When we lived in Bratislava we often went for a show, concert or meal in Vienna. After the show we sat on the Schwartzenberg Café (also called the Opera Café) along the D tram line, enjoying a coffee until it … Continue reading Mitteleuropa Cafes in Vienna and Bratislava
Across the back of a row of the booths of the Altwiener Ostermarkt, Freyung (Old Vienna Easter market at Freyung Square) is a 40 meter (130 foot) long mural of the Passion of Christ painted for this 25th anniversary of the … Continue reading He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed.
The Bratislava Easter markets are basically extra booths added onto the open air booths that are in two of the squares all season (Hviezdoslavovo námestie and Františkánske námestie.) The Bratislava market had almost no emphasis on food (except for a … Continue reading Bratislava Easter Fair or a Spanking for Easter.
Around the perimeter of the Altwiener Ostermarkt, Freyung (Old Vienna Easter market at Freyung Square) booths sell handicrafts, I bought an olive wood egg. One sold live rabbits. The food market and the wine tasting booths were across the street. … Continue reading Altwiener Ostermarkt, Freyung (Old Vienna Easter market at Freyung)
The Altwiener Ostermarkt, Freyung (Old Vienna Easter market at Freyung Square) was smaller and more interesting than the market at Schonbrunn. In the middle of the square is what is advertised as, 40,000 decorated Easter eggs are for sale. It … Continue reading 40,000 Easter Eggs
Vienna’s Easter markets are spin offs of their Christmas markets and are relatively small compared with their Yuletide counterparts. I had wondered how these markets dealt with the Lenten season of penance and fasting. They mostly don’t. The market on … Continue reading Easter Market at Schonbrunn Palace
This post is from Easter, 2007. Suzi and I were working in Egypt. The Spring Festival, “Sham el Nessim,” “smell the breezes” always falls on Easter Monday (Based on the Eastern rite’s reckoning, which this year was the same as … Continue reading Easter (or is it Spring Festival?) in Cairo.
Railjet is Austria’s high speed train. While not as fast as Germany’s ICE (Suzi’s train from Brussels to Munich topped out at 275) or France’s TGV, we clocked a respectable 232 km per hour (144 MPH) on the route between Munich and Vienna. The train is comfortable with wi-fi (I took a picture when the speedometer tipped 200 and sent it out on FaceBook), a dining car, a cart that brings food to you and nice seats. Taking pictures out of the windows at the alpine meadows at that speed was a challenge for my camera. You don’t really feel … Continue reading Railjet, Austria’s High Speed Train.
Three Easters from the former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro, early 2000s Slovenia: Spring had come to Ljubljana, you can tell by the forsythia and the willow, but it was not by the weather. A cold wind blew snow flurries … Continue reading Eastertide in three former Yugoslav Countries (Early 2000s)
Freising is a town near the Munich Airport where the airport hotels are located. But it is an old city. It had a cathedral before Munich, a brewery too. It is a place I lay over on trips to and from Tbilisi for jet lagging. I have posted from this delightful town before, including a post about the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world. These pictures are from an afternoon stroll around town. Suzi had never been here and I wanted her to see it. Continue reading Freising, Bavaria, redux
Domberg is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The current structure is a Romanesque building from the 13th century. When you go in, however, it is a shock, because the interior had been redone in Baroque style in the 17th century. It almost seems like a disconnect. I once had an architecture professor who called the Baroque “Eclectic clutter.” My reaction was “majestically bizarre.” Elaborate frescoes, pink stucco, gilt and an alter piece originally painted by Rubens (The one there now is a reproduction, the original was carted off somewhere.) The organ is really a baroque organ, the decoration is so … Continue reading Domberg, The Cathedral Church in Freising
My flight from Tbilisi touched down at 6. As I stepped out the shuttle at our airport hotel in Freising at 7 AM, after clearing customs and getting my bag, I heard the joyous “surround sound” peeling of church bells … Continue reading Palm Sunday, Freising, Germany
There are Serbian Easter Eggs, Croatian Easter Eggs, American Easter Eggs, and Slovak Easter Eggs. Mikulas “Mickey” Derevjanik, is a Slovak craftsman, a metal worker, who designs Easter Eggs wrapped in wire. He comes from generations of metal workers who … Continue reading A Craftsman in Easter Eggs (From 2002)
These are pictures taken on the back roads from Tbilisi to Gori and back in April with the spring blossoms just coming out and green buds just beginning to tip the limbs of trees and bushes. The last picture is a housing development for internally displaced people (IDPs, or refugees) from the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. The three before that are entering Tbilisi. The one what looks like a lattice was an award winning Soviet building. It is now the Bank of Georgia. Continue reading Georgia Road Trip, April 2014
Uplistsikhe was a town on the Mtkvari River along the Silk Road. It thrived in pre-Christian times. It was carved into sandstone with an amphitheater, worship chambers (with pits for animal sacrifices) and apothecary (with stone niches for different herbs.) Some of the chambers were carved to look like they were wood plank inside. Portals were carved into the stone to make entering the caves seem like entering a building. The nobility lived up on the hill, the commoners lived on the river flats. From the top you get a good view of the abandoned stone houses below. There is … Continue reading Uplistskhe Cave City, Georgia
The road from Gori to Ateni Sioni Church goes past the oval shaped Gori fortress. The church was not opened and I did not get to see the fabled frescoes. In fact it is under renovation and is surrounded by piles of stones that look like they will be used in replacing walls around the compound. There is scaffolding around one side of the main church. With the state of deconstruction the church does not look actvie. The Atenis Soni Monastery (actually a convent) is about a mile away. It is small and lovely. A nun showed us around. It … Continue reading Ateni Sioni Monastery and Church
On Saturday I took a field trip a little to the east. This is my last contracted trip to Georgia and the IREX project ends in September. From the start of the summer it will be mostly clean up. I visited three sites, Gori, the Birthplace of Stalin, Ateni Sioni with its Monastery and convent, and Uplistsikhe, an ancient town carved out of sandstone. Gori was invaded by the Russians in 2008 with a lot of damage to the town. Unlike Serbia, which seems to like to keep its damage visible for decades to prove how wronged they were, aside … Continue reading Gori, Georgia, Stalin’s Home Town
The fountain in Freedom Square is no longer covered with boards and the water is running, but when I arrived it didn’t feel like spring. A cold, wet rain greeted me in Tbilisi. But as the week progressed, first we … Continue reading Tbilisi Spring, 2014
This is the last post from Dublin. It includes pictures of what I consider oddities. The Spire of Dublin is almost 400 feet tall and replaces the Nelson column that was blown up in the 1960s. To me any structure that tall without an antenna or flag is an oddity. Others include James Joyce selling free wi-fi, a literary bar and bookie joint, a 100 year old bookie (we assume), some art by Grace Gifford painted on a prison sell wall when she was incarcerated, a bar in a church, Molly Malone promoting breast cancer awareness, Insomnia Coffee, the Bram … Continue reading Dublin Oddities
I love rivers. We walked along and across the Liffey, took a boat tour as the tide was coming in, which meant the boat could not get under the bridge so they had to let us off downstream, and walked along the canals that feed into the river. The Convention Center where Radio Days took place was along the river. The Samuel Beckett Bridge, formed like a harp, is a striking feature of the river. The Customs House is the domed building that features in many of these pictures. Continue reading Life in the Liffey, Dublin
In an earlier post I said Dublin was a city of stories more than sights. But there are sights to see. Here are some of them I didn’t mention in my letter, like Dublin Castle, the seat of British power in Dublin before independence, Christ Church Cathedral, one of two Anglican cathedrals in Dublin, St. Stephen’s Green, The Oscar Wilde memorial in Merrion Square, some flowers for sale on Baggot Street, the General Post Office where the Irish Republic was declared and the Guinness Brewery. I also revisit Clontarf, Trinity and Trinity College. Tomorrow I will post some pictures from … Continue reading Dublin Sights
My sister-in-law accused me of taking pictures of Irish knockers. Well, yes, they are in the picture, but that wasn’t the point. Gerogian buildings, with their colored doors, line Baggot St., Stephens Green and Merrion Square in Dublin. Georgian townhouse windows get smaller as they go up to their three stories to give them the illusion of greater height. The buildings started as private townhouses but now many house corporate offices. The next to the last door is Coca Cola Ireland, with its predictable color. The final door looks like it has been several colors in its life. There is … Continue reading Dublin’s Georgian Doors.
Dublin is not about sightseeing– although there are sights to see. It is about stories. You can find stories everywhere. Often stories are wrapped in songs. As part of the “media package” that came from the radio conference we got free passes to the “hop on hop off” busses. We soon learned to get on the busses labeled “live commentary.” The recorded commentary, on 6 tracks in 6 languages, was probably more informative of dates and historical “facts,” but the stories, Dublin slang, literary references and songs from the “live commentary” made this tour sparkle. During one of those times … Continue reading Dublin, 2014
Douglas is the capital. We stayed in a guesthouse right on the water and saw some wonderful sunrises and watched the ferry come and go from the UK. Continue reading Douglas, Isle of Man