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)
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)
Here are pictures taken from the Manx Steam Railway. I love the puffs of steam and smoke that look like miniature and very low cumulus clouds. Continue reading Views from the Manx Steam Railway
These are pictures from the Manx Steam Railway. The Next post will be pictures taken from the trains. Continue reading Manx Steam Railway
This is continuation, from the same letter I posted from yesterday. It is early for Easter but I thought the two posts should go together. Easter, 2001 In front of St. Marko’s church are stalls selling Easter candies and beautifully … Continue reading Belgrade, Easter 2001 (continued from post before)
April 15, 2001(Easter Sunday) Belgrade, Yugoslavia Dear Friends, Religion in Serbia is struggling to find itself after 45 years of official atheism followed by 10 years in which being a Serb, Croat or Bosniak was defined by religion since appearance … Continue reading Lent and Easter in Belgrade
The idea of an Easter Market seems counterintuitive. Lent is the time of penance between Carnival and Easter. The idea of a market selling food and flowers during Lent seems odd. But then there is Palm Sunday, a time to … Continue reading Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday
Carnival is over. In some places it continues into Lent with the funeral of Vaal (Carnival) which starts penitently enough but becomes a second bacchanal. We experienced something different in Belgrade. As an excerpt from this letter from May 2009 … Continue reading Carnival Lisbon, Apres Carnival, Belgrade
This is Fat Tuesday: Carnival. I went back through my files for stories about Carnival and came on this letter from Dubrovnik written in March 2000. Dear Friends, Polka, not samba, not calypso, not second line, not even “Carnival in … Continue reading Carnival in Dubrovnik
Today is Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaska. In 1945, during the debate in the Alaska Territorial Legislature on a bill mandating equal accommodation for people of all races, a senator asked “who are these people, barely out of savagery, to … Continue reading Elizabeth Peratrovich Day
One of the problems with the lifestyle I have chosen is that I don’t always have access to a radio station when I need one. When I heard that Pete Seeger had passed on I really felt a need to be on the air, to talk about Pete, to play his music, to connect with my “tribe” of folkies and activists. Facebook and this blog will have to do. The first time I interviewed Pete Seeger was in May, 1972 after a concert at Mankato State University. I remember it because it was the day Nixon announced we were mining … Continue reading Pete
Christmas Day — a good day to post pictures of Bethlehem. The focal point of any visit to Bethlehem is Manger Square. It is a pedestrian zone bordered by the Church of the Nativity, the Mosque of Omar, the Palestinian Peace Center and a wonderful falafel shop which also serves freshly squeezed orange juice. Star Street, Nativity Street and Manger Street converge on the square. Some claim that the Church of the Nativity is the oldest Christian worship site in the world. It was built during the rule of Constantine on a site selected by his mother, St. Helena. She … Continue reading Merry Christmas !! Pictures from Bethlehem.
It’s Christmas Eve. In the news we have constant reminders that “Peace on Earth” is still a hope not a fact. This is evident at Shepherds’ Field outside Bethlehem where you can easily see the security apparatus that meanders around the hilltop where shepherds first heard “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” (assuming the angels sang in Latin). The Franciscans control this hilltop and when we were there in 2010 we listened to them field questions from tourists looking out over the fields asking what exactly they were seeing. In one of the pictures in this post you can see an Israeli … Continue reading Christmas Eve, Shepherds’ Fields outside Bethlehem.
For years Sitka had a boat parade. Several years ago, after the mill closed, the boat parade ended. It is expensive to run boats up and down the channel while powering lights with a generator. The boat parade was replaced … Continue reading 2013 Christmas in Sitka, including the return of the Boat Parade!
The Dome of the Rock sits on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is the most visible site in Jerusalem. I have seen it’s dome glitter from Mt. Nebo in Jordan. The tile work is especially stunning. Continue reading Dome of the Rock
Many Holy Land sites are frauds, built after the fact; like the room sold to tourists as the “Upper Room” of the Last Supper but built in 1099 CE. But the Garden of Gethsemane is the real thing. Christ may or may not have prayed there, but the Garden of Gethsemane has very old olive trees. When Suzi and I visited the garden we were told the trees are 2000 years old. Since then, carbon dating in 2012 marked them as only between 900 to 1000 years old. DNA tests show the trees all came from a common parent. They … Continue reading The Original Olive Garden, Gethsemane, with very Old Trees
The Holy Land is mostly a fraud– a willing suspension of disbelief that allows you to believe that something happened at this exact spot and, therefore, this exact spot is holy. Stephen, one of the drivers who takes us to radio stations around the West Bank said “I hope you’re not Protestants because Protestants don’t seem to believe as much in these holy places.” Then he pointed to a gate in the Old City wall and said “that’s where Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.” I said, “But that gate was built in the 16th century.” “Protestants!” But to make … Continue reading Holy Land Kitsch
St. Paul Minnesota’s Summit Avenue runs from St. Paul Cathedral, towering above downtown St. Paul for about five miles, to St. Paul Seminary on the Mississippi River. Along the street you can visit The College of St. Thomas, Macalester College, … Continue reading Christmas on the Street of Dreams
September 8, 2012 Dear Friends, I got out of Africa last Friday but it was a struggle. When I got to the radio station I noticed two rips in the bottom of my brand new, “lifetime guarantee,” ultra-light, ultra strong suitcase. Turning it over I found another rip in the bottom and one of its “feet” coming loose. Getting a new suitcase in Juba on short notice was not an option so I used the whole roll of duct tape I carry to hold the suitcase together. Suitcase patched, Christina came into the office looking stricken. “I have a … Continue reading Final Letter from South Sudan, I post one last photo gallery and fly out.