the famous astronomical clocks that crop up around Europe.
I saw one in Prague and also a smaller version in Goethe's House.

Stained Glass Windows

I believe the Garden of Gethsemane (sp?)
It's not so easy to see in this picture but there are three sleeping
apostles and those are the soldiers rushing in on the right.

And the gray, gray sky....

This is one of the older (built in 1427) and more famous houses in Strasbourg. It's a restaurant and I believe, also a hotel. It's called Maison Kammerzell.  You can see in that name the odd mix of German and French that has occurred in this region.

Roasted Chestnut vendor.
You can just tell what that little kid is saying.
But Mommy, I want THAT!



If there is one thing that pervades all of Europe it is memorials
from WWI and especially WWII. This was one of the
more poignant ones, in my opinion.

 The two photos below amused me.  And I thought the houses in Amsterdam were skinny...

Thin house

Thinner house

Darmstadt

This is just a random assortment of photos from Darmstadt that I thought might be fun to share.

The house in which I'm living in Darmstadt.
I'm in the back in the sous-terrain apartment.
I would've loved a balcony, but let's get real.

Mixed Johnny Depp metaphors. It's a hair salon and
one I'd be hesitant to visit, especially with the
wurst shop next door...

The front of the Stadttheater. This space just seemed
so modernly cool. I kinda like it.

Cologne aka Köln

Cologne, home of Eau de Cologne, and the first city to have successfully deflected invaders (and ornery tourists) with chemical warfare, namely the Perfume Cannon Ball or Parfümskanonenkugel in German. Modern perfume warfare scholars agree that the closest modern equivalent is the Department Store perfume counter labyrinth (Kaufhausparfümthekelabyrinth) on free sample day.
Cologne City motto: Why bathe when you can splash on some Eau de Cologne?

Sometimes reality is boring and needs to be spiced up a bit with a more exciting narrative. Okay, down to some actualy facts about Cologne. Cologne is one of those German cities that ended up with a different name inside and outside the country.  Outside it's Cologne and inside it's Köln.  I'll be going by Cologne in this blog entry only because it's easier to write that than Köln with that funky ö.

Cologne is a not particularly interesting city with some lovely sites in it.  The most impressive site being the famous Dom Cathedral. 

This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.  I simply don't have the right camera to capture the sheer size and majesty of this old gothic cathedral. What I found particularly interesting was that although the cathedral construction began in the 13th century, it wasn't actually completed until the 19th century. They had a little funding problem in the Middle Ages as well as the tumultous years following the Reformation.

Inside the cathedral is a fascinating array of stained glass windows from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and even a few panels of 19th century Bavarian. The mishmash of styles makes for an intriguing walk through history. I could recognize that there were differences in the way the stained glass was constructed, but could not identify which was from which era.


 

The interior of the cathedral is on the left.  It's quite simply massive with those huge vaulted ceilings stretching up 140 ft.

Some examples of the stained glass windows below.  Unfortunately, it was quite cloudy that day and it was difficult to get a nice picture of the stained glass under those conditions.  Or at least, I don't know enough about photography to coax a stunning picture from those conditions. 

Painted around 1440 by Stefan Lochner.  It was noted in
one of the books that the painting was so realistic that
one could identify dozens of plants in the foreground.
Not having keen enough eyes or vast enough knowledge of
botany, I will have to take their word for it.

After touring the cathedral I went to the Roman-Germanic museum in Cologne.  That might seem like an unlikely combination of countries, since the German hordes are generally blamed for the sacking and general destruction of Rome, but Cologne was a Roman city.  While building bomb shelters during WWII, the following mosaic was discovered. 

Detail on one of the panels in the mosaic.

Also in the museum were some lovely pots, glasses, and assorted markers and statuary.  Being a huge fan of Greco-Roman art it was a most enjoyable museum, even if I couldn't read any of the signs. 

Ancient Flip-flops?

After touring the museums, I stopped for lunch and had the requisite Kölsch, a local beer. It's a beer with a very low level of carbonation, so you only get 200ml at a time and they come in these little glasses called stange - shtahng-e. At least, I think that's how you spell it.  It means pole.

Old Town along the Rhine River

I then wandered down to the old town, which like every respectable European old town has meandering streets, houses scrunched together and a high overall cuteness factor.  This old town also had an endless string of bars.  I can imagine that bar hopping is quite a fun activity in Cologne.  The little beers are pretty cheap and you can easily get a few in one bar before hopping onto the next, getting a few more...rinse and repeat until you stagger home. 

In addition to the Dom, I also checked out another old church, but one that was more severely battered during WWII.  It had a quite different feel.  I must admit a preference for these old churches free of almost all adornment.  This was called St. Martin Grosse. It was built on top of an old Roman granary. The stained glass is all modern, but I think makes for an intriguing juxtaposition with the raw stone in Middle Ages style.

Approximately six hours later I had finished wandering the streets of Cologne and headed back down the A5 to Darmstadt.  I took one last photo when I returned because I thought it would be nice to have a pretty photo from Darmstadt and I am a sucker for sunsets.

Heim, sweet Heim

Just south of Darmstadt along the B3 or Bergstrasse are a series of adorable old towns with a certain similarity of name.  Let's see if you can pick it out: Weinheim, Heppenheim, Bensheim, Mannheim, Seeheim, Reinheim, and the list goes on.  It turns out that Heim means home and once I visited Weinheim and Bensheim I could see how the name fits. The towns have a certain cozy, homey charm to them. A bit of German Gemütlichkeit. That was another great word I learned recently that cannot be adequately translated into English, rather like Schadenfreude. To explain Gemütlichkeit my officemate showed me pictures of rustic homes with a fire burning and a tall glass of beer on the table. I would have substituted in a hot chocolate, but I got the concept.

Back to the -heims. I started with Weinheim. I arrived and immediatley took my morning constitutional, which consisted of a hike up the hill to the remains of the old castle or Burg. I have already posted multiple castle remains on the blog so I will spare you pictures of crumbling stone. What cannot be captured on camera is the feel of crumbling castle remains when you are the only visitor strolling along the ramparts. Most castles are swarming with tourists who are chatting, taking pictures, and generally giving the place a touristy feel. An empty old castle has quite a different vibe. The history of the place seems more palpable.

Following the hike up to the castle was the long walk back down and lunch in the center of town.  As is quite common for Saturday there was a local market with fruit and vegetable stalls, cheese carts, meat trucks, and bread stalls.  I ate outside (drausen) and enjoyed a beer and a flammkuchen.  The flammkuchen is a specialty of the Alsace region and consists of a crisp paper thin piece of bread with cheese, onion, and ham. I however went for the non-standard flammkuchen with cinnamon and apple. Who could resist warm cinnamon apple? Not I.

After lunch I strolled through the old part of Weinheim that was originally the tanning district. The houses are all half-timber and line streets that curve, twist, and double-back on themselves regularly. Adorable and something that can only arise from a time without urban planning, or really planning of any kind.  I've attached a couple of pictures of the houses from Weinheim as well as a few from Bensheim. You will notice that very old houses have descriptions of what the house was used for or what was changed over time. Enjoy!

 Not sure if this is any historical interest, but I was just amazed at the sheer quantity of plants on these houses.

As soon as I figure out what that says next to each date, I'll update it here.

Clearly the door moved on this house. In front is a narrow
canal that I imagine was important when this area was
full of tanneries.

If you click on this picture to enlarge, you should be
able to make out the descriptions of what this
building was used for through the centuries.

Prague!

I must admit that Prague was never a city I that was high on my list of vacation spots, but recommendations from multiple quarters won me over. People gushed about the gorgeous Baroque architecture and Old World charm of the city.  As my brother pointed out, it managed to keep these attributes by not being important enough to bomb in WWII and not being rich enough behind the Iron Curtain to build up significantly after the war.

I was excited to see this city, up until the point when I started reading all sorts of travel warnings about both legal and illegal ways the Prague citizens were going to steal from me.  There were the armies of nimble pickpockets, extortionate taxi drivers, and unscrupulous restaurant owners, always trying to cheat tourists with hidden fees. I read through web sites describing ways to avoid being targeted and having all your money stolen. It put a bit of a damper on my excitement. Then I remembered that I lived in New York and all of this sounded an awful lot like the warnings my mother always issued in Brooklyn. Still to give away the plot ending now, I was not robbed in Prague, although I did have one "Couvert" fee tacked onto the worst of all the meals in Prague. That seemed like a double insult. Food was bad AND they had the gall to charge this weird cover charge.

I am happy to say that that was the single blot on the entire vacation.

As is so often the case with travel, Regina and I did have an adventure actually making it to the flight.  I learned that although German bus drivers (Busfahrer) are not inclined to wait for people, they will stop if you leap out in front of them like a crazy person (wahnsinnig).  We were not late for the bus station, rather the pick up point was not located right in front of the waiting area (Bushaltestelle), which seemed the most logical place, but well behind it. Then to add an extra icing of frustration to our morning, the airport did not list gate numbers for any of the flights in Terminal D and E.  Oh, no, if you were foolish enough to take one of those airlines, meaning not Lufthansa, then you would just have to ask the staff how to get to your gate. It all worked out fine and to add a dash of humor to our morning, the airport bused us from the terminal to our plane.  They picked us up at the gate drove us down to the end of the terminal and back around to the plane that was sitting about 100 feet from where we started.  I think the bus actually dropped us off further from the plane than we had been standing five minutes ago. So mch for German efficiency.

And now for Prague.

Prague is indeed lovely. I think that all I can do is just post a bunch of pictures here to show some of the buildings and interiors. On Saturday night, we went to a concert in one of the churches and it was just wonderful.  A mezzo-soprano, oboist, and organist playing a collection of music ranging from Bach in the Baroque, to Handel, and then ending with Cezar Franck.

As I mentioned before, we had one bad meal, but all the rest were wonderful.  We found a French bakery our last morning and had to-die-for chocolate croissants. We also ate dinner at a French bistro.  And we did have one meal in a Czech pub with the world's scariest waiter. He was clearly pissed off about something, so Regina and I did our best to be quiet and undemanding. I had a cabbage pancake with sausage and gobs of sour cream on top. And a beer, of course. Hearty food.

And now, without further ramblings on my part, pictures of Prague. Enjoy!

 

Prague Castle at Night



Lovely understated Baroque Architecture

Our Lady before Tyn.

Best part of going on vacation with someone is that
you can get pictures of yourself on vacation!

This is the Senate Garden. I don't know how they
created that effect on the walls, but it was really cool.



St. John Nepomuk
Patron saint of Prague and the confessional



Stranger in a Deutschland

I have now been in Germany for a month.  I can't believe it.  That went by so much faster than I ever would have expected. I thought this would be a good time to post about a couple of the differences between the US and Germany that I've discovered in that time.

Often people speak of culture shock when they head to a new country.  I think that shock is too strong a word.  It's more like that funny tingling feeling you get when you stick your tongue on a 9 volt battery. It's kind of fun but also kind of wrong at the same time. As much as I would like for this post to be a smooth narrative, I'm just going to post a bunch of random stuff.

Those unsmiling teutonic Germans. I think that the most common misconception about Germans is that they are very serious and they rarely smile. I would say that in general Germans tend to be a little more reserved than Americans, especially with strangers.  Once you know them a bit they are very friendly and definitely smile and laugh. Personally I'm having a fantastic time sharing the office of one of my German colleagues who is surprisingly chatty.  It's a good thing that I'm getting along so well with him because we get onto the tram at the same stop in the morning in Darmstadt, spend the majority of the day in the office together and then often end up leaving at the same time in the evening. I think that there are people's shadows that get more alone time.

Those insanely long German words.  We all know about those German words that seem to go on for paragraphs.  I finally figured out why they are so absurdly long.  If the Germans want to say something like the National Wildlife Foundation, it's written Nationalwildlifefoundation. They just smush it all together. Also they have a word for everything.  I'm not kidding.  Everything!  These were my two favorites recently.  While waiting for the tram one morning, my officemate explained that during the summer they had to repair the tram tracks and so there were buses substituting for the trams.
"It's called Schienenersatzverkehr."
Me: "Huh?!"
"Schienenersatzverkehr. Rail replacement bus service.  One word."
Me: "Of course."
"Schienen is rail, ersatz is replacement and verkehr is transportation or traffic. What do you call that in English?"
"Trains broken and we all have to taking the fricking bus. Many words."
The second word came about because we were in the office and we noticed some digging of trenches and filling of trenches outside the office window and my officemate said, "Das ist Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme."
Me: "Huh?!" My eloquence in English is not at its best in these moments.
"Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme. Work creating scheme. One word."
Me: "Of course."
I then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to say that word, and my officemate spent the rest of the afternoon laughing himself silly at my many attempts.

The Radio.  This may seem like an odd thing to mention, but there is really no theme for radio stations.  I discovered this on my through the Rhine Valley when I listened to Led Zepplin, Enya, Lady Gaga, and Italian techno in rapid succession. I checked back with my colleagues and they confirmed that rock stations will play ALL kinds of rock. If you're in the mood for some classic rock, best to mix your own CD and bring it along.

Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink. The one thing about the US that I really miss is free water with your meal and copious amounts of beverages.  I like to be well hydrated and I find it strange that I must pay almost as much for water as beer.  And the beverage containers are all so tiny.  It's like the entire populace is prepping for a trip to Arrakis. Boggles the mind.

Okay, that's what I have so far for general life in Germany.  I'll try to remember to write down more stuff as I go.

Berlin II

Day two in Germany was not unlike a Roman march in its pacing (brutal) and number of breaks (one).  Tourism under a time crunch is perhaps not the best way to soak up the atmosphere of a city or country, but it does get you through the major sites.  Since I am living in Germany for months, I feel like I have ample opportunity to soak up atmosphere while in the city of Darmstadt.  As an aside, I have just learned that Darmstadt translates as Colon City. The name derives from the Darm River that apparently resembles the human intestines.  Lovely!

Back to Berlin.  I woke bright an early and was out of my hotel at 8:30 and on a tram to East Berlin, specifically Hackescher Markt. I had a lovely little breakfast of chocolate croissant and tea while watching people setup fruit and vegetable stalls. Then it was off to hardcore sightseeing. 

First stop was the Nikolai District, the center of Medieval Berlin.  The picture on the right is the Marien Church from 1270 and in the background the TV Tower.  The juxtoposition of modern and medieval just screamed for a picture.

Nikolai District

 This is the Nikolai Church from the 13th century with its distinctive twin spires. However since I arrived so early in the morning, I did not have the opportunity to go inside.  Instead I hopped over the Spree River to Museuminsel, or Museum Island.  There are five museums on Museum Island, but I only had a chance to visit two of them. 

These two reliefs are from the 2nd century BC Pergamon Altar.  Originally these reliefs completely encircled a huge altar with a total perimeter of 113 meters.  It represented one enormous and stunnning display of Greek artistry.  The subject is the battle between the Olympian gods and the Titans. The top frieze shows Zeus battling Titans with his characteristic lightning blot in his right hand.  The bottom frieze represents Athena with her shield and Nike on the top right. Gaia can be seen rising from the ground.  I have several more photos of friezes, but I thought these two were the most impressive.  I read that this all came from the same workshop as The Laokoon Group sculpture, which is absolutely one of my favorite of Greco-Roman pieces.

Also noteworthy from this museum was Ishtar's Gate in Ancient Babylon as seen here in this amazingly vivid blue.

Close up of the lions on the gate

And knowing how much my mother likes mosaics, this one is for her:












After this museum I also had a chance to see the famous bust of Nefertiti.  We could not take any pictures in that room, but I can assure you it was as amazing and breathtaking in person as you might expect. 

At that point I left the museums and scarfed down a Currywurst, and then headed over to the Berliner Dome on left.  If you are of an athletic temperment you can have the distinct honor of climbing all 270 steps to the top of the dome where you have another amazing view of Berlin.  Yes, I hiked all the way up there, and that is where I saw this on the street below....

I knew that there was an anti-atomic energy protest planned in Berlin that day, but I had not realized that I was currently on the planned demonstration route.  These are just a few of the many, many police officers that were lining the surrounding streets of Berlin.  I decided that I should go somewhere else in the city now.

I wandered the streets of Berlin.  I saw Checkpoint Charlie and here on the left is the remnants of the Berlin wall.  Below it where all the people are standing is a history of Berlin from the beginning of the Nazi regime until the fall of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany.  Incidentally, the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Germany is on Saturday!  And I will be in Prague.  I'm really not very good at planning my vacations.

Anyway, after hiking through here and past the ultra-modern Sony Center, I decided that I needed to stop and get some caffeine into my system before I keeled over.  I was desperately searching for some cute little European cafe, but seemed to be unable to find anything other than a Dunkin Donuts.  Yes, they have DD in Berlin.  This was actually worth mentioning because the racks of donuts in Germany appear as if a day-glo rainbow had exploded on them.  I mean, there were colors there that would have been painful on clothing but were deeply disturbing on food.  Also at the DD were the remains of the atomic energy protestors. 

As you can see in the photo they came armed with banners and vuvuzelas. Oh, the humanity!!

There isn't too much more to share about Berlin.  I did some more sightseeing the next day, but mostly around some lovely parks in West Berlin.  The last thing I wanted to share was a picture of this bombed out church.  When I first came into Berlin by train, I saw this building and couldn't figure out if this was some really interesting modern architecture thing, or just the remains of a bombed out church. Funny how difficult that is to tell apart.  Anyway, I checked my book and sure enough it's bomb damage.  They wanted to keep it as a reminder rather than repair it. 

And one last photo to prove that I was actually in Berlin!