golden town -- Prague by night

     Just a few photographic impressions walking through town to go out to dinner. 

     The lasting impression you get of Prague at night is the golden aura that seems to permeate the old city. It is achieved by the simplest of techniques, yellow light bulbs in the street lamps that mimic the old gas lights of the 19th Century (the photos do not capture them well). Not a harsh blue-white fluorescent light in sight. 

Naprstkova - our street in Old Town

Moldau River and eastern end of Karlovy Most (Bridge)

Smetanovo Street along the Moldau

western end tower of Karlovy Most - Prague Castle in background

Rudolfinum - Czech Philharmonic concert hall

Prague Castle

eastern end tower of Karlovy Most

arch in eastern tower with beggar in lower right

night club to the right of the east tower arch

Get thee to a nunnery

 our apartment -
2nd floor of yellow building in center

     So, taking Hamlet's advice to Ophelia, we got us to a nunnery. Our new apartment in Prague is, literally, in an old convent, or, if you prefer, a nunnery.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

     Yesterday, we bade Berlin a fond fare thee well, took a train from Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central station) to Prague Hlavni Nadrazi (central station) and were met by our new landlord, Mirek, in front of the Burger King in the station...and he drove us to the nunnery. Appropriately, it is located near Bethlehem Square.

gate to the former cloister

      After settling in we went out for a bite to eat and some basic shopping to launch our two-month stay here in our beloved Prague. After Berlin, it seems like Alice has fallen through the looking glass and landed in Neverland...or, am I mixing up my stories? Hmmm. Anyway, we took a walk to the Moldau River, only a few steps from the nunnery, and the soft haze from the low clouds make it look, in fact, like wonderland—the paving stones all wet and misty and shining and Mala Strana, across the river, looking vaguely ghostlike and full of nostalgia. It seems like coming home after a year's absence, this town is so simpatico.

cloister

door on left is our apartment entrance

interior of our apartment

settling in 

Here came the sun—at last!

      After more than two weeks of gray skies here in downtown Berlin, the sun finally came out in earnest yesterday. That worked out beautifully.

      On the train on our way to Potsdam the other day, I noticed a little lake from the window and what looked like a nice small town on that lake called Nikolassee. I filed it away in the back of my mind as a good place for a walk in the country.

      We had pretty much seen what was to be seen in Berlin and were ready to explore outside of town along the S-Bahn line that runs near our apartment. And we had yesterday with no opera to go to. The night before, on our way home from the opera, the sky was clear and we could see an almost full moon and some stars. It looked like a good omen for our planned trip to the country. The day started out iffy, looking like a return to the usual clouds but the sky lightened up little by little during the morning and by the time we headed out the sky was blue and the remaining clouds had almost lifted.

nice little house on the lake

      Sitting on the train I couldn't drink up enough sunshine and let the rays fall directly on my face. It felt like coming out of a long dark tunnel into a light explosion. After some initial confusion in finding our way to the lake we changed train lines at Nikolassee and took a train for one stop to a town called Schlachtensee (“see” is the German word for lake). The town appears to be a very upscale summer home kind of place with the cheapest homes I estimate at more than 1,000,000 Euros. Very swank. But the lake has a beautiful walking path that goes for some 5 kilometers all around the lake and it doesn't cost one Euro cent.

view from SW end of Schlachtensee

sun followers galore

     I expected that we would be pretty much the only people walking about on a cold albeit sunny winter day and have the whole lake to ourselves. Wrong! It seems that the sun had the same effect on lots of other people and the path around the lake was full of them just walking and soaking up the rays. It was such a pleasure that we decided to walk all around the lake—the whole 5 kms.—meeting people in ones and twos and larger groups all along the way. After about 3/4 of the way around the lake we came across a food and drink stand at the NE end of the lake. We decided to stop and have some glühwein (hot spiced red wine) if they sold it. As we were wondering aloud if they had glühwein and how to ask for it in German, a young woman overheard us and told us the correct way to ask politely (haben Sie Glühwein?) So I tried out my German question, got “Ja.” for an answer and ordered two with my fingers. Sitting in the sun and snow and drinking our glühwein.  Who could ask for anything more?

      Well, how about a terrific steakhouse called Asador to cap off a perfect day in the country with a perfect meal....

forget butter, try olive oil with salt and pepper added
 to dip your bread - goes well with red wine

      Or, maybe a car that "starts where others stop?"

Bentley

another Bentley

or maybe a Bugatti?

this would be my choice if I had the bucks

Rune Meanings - Rune Thorn Equals Protection

PROTECT YOUR FAMILY WITH RUNE THORN
Protects yourself, your loved ones and your home from all evil by using the Ancient Wisdom of the runes and the power of modern day Quantum Physics. Learn how!
All evil and danger is not only on the physical plane. There are other planes just as dangerous. The air waves are full of frequencies that are not only dangerous to your physical health, but also to your mental and emotional health. Put Thorn runes completely around your home.
This is the third of 18 articles that will continue you on the road to recreating and redefining your life with the help of rune energies. Get all 18.
"The murmuring Runes of the Universe, the sacred symbols of Salvation of the Cosmos are deeply buried within ourselves, in our soul as inherited memories. They call, murmur and rush within us, and we could not get them outside of us by imitation, if they were not built into us since eternity."
Wake them up! May the murmur of the Runes Call us to action.
Our third rune is the RUNE-THORN #3
RUNE-THORN-PROTECTION
This runes primary function is to attract waves of protective energies into your life. The main rune-meaning for THORN is PROTECTION AGAINST ATTACKS. RUNE-THORN does not protect you from sword attacks or physical violence. It protects you from mental, psychic and evil attacks upon you and your home. It is a defensive rune.
Milk as another reason why the vikings gave up trying to settle the new land. Ask me about this. It is a wonderful story. We do not go on viking raids anymore (too bad) but it is important in this chaotic fast paced society that we have forms of protection.
"The wonderful thing concerning the Runes is that they have an individual life, that the interpretation and meaning is within them and not within us, not in ourarbitrary thinking (abstracting)."
RUNE-MEANINGS
Rune of Mental Activity
Rune that Strengthens the Aura
Rune that Protects Against Attacks
Symbol of Lightening and Thunder
Choose the one keyword that you think you need the most in your life right now. You will use this with your breathing exercises.
The Norse God THOR is the God of this rune. Think of Thor when you ned protection.
The strongest of all protective symbols (Lory and I wear ours 24/7) is the THOR'S HAMMER symbolized by the RUNE-THORN.
RUNE-THORN attracts walls of protective energy out of the cosmic all (Quantum Ocean) into your life. How do these energies protect you? The RUNE-THORN symbol attracts an energy out of the Quantum Ocean that surrounds your bodies and protects them from all mental and psychic attacks. It fills your aura.
In this modern day world with all the millions of vibrations constantly being pumped out into the air -- we all need mental shields.TVs , radios, cell towers, elf towers, cell phones. etc etc are constantly bombarding our minds with thoughts. Many of which are so subtle that we are not conscious of them.
Much of this constant bombardment is detrimental to our health. The RUNE-THORN strengthens your aura and awakens your will. This protects you from many of these harmful negative vibrations. This rune will help you to eventually become aware of all these mental attacks.You will learn how to tune them out and to shut them off completely.
SLEEPING BEAUTY FABLE
The story originated in Norse Mythology. Brunhild was Odin's most loved and trusted Valkyrie. When Odin saw a viking warrior that he wanted to invite to his Hall's of Valhalla, he would send Brunhild onto the battlefield to fetch him. The warrior could not leave the battlefield alive. Once Brunhild appeared it meant his death. The story gos on: one day Odin sent Brunhild to the battlefield to bring back a certain young warrior. She took one look at his handsome young face and could not kill him. She returned empty handed to Odin. He was furious for he needed all the great warriors in his hall for the great coming battle of Ragnarok.
Odin knew he had to punish Brunhild but he didn't want to harm her. He put her to sleep and had her placed on a couch surrounded by thick thorn bushes to protect her from harm while she slept. You all know the rest of the story about the handsome prince who kissed her and woke her. Time for us to awake to the subtle dangers of our society.
RUNE-THORN WILL BUILD THE PROTECTIVE THORN WALL AROUND YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES ON ALL LEVELS. MENTAL, EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL.

Norse Mythology Nibligung Ring Runes

Nibelung Ring Runes
The Ring of the Nibelung is a very old Norse Mythological story. It's theme has been used down through the centuries by may famous artists, composers and writers.
Wagner immortalized it with his famous Opera of the same name. J.R. Tolkien used it as the base for his Ring of Power which had the runes inscribed inside the band. . It is in the theme of "L 'Mort D'art" ( the story of King Arthur), Scott used it by embedding "The Sword in the Stone."
Brothers Grimm used it in their wonderful story "Sleeping Beauty." Even the story of Siegfried and the Dragon, used the Nibelung Ring theme. And many, many more too many to name.
Where did it all start? Where did the legends come from? We have a clue in "Die Walkure." This is the story of Odin and the Valkyrie Brunhilde.
Once a upon a time, the Northern Gods found themselves in a dilemma. They had a very powerful ring inscribed with Runes in their possession. They could not allow their enemy, a giant, to get possession of it. That would spell their doom.
So they built a citadel and had nine Valkyrie maidens guarding it. All of them were daughters of Odin and Erda.
Odin went to Midgard and united himself with a mortal woman. He called himself, Walse, meaning "wolf". He wanted to found a formidable race called the 'Walsungs.'
The first two Walsungs were Siegmund and Sieglinde. But before they could marry, Sieglinde was carried off by a rough hunter called Hunding.
Siegmund fought Hunding until l the darkness separated them. Siegmund found his way to Hunding's house. Hunding returned, and since he could not fight Siegmund in his home he offered him combat for the next morning.
That night a mysterious stranger, the God Odin, came and thrust a sword up to the hilt into the trunk of a tree in front of Hunding's home.
Odin said it could only be drawn out by the bravest. This gave Siegmund the edge, being part god himself. He easily drew the sword out of the trunk. Odin then ordered Brunhilde, the Valkyrie, to help Siemund in the upcoming fight.
Frigga, Odin's wife was furious that Odin gave Siegmund such an advantage. She demanded he back off. Odin yielded and commanded Brunhilde to see that Siegmund failed. Brunhilde went to kill Siegmund, but her heart melted and she could not kill him.
For her disobedience, Odin revoked Brunhilde's power. Odin then condemned her to wed the mortal who should awaken her. He swore that only the bravest of heroes would be able to wake her up. Odin kissed Brunhilde and cast her into a deathlike slumber. He struck his staff on the rocks and summoned Loge, the fire God.
Flames in the form of protection Runes ( not unlike the rune Thurisaz) sprang up and surrounded the sleeping Valkyrie maiden.
Look at how many wonderful stories sprang up from this little tale!

Come to the Cabaret...

...or: Am I in the wrong theater?

orchestra integrated with stage set

     What to make of the performance of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld we attended last night at the Berlin Staatsoper in the Schiller Theater? I've seen reviews that hailed this production as something of a fresh breeze blowing away the stuffiness and stodginess that this operetta has become. I don't know about all this stuffiness business, but sitting in the theater I soon noticed that the sound was a little funny. It sounded canned. We were sitting in the front row of the balcony. I noticed that there was no orchestra pit. The small orchestra was at the back of the stage. When the show started, we were close enough to notice that the singers were wearing pick up microphones on the side of their faces. That accounted for the funny sound. The singers' voices were amplified by loudspeakers on the walls of the theater...and not very well mixed. Strike One!

intermission 

     This production is billed, by the Staatsoper, as “an operetta in an unusual shape - without a large orchestra, but with combo sounds and absurd wit. The absurd and witty reworking of the libretto by Thomas Pigor and arrangement for small orchestra by Israel Christoph bring the disrespect of the original work to the full extend.” This is all well and good, perhaps, if you are presenting the “reworked” operetta in a music hall or cabaret. But if, like me, you expect to hear operain a State Opera House with the music fully intact and not a cabaret night club act full of “reworked” dialogue and comic patter that you don't understand, you might not be totally charmed by this bringing of “the disrespect of the original work to the full extend.” Question: if the original work was so disrespectful, why did it have to be reworked? Strike Two!

cast, conductor and orchestra taking their bows

                   With the shrinking of the orchestra, comes the “shrinking” of the music, especially the removal of the overture. I realize the overture was added later; still, I go to hear music not a stand up comedy act. I love stand up comedy and cabaret shows, but in their proper venues. If I go to an opera I expect to hear music, too much of which was missing from this “reworking” of Orpheus in the Underworld at the Staatsoper im Shiller. Strike Three!

    If you want disrespect, get a DVD of Liza Minnelli in the great movie Cabaret.

Photo impressions around Berlin, Winter 2013

our S-Bahn stop Savignyplatz

40 Euro fine ticket

      Berlin has turned out to be a bit of a bummer. As I look back on my posts since our arrival at Frankfurt Flughafen they seem to be mostly a catalogue of bitches and gripes: screwed up trains, language dustups, physical injury and, last but not least, today we got pinched on the S-bahn for not having a properly stamped train ticket and got fined 40 Euros each. Well, at 70 Euros each for a monthly train pass, we still got off cheap.

Schloss Cecilienhof

Churchill, Truman, Stalin in Potsdam
[Wikipedia]

  






   The weather has been uncooperative as well. The skies have been uniformly gray almost the whole time we have been here (since January 10), there has been quite a bit of show and temperatures remain stubbornly at or below 0 degrees centigrade.       

     Nevertheless, we have intrepidly gone out and about town taking daily walks. We took a day trip to Potsdam yesterday for a little more walking and sightseeing. I was especially interested in seeing the venue for the Potsdam Conference among the "Big Three" powers (Churchill, Truman and Stalin) to discuss the fate of Germany and Japan in 1945 at Schloss Cecilienhof, an early 20th Century palace that was spared the allied bombing of the rest of Potsdam. 

Unter den Linden

Brandenburg Gate

     Of course my camera was ever with me and following are a few photos of my impressions going about in Berlin. You will notice that only one photo shows blue sky--a rarity during out stay here. We are off to a Berlin Philharmonic concert tonight and off to Prague next week on Monday. 

guarding US Embassy, not the Tor

 the Wall is an open air gallery, this is one of the paintings

Jewish Holocaust Memorial

section remaining of the Berlin Wall

another painting on the Wall with graffiti

souvenirs at end of the Wall

love hotel? -- across the street from the Wall

this drab station was in old East Berlin

Schloss Charlottenburg Palace, [only blue sky photo]

flea market in Tiergarten

Schloss Charlottenburg statuary 

Burger KIng in Tiergarten

Lion Bridge in Tiergarten

sign seen at U-Bahn entrance 

photo on subway wall near
Brandenburg Gate

portico of Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam

swans bottom feeding in fountain
at Sans Souci Palace

BigThree conference room in Schloss Cecilienhof
[Wikipedia]

Reichstag