An European Vacation / 15 – Strasbourg, in the Streets and from the Water

Posted on October 28, 2010 by admin

Best Western hotel in Strasbourg

By the end of the 5th day of our vacation we had reached Strasbourg. This was the first stop in the trip where we decided to stay two nights, with one day in-between fully dedicated to visiting the city. The hotel that we chose was the Best Western on 38 rue du fossé des Tanneurs – an old building from the 17th century, well renovated and brought up to all modern needs and amenities. It’s an ideal location for folks who plan to stay in the city at least one day, leaving here the car in the valet parking and taking the city by foot. This is exactly what we did.

Petite France

The touristic center of Strasbourg is all located on the Grande Ile between the river Ill and the Fosse du Faux Rempart a deep channel that constituted one more obstacle protecting the old city from the invaders. It has two principal areas, one around the Notre Dame Cathedral and the other in the area named Petite France, once the fishermen and tanners district. The Best Western is located close to the later.

channels and bridges

It’s an area of channels and bridges, with old buildings that combine French and German styles, and remind strongly the Netherlands because of the water landscape around. Restaurants can be found all over the place. The weather was beautiful (after the storms of the day before) and so it was to stay for the next few days, so that evening we had dinner on a street terrace. I will tell more about the restaurants and the food in one of the next episodes.

lurking through the window

We strolled in the streets that evening, enjoying the nice weather, and admiring the houses and even the interiors through the open windows.

place de la Cathedrale

Next day, the 6th of our vacation we took the streets of Strasbourg. I will write separately about the Cathedral and about the museums that we visited. Strasbourg is a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful in France. The combination of German and French styles in architecture, food, language and behavior of the locals works well. It is said to be a crowded city, invaded by tourists in summer and by European parliamentarians and bureaucrats the rest of the time, but we were lucky to catch it in between the two seasons. It was the end of the summer, peak vacations seasons was over and the politicians were not yet back. The city was all ours.

taking the boat trip

We love taking boat trips on city located on water. Paris, London, Bruges, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Berlin, all these cities revealed to us special angles when seen from the boat. We took confidently a trip boat on the Ill, the river that crosses Strasbourg and we were not disappointed.

Ponts Couverts - medieval Strasbourg seen from the Ill

Mentioned since the times of Julius Caesar, Strasbourg is located at the crossroads of Europe, close to the place where the German and French areas of political and cultural influence as well as the religious influences of Catholicism and Reform have clashed along the centuries and not far from the border with neutral Switzerland. All invaders one way or the other stumbled on Strasbourg, which had to build in time not only a resilient character but also a fabric of tolerance to changes of the dominant culture which helps her today to play the role of bridge in the new Europe.

old Strasbourg home

The streets are dominated by German architecture, at least the area built until the end of the 18th century, although the city was annexed by France since the times of Louis XIV. The city however kept a strong German influence and the Lutheran University founded in the 16th century continued to function until the Revolution, the only such institution in France.

19th century architecture

The French Revolution is the milestone that changed the fate of the city and made of it a bastion of French culture and identity. It is here that Rouget de Lisle composed La Marseillese. All 19th century architecture is of French inspiration, despite the fact that after 1871 Strasbourg fell under German rule until the end of the first world war.

Palais d'Europe

Today the city not only bridges between the two cultures, languages and styles so much impregnated in its history, but became the symbol of the new multinational Europe, co-capital of the European Union, and host to many of the principal institutions of Europe. The boat trip takes the visitors to the Palais d’Europe and the other modernistic buildings of the European government complex hosting the European ministries, court of justice and Parliament.

the ARTE TV station

Another symbol that I could not miss was the building of the European culture TV channel ARTE TV. Started 20 years ago the bilingual (French and German) station is building cultural bridges not only between Germany and France, but also between all nations of Europe, a symbol of the possibility of coexistence in a city that was that much in the past a symbol of hate and division.

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Carte: Andrei Oisteanu – Narcotice in cultura romana

Posted on October 25, 2010 by admin

In spatele titlurilor unora dintre cartile lui Andrei Oisteanu nu se afla exact ceea ce s-ar putea astepta cititorul. De exemplu Imaginea evreului in cultura romana ascunde o adevarata istorie a antisemitismului romanesc, nu numai a celui cultural, probabil cel mai extensiv si complet studiu publicat pe aceasta tema pana la ora actuala. La fel si Narcotice in cultura romana aparuta in acest an in colectia Plural a editurii Polirom (www.polirom.ro) cuprinde mai mult si mai putin decat s-ar astepta cititorul. Mai mult pentru ca definitia ‘narcoticelor’ in aceasta carte este destul de elastica, ea extinzandu-se (desi nu in mod consecvent) de la leacurile populare trecand prin ceea ce in acceptiunea comuna sunt numite narcotice sau droguri si pana la tutun, alcool si cafea. Mai putin pentru ca desi titlul vorbeste despre ‘cultura romana’ abordarea diferitelor domenii si fatete ale culturii este inegala. Daca literatura este acoperita in mod consecvent si constant de-a lungul dezvoltarii sale istorice si domenii ca istoria religiilor (domeniu de expertiza al autorului) sau experimentele medicale gasesc o reflectare consistenta, alte domenii ale creatiei culturale cum ar fi artele plastice (cu exceptia capitolului dedicat lui Corneliu Michailescu si a participarii sale in experimentele doctorului Gheorghe Marinescu) sau muzica sunt aproape complet ignorate. Toata perioada folkului si rockului romanesc a anilor 60 si 70 de exemplu este complet ignorata, doar o singura trimitere la o nota in penultima pagina a cartii mentionand-o ca pe o ‘pata alba’ in cercetarea in domeniu, obiect de studiu si completare poate pentru o viitoare editie a cartii.

Narcotice in cultura romana preia si continua lucrari ale autorului din ani si decenii precedente, fiind evident rezultatul unei cercetari extensive si a unei preocupari stiintifice si culturale care se extinde peste cateva decenii. Prima parte al cartii extinde un studiu publicat inca in anii 80 descriind diversele feluri de ‘plante psihotrope’ (in limbajul cu caracter cripto-aluziv al epocii) folosite in diverse perioade istorice in spatiul romanesc. Este o buna introducere in tema, clasificarea si descrierea plantelor si a substantelor derivate fiind foarte utila neinitiatului in domeniu.  A doua parte (care acopera cam trei sferturi din text) urmareste evolutia narcoticelor si halucinogenelor in cultura romana, dela contactele cu Orientul indepartat si obiceiurile sale ale spatarului Milescu pana la cele mai recente romane si texte hip-hop ale ultimilor ani. Unele capitole continua si dezvolta texte publicate in avanpremiera in revista ’22’ (pentru a testa reactia ‘pietii’ in legatura cu tema cum se exprima undeva autorul). Senzatia de ‘colaj’ exista in unele momente, prima parte de exemplu incepe si se termina brusc, ea ar fi putut beneficia de putina grija scriitoriceasca in a adauga o introducere si o concluzie care sa elimine senzatia de abrupt la inceputul si sfarsitul lecturii (este unul dintre amanuntele care in opinia mea fac diferenta intre studiul stiintific si o lucrare care se adreseaza unui public mai larg, cum are ambitia aceasta carte). In alte locuri este greu de perceput logica incluziunii unora dintre texte in capitole – dece de exemplu textul despre “ravagiile alcoolismului” a fost apendat capitolului despre Cioran si Ionesco? (in general cred ca dependenta de alcool este tratata tangential si nu isi prea gaseste locul in carte, poate lasata ca subiect al unui viitor studiu despre ‘alcool in cultura romana’ – si asta in pofida capitolului despre ‘Vita de vie si iedera – Zamolxis vs. Dionysos’ care este savuros ca disputa istorica).

Cel mai in largul sau pare autorul atunci cand subiectele au consistenta, cand includerea unei anumite personalitati nu necesita un exercitiu de echilibristica sau arheologie deductiva in text dublata de decriptari, necesare in multe cazuri datorita implicatiilor multiple legale si morale ale subiectului. Evolutia atitudinii sociale fata de droguri si reflectarea lor in productia cuturala este excelent prinsa, incepand de la analiza celebrei metafore marxiste care alatura religia opiumului intr-o conotatie care s-ar putea sa nu fi fost in contextul jumatatii secolului 19 (cand stupefiantele erau o medicatie cvasi-unanim acceptata si un mod acceptat legal si chic din punct de vedere social de a evada din realitatea cotidiana) atat de negativa cum suna astazi. Aflam de exemplu si ca prima lege pentru combaterea abuzului de stupefiante a fost legiferata in Romania interbelica doar in 1928, si tema consumului si efectelor sale este pe larg reflectata in proza romana interbelica. Capitolul dedicat lui Mateiu Caragiale adauga semnificativ nu numai temei cartii ci si exegezei caragialesti. Analiza ‘Rigai Crypto …’ ca si intreaga sectiune dedicata lui Ion Barbu sunt stralucite. Experimentele avangardistilor din perioada romana interbelica si alaturarea care pare ciudata astazi dar era logica in epoca a extremei drepte la experimentele cu substante halucinogene sau auto-inhibante sunt excelent redate. Detaliile si analiza diverselor perioade ale evolutiei lui Mircea Eliade, interactia acestuia cu narcoticele si momentul de sincronicitate intre interesul culturii occidentale fata de istoria religiilor si eliberarea sociala si comportamentala promulgata de miscarea hippie ii prilejuiesc lui Oisteanu scrierea poate a unuia dintre cele mai consistents si mai interesante capitole ale cartii. Evolutia interactiei istorice intre tarile romane si Inalta Poarta in secolele 17 si 18, si apoi Romania in devenire si in primele sale decenii de existenta si Rusia si apoi Occidentul (in special cel francofil) in secolul 19 este reflectata prin influenta specifica a fluxului de obiceiuri din fiecare sfera de influenta culturala care a inclus componenta sa legata de narcotice. Personaje marcante ale istoriei noastre culturale clasice precum Eminescu, Macedonsky, Odobescu dezvaluie la o cercetare atenta influente vizibile ale unor experiente directe sau indirecte cu narcoticele de difereite feluri si multe dintre informatiile si asocierile cuprinse in aceste capitole vor fi inedite pentru multi, interesante mereu la lectura.

Sunt si momente amuzante in carte cand este descrisa insasi abordarea temei de diversii istorici si oameni de cultura romani – dovada a unei evolutii istorice si a inerentelor implicatii moralistice si a politizarii subiectului – de exemplu polemica istorica dintre Odobescu si Bolliac in legatura cu inhalarea (sau nu) de care traci a fumului unor plante halucinogene, continuata mult mai recent de istorici contemporani in disputa cu Eliade si Culianu pe aceeasi tema.

O bibliografie extensiva insoteste cartea, impreuna cu un numar de materiale relevante, fiecare interesante in sine la addenda, inclusiv doua inedite – unul un fragment de roman apartinand lui Ioan Petru Culianu, si celalalt un text scris special pentru carte de Mircea Cartarescu. Editia prezenta este ilustrata, ceea ce adauga calitatii si satisfactiei lecturii, in special portretele desenate de artisti ca Marcel Iancu ale unora dintre personalitatile luate in discutie avand valoare documentara si artistica in sine. O carte imperfecta, care ar putea beneficia la o viitoare editie de o ‘rotunjure a colturilor’ din punct de vedere stilistic si structural, dar fara indoiala o contributie interesanta si cu mult miez si in unele locuri fascinanta in legatura cu una dintre fatetele mai putin dezvaluite si analizate ale culturii romane.

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An European Vacation / 14 – Musee Judeo-Alsacien in Bouxwiller

Posted on October 24, 2010 by admin

The itinerary of the second part of the fifth day of our vacation included Saverne with the intention to visit the castle (we ended by just taking pictures from the outside) and was aimed to end in the evening in Strasbourg – the first city where we planned to spend two days, one of them fully dedicated to discover the city.

chateau de Saverne

It was however the stop that we made in the early afternoon that was going to represent one of the most moving discoveries and interesting encounters of our vacation – the Musee Judeo-Alsacien, the Museum of the Jews d’Alsace in Bouxviller.

Musee Judeo-Alsacien in Bouxviller

Bouxviller is one of the many picturesque small cities North of Strasbourg, with German names and style in the buildings witnesses of the complex history of the area. It was also the place where a flourishing Jewish community estimated at its pick to several thousands people lived for many centuries. Yet, a few decades after the second world war there were no Jews left in Bouxviller and the building of the principal synagogue of the city built in 1842 was due for demolition in 1983 to clear the place for the parking of the adjoining supermarket. And then a small miracle happened. A Jewish miracle.

with Mr Gilbert Weil

When we entered the building of the museum we were welcome by a young lady who asked us where we come from. When we said that we are from Israel she immediately shouted – ‘monsieur Weil!’. Monsieur Gilbert Weil immediately showed up and the conversation that followed was a fascinating trip in time, not only in the history of the museum but also through the whole history of the Jews of Alsace, and his personal history. Gilbert Weil is the man who saved the building in 1983. With a few days left until the demolition he fought the red tape of the bureaucracy and got a special permit from Jack Lang, the minister of Culture of Francois Mitterand that avoided the demolition. The condition for saving the place was to include it in the national patrimony of France as a building destined to become a museum. So a museum it will be decided monsieur Weil, and he started to let people in the area and institutions around France and the world know that a museum of the history and culture of Jews in Alsace is in becoming. Most of the objects in the collection were gathered from the donors in the Jewish homes of the area. If no Jews are living any longer in Bouxwiller there are chances that the place will become the source of knowledge and memory for the Jewish community that existed here more then eight centuries. Monsieur Weil lives part of the year in Bouxwiller and part of it in Jerusalem (our conversation mixed French and Hebrew). The museum is open between Easter and mid-September (Rosh Hashana I guess), for the rest of the year visitors need to call and arrange for a special appointment in order to visit it.

expulsion of Jews from France (12th-14th centuries)

The rooms of the museum are ordered in an ascending spiral shape, starting with a corridor where the first centuries of the Jewish presence in the area are documented. While Jews are mentioned with certainty starting with the 12th century, their presence is assumed to be older. France was already in the medieval period one of the places were persecutions and segregation of Jews was widely practiced, and the decrees of expulsion of Jews from France predate the 1492 expulsion from Spain by several centuries.

1349 - autodafe in Strasbourg

1349 was an especially dark year in the history of the Jews in Alsace, and of their relation with their Christian neighbors. February 14 that year 2000 Jews were gathered in the Jewish cemetery and burnt alive on the stake, as the inhabitants were hoping to avoid the city being hit by the Plague. Five month later the epidemic hit the city. Following that traumatic incident, the life of Jews in Alsace developed mainly in smaller rural communities like Bouxviller, which gave a specific direction to the Jewish culture and history of the area.

sefer Torah from Jerusalem

The French revolution liberated the Jews from persecutions and ghettos, and made of Jews equal citizens. Together with Jews in all France, the Jews of Alsace were among the first in Europe to be awarded full and equal rights with all other citizens. They developed a strong attachment to France and Jewishness came second in the definition of their personal identity. Yet, rabbis continued to keep the flame of the faith, which became for most of them more of a private issue. Jews at home (where objects like the Torah book above were kept and used), equal citizens in the city.

Jewish Holidays and Customs

The continuation of the museum alternates the historical information with the customs and ethnographic data. It’s a good and balanced mix, which allows for the non-Jewish visitors to be introduced in the Jewish customs and way of life, and has enough local information to be of interest also for the Jewish visitors.

explaining Passover

Each of the Jewish holidays and principal moments and aspects of Jewish life and institutions have dedicated windows – here is the one explaining to the visitor the spiritual meaning and the ceremonies related to Passover.

photographies documenting the Jewish life

As the trip in time continues we can see documents and photographs that describe the Jewish life in the small cities of Alsace. Part of the areas fell under German rule after 1871, but most of the Jews of Alsace stayed faithful to France. Among them an officer named Alfred Dreyfus.

Alsacian Jews supported the beginnings of Zionism

The Zionist alternative to the life in Diaspora triggered the interest of part of the Jewish community in Alsace. Delegation of Jews from Alsace participated at the first Zionist congresses and Jews from Alsace were associated to the agricultural projects of the baron de Rotschild in Palestine at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Living in rural communities many of them had more knowledge about agriculture than most of the other Jews in Europe, so they also contributed to the founding of the first agriculture schools in Eretz Israel.

Shoah - a prayer book that saved a life

The dark years of the Holocaust did not spare the Jews of Alsace. The lives of many of them were saved inititally by the fact that after the war broke Jews as well as other inhabitants close to the border with Germany were evacuated in the South of France, so they did not fall under the German occupation. This is what happened also to Gilbert Weil and his family. Surviving all the war years with no homes and no means of subsistence was not easy. However, the fate of these who were caught by the German occupants or their French collaborators and sent to the concentration or death camps was much more tragic. The life of a Jew from Strasbourg named Marcel Lorand was saved by the prayer book in the photography. When the Germans evacuated the concentration camp of Dachau they took their prisoners in a forced march where the weak ones were executed on the side of the road. Lorand was left as dead on the way, and found a few hours later by the Russian. A Russian soldier saw the prayer book that fell out of the pocket of the coat. The soldier was Jewish, he looked carefully, saw that Marcel was breathing, and he saved his life.

view through the window of the old synagogue

After the war only a minority of the Jews in Alsace returned to their homes. Many of them stayed in other parts of France, or emigrated to Israel and other parts of the world. Jews from North Africa replaced them in a few places, mainly in Strasbourg. In most of the smaller cities like Bouxviller which were centers of Jewish life for centuries there are today no Jews left. It is this museum, that keeps the place on the map of the Jewish objectives of the area, a local initiative that can be taken as example and emulated in many other places where the light of Jewish life is nowadays extinct. With its programs and initiatives that bring in visitors and especially young people from schools in the province the Musee Judeo-Alsacien will preserve at least for a while the memory of a way of life and of a culture that contributed to the history of this special place in Europe.

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Film: Duminica la ora 6 (Lucian Pintilie, 1965)

Posted on October 23, 2010 by admin

In his book 4 Decades, 3 Years and 2 Months with the Romanian Cinema the Romanian film critic Alex Leo Serban considers Duminica la ora 6 (Sunday at 6 o’clock) as an extreme case of difference between content and form – a story about the invented ‘heroic’ Communist past wrapped in the most modern means of expression of the cinema of the 60s. After having seen the film again many decades after its first viewings my feeling is different. I believe that Lucian Pintilie‘s first film is as daring in content and especially in its subliminal message as it is in its form which clearly shows already the hand of a skilled director, having learned and assimilated all the lessons of the French New Wave and placing them in the service of his cinematographic message.

source http://www.cinemarx.ro/filme/Duminica-la-ora-6-Duminica-la-ora-6-68949.html

I see Duminica la ora 6 as a beautiful love story in impossible times,  a story that can happen under any repressive regime. The art of director Pintilie is brilliant in the pacing of the action using repetitive motives (the elevator going down, the dark tunnel leading to an uncertain light which can mean deliverance or death) and in the way he directs his actors (Dan Nutu and Irina Petrescu, young, beautiful, sincere, frightened, desperate). A few scenes are worth being included in anthologies, like the ambiguous end with the run of the hero filmed from the windows of the police car, his tentative to run away towards the deep sea, his so human giving up. All is natural and well directed, with the sole exception of the few sequences were the ‘bourgeois’ police appears and the few lines of dialog which were inserted to please the censorship by locating the action in the fabricated history of the Communist resistance. Seen 45 years after the film making the contrast is too flagrant to avoid the feeling that this scenes where visibly inserted by the director (and maybe script author Ion Mihaileanu) to make the film pass and see the lights of screening – but the language is so different that they look intentionally out of context. My impression is also enforced by the very ‘modern’ look of the heroes and extras, which avoid localization and historical dating, inviting the viewers to consider the heroes contemporary to their own times, and to live the story in the present and not in the past. Again, for a director with the level of skill that Pintilie was already showing at that time, this cannot be coincidental.

Made in the year 1965, a year of crossroads in the Romanian history, the start of a short period of hope at the beginning of the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, Duminica la ora 6 could have signaled a new start for the Romanian cinema which was still forced to use the vocabulary and thematic of the socialist-realist art but was daring to dream to new forms and freedom of expression. The political and artistic hopes were to fade out soon, and Duminica la ora 6 remains one of the few singular moments in a history of Romanian cinema whose destiny was to get back to its natural course only many decades later.

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An European Vacation / 13 – The St-Etienne Cathedral in Metz

Posted on October 21, 2010 by admin

St Etienne Cathedral

The morning of the 5th day of our trip was dedicated to visiting Metz. After having listed the principal attractions of the city and the walks to be made on the streets we reached the conclusion that there was no way we can see all we want, so we better focus on the principal monument of the city – the Saint Etienne Cathedral – and leave everything else for another visit sometimes in the future.

Marche Couvert (Cardinal's Palace)

The present structure of the cathedral was built between the 13th to the 16th century, on a location where previous churches have existed, maybe as early as the 5th century when the cult of St. Etienne became popular in the Christianized area of Western Europe. A massive renovation took place in the 19th century when Metz was under German rule, following a fire caused by fireworks shot on the occasion of the visit of kaiser Wilhelm II. It is located between the Place d’Armes (see the night photo in the previous entry of the blog) and the Marche Couvert which is in fact the building that was planned to host the palace of the cardinal if the French Revolution and the Napoleon secularization would not have spoiled the plans.

Statues on Portail de la Vierge

Portail details

The 13th and 14th building is a typical example in the series of Gothic style cathedrals that can be found in many of the mains cities of France, and the restoration in the 19th century keeps the atmosphere in what can be described as neo-gothic style. The statues and ornaments on the big gates and external facades are an argument in this direction.

interior of St Etienne Cathedral

When entering the cathedral the first thing that impresses the visitor is the height of the nave – the Metz structure is the third tallest of all churches in France.

stained-glass windows and ceiling

Then the eye is attracted by the fabulous combination between the architecture and stained-glass work. It is maybe the most impressive collection of stained glass windows that can be found in any church in France and maybe world wide, with works of masters of the genre spreading from the 13th to the late 20th century. The effect is spectacular as an ensemble, and at the same time each group and collection of windows is worth being examined closely, understood and admired.

14th century Herman de Munster's windows (West facade)

Although it is not the oldest in the church, the work on the Western wall is the most impressive of the ones dated from the 14th century. It belongs to master Herman de Munster and was created around 1384. The huge rosary has 11 meters and diameter and the images of the apostles can be admired in the windows below. For this superb masterpiece the artist was rewarded with the honor to be buried in the church, actually under his work – something very rare at that time for somebody not belonging to royalty or high clergy.

16th century windows by Valentin Bousch

The chapels in the Southern wing of the cathedral are decorated with windows created in the 16th century by Valentin Bousch. The techniques, expressiveness and care for the representation of human figures and bodies specific to the Renaissance are present in the superposed registers representing saints and bishops of Metz.

Chapelle du Saint Sacrement - windows by Jacques Villon

Jumping to the 20th century I was impressed by the windows that decorate the Holy Sacrament chapel designed by the Cubist artist Jacques Villon.  The window in the middle represents the crucifixion, on the left side the Last Supper presented as a Passover Seder, and on the right side the wedding at Cana and an Old Testament representation of Moses.

1960 windows by Chagall inspired by the book of Genesis

It is however the windows by Marc Chagall that represent the pick of the art of stained-glass windows in 20th century present in the church. I have seen windows created by Chagall in other churches in the United States and in Zurich, and I know about famous works in the genre at the United States building in New York and at the Knesset in Jerusalem. I believe that the works in Metz created between 1960 and 1963 represent some of the best such works of Chagall.

1960 windows by Chagall - Jesus, Moses, king David

The representation of Christ on the cross overlooks from the tears-shaped rosary. Most of the surface in Chagall’s windows in Metz however represent characters from the Old Testament.

1963 windows by Chagall - Genesis

The theme of Genesis dominates many of the windows in Metz – here are scenes from the book of Genesis from the Creation, life in the Garden of Eden, the original scene and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.

altar table from the period of Charlemagne

There are more interesting things and  corners to be seen in the cathedral. The crypt gathers a number of art and religious objects created during the many centuries of history of the churches that were successively built on this place. Beyond objects related to the history of the monster of Graoully said to have haunted the city for many generations, the visitor can admire even older objects, like the stone altar table from the period of Charlemagne – older than one thousand years.

medieval sculpture

A collection of wonderful wooden statues representing saints and monks date back from the 13th century, the period when the present church started to be built.

16th century descent to the Tomb

Last piece of art from the collection in the crypt that I liked and photographed is the well preserved statuary group dated from the 16th century and representing the descend in the Tomb. Original colors are very well preserved, which is quite rare, allowing for the group to be seen in a way close to the one it was seen by the contemporaries of the artists.

tryptich on pillars

Before leaving the church and the city of Metz for the next point in our itinerary (which will be one of the most moving and high interest stops in our trip) I took a last photo of a painting on three adjoining pillars building an original triptych in a style that reminds the old Byzantine icons.

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Max Raabe in Tel Aviv

Posted on October 19, 2010 by admin

I discovered Max Raabe the last winter thanks to ARTE, and it was love from the first song. Raabe and his Palast Orchester specializes in the German cabaret music style of the 20s and early 30s. He has a scenic presence that combines elegance and humor. All the members of the band and especially violinist Cecilia Crisafuli and pianist Ian Wekwerth are remarkable musicians, they seem happy to play together and they make the audiences feel how good they feel about it. I was excited to hear that he comes to Israel and it was great to be in the audience in their first show tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB1_DDv7iF0

(video source fritz5125)

Although their repertoire is not limited to music from the 20s and the 30s (but all is played in this style) the program tonight was exclusively built of compositions to that period. All German songs were written before 1933, the year of the fall in the abyss of German and Raabe dully mentioned the year of the composition together with the title of every song. My Little Green Cactus is one of the examples of the German songs written in that period that Raabe presented tonight as well.

(video source MICHELMUSIK123)

From the more international repertoire here is the originally Yidish Bei Mir Bistu Shein and a more delicate version of Singing in the Rain which was to be made famous by Gene Kelly more than two decades after its first auditions.

The tour in Israel started tonight. They will be tomorrow again at the Opera House in Tel Aviv, then on Wednesday in Jerusalem at the Sherover Theatre and on Thursday in Haifa at the Krieger Centre for the Performing Arts. As in the concert tonight I expect the halls to be full of enthusiastic yekis.

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An European Vacation / 12 – Drivers in the Storm

Posted on October 17, 2010 by admin

The ambitious itinerary for the rest of the 4th day was going to take us from A – Gutach via the small and picturesque city of B – Freudenstadt, the famous casinos and spas resort of Baden-Baden (C) and then across the border into France to D – Metz, the capital of Lorraine.

Marktplatz in Freudenstadt

Did I mention that the rain started to pour. Well, it was going to gain in strength for the following hours, which combined with the wind and the drop in temperatures made of the walk in the open arcade Marktplatz in Freudenstadt quite a challenging experience. It is a double squared shaped plazza reminding more the Italian Renaissance style than a German city. The town of Freudenstadt is one of the well-known health resorts in the area, a place visited in the past centuries by Mark Twain, John D. Rockefeller, and King George V.

Freundenstadt - the evangelical church

We bravely faced the rain and the wind and entered the Evangelical Lutheran church which to our bad luck was located on the other corner of the city than the one were we had parked out car. Built at the beginning of the 17th century the church incorporates objects from churches that functioned in the same place since the Middle Ages. As many other such monuments in Germany it was bombed and completely destroyed at the end of the second world war, and then rebuilt and renovated to its original form.

11th century baptismal font

The overall impression is of sobriety and simplicity and this only enhances the effect of the objects inherited by the church from the previous ages. Some of them are from the medieval period …

decoration from the older churches

… and some of the Gothic period.

details on the ceiling - the Tables of the Law

The more recent decorative elements contain elements related to the Ancient Testament (quite frequent in protestant churches) like these Tables of the Law.

turning right to Baden-Baden

Back to the car, we took the road for the continuation of the itinerary. The plan was to drive North to Baden-Baden, using the scenic road passing near Mummelsee which is said to allow beautiful views of the whole area.

the scenic road

As soon as we climbed the road the rain transformed into rain and fog. I had experienced such a thick fog – no more then 10 meters of visibility ahead – only twice in my life before. Once in Cornwall in the South West of England, another time in Australia in the Blue Mountains area. I was not driving that second time, but the feeling was exactly the same – I could not see anything of an area that is famous for its landscapes. We could not even turn back as trying to turn on that road was extremely dangerous and the same was stopping on the side of the road. The only option was to drive ahead and reach Baden-Baden. The fog dissipated as soon as we descended to the city, the rained continued.

Russian church in Baden-Baden

The luck was not with us that day. We were hoping to stop in Baden-Baden and walk the famous riverside promenade walked by Queen Victoria, Bismarck and Napoleon III and see the casino which inspired Dostoyevsky’s Gambler. We did not take into consideration the rain and the fact that the interesting area we wanted to walk was a no-cars area. We would have been obliged to park the car and then walked at least a kilometer, so we decided to leave the experience for the next trip in the area, and to head to France. We just took a few photos in the streets, including the one of the Russian church – a little non-typical for the place, but then Dostoyevsky was here, wasn’t he?

on the motorway in France fighting our way out of the storm

The rain was getting stronger and stronger but at least we were in the car, driving on the highway that passes North of Strasbourg (which we were planning to reach the next day) and heading West to Metz.

light ahead

The clouds were as black as you can get, and the storm allowed us for some spectacular pictures.

here comes the Sun

… and then, a few kilometers from Metz the skies started to clear, and the beautiful weather returned and was with us for almost the whole rest of the trip.

Cotes de Bourg

The hotel for the night was the Novotel Metz Centre – very well located in the center of the city, in a complex that combines new building atop of an older structure. It has a good parking, a good FNAC bookshop in the same complex and a ten minutes walk takes you to the Cathedral and Place d’Armes, the most famous objectives for visitors in Metz. We were quite hungry, as we had intentionally skipped lunch, so we ate at the hotel restaurant which was fair (fair in France being better than in other places). I do not remember anything special about the food, but the ‘Cotes de Bourg’ wine was good.

Metz Cathedrale St Etienne

We took the walk after the dinner in order to catch some of the famous night views of Metz which won the city (known as an important center of the region since the second century AD) the title of Illuminated City. As we expected, although we were for the first time in the city we felt immediately at home on the streets of Metz. Streets, shops, restaurants all seem to us friendly and familiar, and knowing the language helps so much. That’s how we feel each time we get to France, we must have been French in a previous life 🙂

Metz - Place d'Armes

One of the advantages of crossing the border is also understanding the TV news. Weather forecast for the next day was good.

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An European Vacation / 11 – The Black Forest Open Air Museum

Posted on October 16, 2010 by admin

The 4th day of our European vacation started with grey skies and a light rain which was only to get strength for the first half of the day. We had ambitious plans for that day, which was planned to end in the French city of Metz, the capital of the Lorraine, at the end of the longest driving segment of the whole trip. The first stop of the day was however planned to happen in Gutach (B), a few kilometers from Triberg (A), where we were going to visit the Black Forest Open Air Museum (Schwarzwalder Freilichtmuseum Vogstbauernhof).

House of the Black Forest Clocks

Before getting to Gutach we stopped on the road to take pictures of a picturesque building hosting a Black Forest clocks shop belonging to the House of the Black Forest Clocks chain.

farm house in the Black Forest Open Air Museum

Founded in 1964 the museum is an ethnographic open air museum dedicated to the life, economy, inhabitants and traditions of the Black Forest area, similar to the Skansen in Stockholm or to Muzeul Satului in Bucharest. Here also houses from different places of the Black Forest dating from various periods in the past 400 years were dismounted and rebuilt in an environment that tries to replicate as well as possible their original settings.

interior

There are about 20 structures in the complex, most of them rich farms of different profiles combined with the habitations. Some of the interiors are simple, some are more sophisticated, with utilitarian and decorative objects, sometimes a combination of both, most of them made of wood.

wooden sculptures

Wooden sculptures some of them of religious inspiration were created and proudly displayed in front of the houses in this mostly Catholic region.

garden woodwork

Same for the garden sculptures, also made traditionally of wood which became a real tradition in the whole German speaking area of Western Europe.

roadside altar

In some cases stone carving was used alternatively with wood carving and some times in combination. See this beautiful roadside altar with an expressive statue of Jesus inside the upper box on the pole.

dairy farm

The beautiful building above is a dairy farm. The building uses the hilly relief to allow direct access to the upper floor, where are located the stables, while the lodgings are at the ground. Flowers decorate the balconies – it’s a tradition in the villages of the area, similar to the one that we saw also in Austria.

watermill engine

There are many other interesting items to discover in the museum , related to the crafts and rural technology of the area -among which a couple of watermills. A chapel, storehouses, a herb garden among other complete a diverse and interesting presentation that is definitely worth a stop.

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The 2nd Season of “The Tudors”

Posted on October 15, 2010 by admin

source www.imdb.com

I finished viewing the second season of The Tudors which ARTE is broadcasting with a delay of about two years. It’s a daring challenge for the makers of this series to enter a historical territory that was already explored in cinema so many times, from Alexander Korda‘s 1933 The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Laughton to the 1966 production of A Man for All Seasons which brought an Oscar to Paul Scofield for his role as Thomas More. Yet, one can certainly understand the fascination of TV producers with the character and the story (or legend I should say). Henry VIII’s life. loves and intrigues is the ultimate material for a soap opera, his serial husbandry fits the format, and a diversity of viewers have good chances to find in a film or series inspired by his biography their preferred stuff – be it serious history, religion, court drama, love or lust.

(video source emmadaniella)

The current and more recent series combine the principal elements of the story with a mix of respect for the historical detail and contemporary approach. It is not a re-writing of the story, but a translation in a dialect that the TV viewer today understands and likes. Take the selection of the actors. Little effort was placed in fitting their physical appearance with the historical records, no beards were imposed on men, and the haircut or make-up are contemporary. Yet, the essence of the characters is reached in most of the cases, they are what the directors wanted us to understand that they were. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is as far of Charles Laughton as you can get, and yet has the will of a great king and the ferocity of a sexual predator. Natalie Dormer enters close to the very top of a selected gallery of actresses that gave memorable Anne Boleyn incarnations. Anthony Brophy, Jeremy Northam, Peter O’Toole, Sam Neill give life to historical character that fit well in the drama as living figures and not as paintings on a historical wall. Yet a serious investment was made in presenting in a credible manner the setting, the costumes, the manners of the 16th century. Over all the combination works.

(video source CBS)

How much of historical truth may be found in the drama is an open question. The second season brings up a period that decisive not only in the life of the king but also in the history of England, from the fall of cardinal Wolse, the raise and fall of Thomas More, the rupture from Catholicism and Rome and birth of the Church of England, the re-aligning of England in the permanent changing games between the European powers, up to the changes in the rules of succession that led to a different path of the monarchy chain in the centuries to come.  The evolution of the characters also takes a turn in this season, with king Henry becoming more of an isolated tyrant and egocentric male, and with Anne climbing up to the final of the season from being master of all intrigues to gaining the stature of a queen exactly at the moment when she loses the title.  Deciding to present all the historical landscape from the perspective of the royal alcoves is an approach that can be understood from a commercial point of view, but it obviously assumes the risks of positioning of the series closer to easy entertainment than to serious art. The results will be disputed by different people according to tastes and preferences – some will like them more, other less – in any case it’s certainly one of the TV productions of the latest years that will not pass ignored.

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An European Vacation / 10 – Clocks, Cuckoos and Cakes

Posted on October 14, 2010 by admin

Any visitor approaching the Black Forest area hardly escapes the stereotype image of the cuckoo clocks. They are present in tourist shops, one or maybe more dedicated chains of shops sell them, and they even have their own museum. Brochures even invite the tourists on a Route of the Black Forest clocks. A visit to the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum (German Clock Museum) in Furtwangen proved to be much more than a simple reverence to a local tradition.

Deutsches Uhrenmuseum in Furtwangen

Although located nowadays in a modern building, the museum has a tradition that extends for more than a century and a half, being started in 1852 by the founder of the first German School of Watchmaking in Furtwangen, Robert Gerwig. The tradition of clock making in the Black Forest predates the start of the museum by another two centuries. It is the 4th such museum (in size) world-wide.

St Peter's monastery clock

The collection covers different methods of measuring the time, and then deals with the instruments of measuring time whose manufacturing is a combination of technology, craftsmanship, and art. Its organization is thematic and chronological, and while focusing on the region offers a wide perspective of clocks making all over the world.

One of the first fine objects we have seen related us to the St Peter’s monastery which we had just visited. It’s a beautiful astronomic clock dated around 1750, a fine and beautiful piece of technology measuring and showing not only the passing of time but also the days of the week, the movement of the planets and the zodiac periods.

Renaissance clocks (16-17th centuries)

The art of clock making started in the Renaissance period and developed during the Baroque in all Western Europe.

wooden clocks from the Black Forest

The Black Forest area became a center of manufacturing of clocks well known all over the West European area starting with the 17th century. The ideas are said to have been imported from Bohemia. In short time the less expensive (but also less reliable) became popular in the area and in many other especially German speaking areas around. The cuckoo clocks showed up in the first half of the 18th century.

Napoleonic period clock

The Napoleonic conquest of Europe brought in technologies from all over Europe, but also propagated the Black Forest technology on the continent.

Japanese clock - 19th century

Time measurement was not an exclusively European occupation. Japan and China developed their own styles and technologies, and even different units of measuring time. Japan especially isolated for more than two centuries during the Edo period built up its own tradition, forms and mechanisms of time measurement, and its clocks manufactured before 1868 look way different than those built in other parts of the world.

French 19th century salon clock

Back to Europe, the Restoration period and the increased wellness of the bourgeoisie made out of clocks both objects of art and admiration in the saloon, but also more and more utilitarian objects to be found in any mid-class home.

Eli Terry's clocks (US)

Of course this tendency was even more visible in the United States, where innovators as Eli Terry made fortunes and built an industry out of the simpler, less expensive clocks for the powerful liberal professions classes in the New World.

German wall-clocks

The 19th century is the period when advances in technology allow the development of a strong wall clocks industry in the Black Forest area. A full wall where such clocks are exposed can be seen in the museum.

the Giraffe clock

Many of these pieces have a story. One of the stories is related to the Giraffe clock which includes the painting of a giraffe brought in France from Sudan in 1826 and which had become an object of attraction in the whole Europe. Clocks making was becoming a reflection of current events, no more, no less.

Black Forest cuckoo clocks

It is however the cuckoo clocks that make the region famous and unique, and became even a trademark of the area, although these are not manufactured nowadays only here.

August Noll's clock and automata

The -sometimes – very sophisticated clock mechanisms evolved towards become the core engine of even more complicated core of automata, like August Noll’s.

the first German quartz clock

The 20th century saw many revolutions in time measurement, which led to increased accuracy and miniaturization. The first German quartz clock was however, by no means, miniature.

Triberg - biggest clock in the world

We left the museum and we headed for the city where we planned to spend the third night of our trip – Triberg. We did not escape clocks there either, as one famous shops was exposing on the facade of the building what was advertised as the biggest cuckoo clock world-wide.

Schinkenstrasse in Triberg

Triberg is a small (less than 6000 inhabitants) town, very well located in the core of the Black Forest. It is a perfect place to stay for trips around and the Gutach waterfalls which we did not have time to see are said to be beautiful. Out hotel was the Garni Central Hotel in the center of the town, which must be the best hidden hotel in the world, as it is located at the 3rd floor of a completely expression-less building.

Pfaff hotel and restaurant in Triberg

We did however eat at the restaurant of the Pfaff hotel, a family affair started in 1882.

inside the Pfaff restaurant in Triberg

This was the first great meal we had during the trip. Building, ambiance inside and the cooking were all special.

chef's steak and cordon bleu a la Zurich

We started with a chef’s steak and cordon bleu a la Zurich …

the cakes that ended the day

… and continued with and apple strudel and a Schwarzwaelder Kirsch Torte.

Rain had started to pour. The next day we were going to experience a lot of it.

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