Dresden June 2010

Germany - Dresden

We arrived by train in Dresden on Tuesday in the afternoon. Our hotel was across from the train station so quite convenient. Dresden is very interesting as it was almost totally destroyed during the Allied firebombing in 13-15^th February 1945. The pictures of the devastation are quite incredible. Due to this destruction everything has had to be rebuilt. As a result of the reconstruction you can see where the original materials were used and where they have had to recreate the structures with modern materials. Consequently there is this curious Disneyesque or museum-like quality to the environment. This is in no way a criticism as they have gone to great lengths to use original materials and techniques to recreate these treasures. To me (Fraser), the most interesting feature was the space that is afforded. In most old towns with their narrow streets it is very difficult to gain a larger perspective or better vantage point of the magnificent architecture. In Dresden there are spacious squares and plazas in front of the major buildings allowing one to apprehend the entire structure at once.

We stopped for a break on Brühl's Terrace next to the Elbe River, a lovely place to have a cup of tea and some ice cream. It has been called the “balcony of Europe”

Brühl's Terrace

Looking backward toward the Old Town we saw this lovely little street named Munzgasse that has lots of cafes and shops. In the background you can see the Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).

Munzgasse

As we left Munzgasse and entered the Neumarkt we passed the Ontario Café which serves such Canadian staples as Spargesalat Kanadische Art mit Eismeershrimps und Sleinofenbaguette. Have you had yours yet today?

Ontario Cafe

In the Neumarkt we saw the iconic Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) a beautiful baroque dome originally built in the mid-1700’s. It withstood the first two days of carpet bombing but eventually during the firestorm the temperature inside and out reached 1,000 C at which point the pillars glowed red and exploded as the dome collapsed. It sat as a heap of rubble during the Soviet rule and has been rebuilt since then using as much of the original materials and techniques as possible. You can see the blackened stones interspersed throughout the building. You can also see the altar and chancel that remained standing on the left hand side of building distinguishable by their darker colour.

Frauenkirche

Here is a view of the lovely market (Neumarkt) surrounded by cafes that face the Frauenkirche. Most of the buildings have been rebuilt in an old style but the occasional modern one has slipped in such as the narrow glass infill building behind the statue of Martin Luther in the middle of the square.

Town Square

This next is a view of the Semperoper Opera House taken from the viewing platform at the Green Vaults. This building is where many of the works of Richard Strauss where premiered. You can see the Theatreplatz in front of it as well as the Zwinger Palace and fortress built by Augustus the Strong in the early 1700’s.

Semperoper

This is a view of the interior courtyard at the Green Vault showing some of the reconstruction techniques. The buildings are covered in a façade painted to look like the finished product. It is actually quite a charming technique. In some places the façade actually hides the scaffolding where the reconstruction takes place.

Green Vault inner courtyard

We have no pictures of the Green Vault as they do not allow cameras or cell phones but it is spectacular. It is apparently the largest collection of treasures in Europe. Built by Augustus the Strong the rooms were destroyed during the Allied carpet bombing but the treasures had been safeguarded. The rooms have been painstakingly rebuilt using the same techniques. It is an overwhelming series of rooms each containing more treasures than the last.

That’s all we have for Dresden. Next stop Prague.

Germany - Berlin

Hello all, Fraser here. Mo and I met up in Berlin on Saturday, June 12^th. At almost 5 weeks it had been a long time since we had seen or even talked to one another. Thank heaven for text and email. We stayed three nights at a lovely hotel in East Berlin called Circus. It was clean, modern in design, and the staff were extremely helpful and courteous. In the afternoon of our arrival we walked around East Berlin a bit to orient ourselves. We met up with a free walking tour at the Starbucks near Brandenburg Gate (yes, there are Starbucks everywhere here - and they are virtually identical to those at home). Our tour guide Alex was from Liverpool and was both extremely knowledgeable and very interesting. The first thing she showed us was a Deutsche Bank building right in front of the Brandenburg Gate that was designed by Frank Gehry (go Canada!). It is right next to the ritziest hotel in Berlin, the 5 star Adlon Hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his son out the window.

The Deutsche Bank building by Frank Gehry

The Brandenburg Gate

After walking through the Brandenburg Gate we walked by the seat of German government, the Reichstag. There is a beautiful glass dome above it but the queue was several hours long to get inside. It has only been used for the government again since 1999. A little further on we came to a building in East Berlin that is one of the few remaining pieces of architecture in the Nazi style. It was used by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. You may remember it if you have seen the movie Valkyrie with Tom Cruise as it was featured quite prominently. It caused a bit of a furor (no pun intended) during filming as they installed all of the swastikas and Nazi insignia as they had been. It is now illegal to display the swastika in Germany. The building is now used by the Finance Ministry (for taxation) so it is still a hated building. It still shows bullet and shell damage from the war. In this location the Berlin Wall is literally across the street and if you walked along the street on one side before the wall fell you would have been shot.

The Luftwaffe Building:

We saw what was left of the Berlin Wall in a few places in the city. The wall went through about 4 phases of development starting as simply a wall and developing into an entire zone with two walls separated by a so-called death zone where the guards were given orders to shoot to kill. This death zone varied in width from the width of a street as it is here behind the Luftwaffe Building to areas where the “death strip” was over 50m wide. Note the rounded top which was placed in one of the later generations of the wall. The East German government found that the original barbed wire allowed people to claw their way over so the rounded top was placed to make it difficult to grasp. Here is a picture of Mo standing next to a remaining piece of the Wall.

Berlin has an incredible amount of gorgeous architecture. Mo and I toured the Berlin Dome, a beautiful Lutheran cathedral with a stunning interior. They regularly hold concerts there. The Dome is on the so-called Museum Island, a small island in the centre of the Spree river that is home to 5 internationally famous museums including the Pergamon - which houses an incredible collection of Mediteranean and middle eastern artifacts. Its two crowning glories are the Pergamon Altar (from the town of the same name) and the Ishtar Gate which stood at the entrance to Babylon. The word altar does not do it justice as it was actually an entire building

The Berlin Dome

Part of the Altar in the Pergamon

Berlin has memorials everywhere. You literally step across them in the street. Many of the houses and apartments have small brass plaques set into the sidewalk in front listing the names and particulars of the Jews who had lived there prior to being deported to the concentration camps. We also visited this Holocaust Memorial. It was very simple in design yet still quite moving. A series of granite blocks set out in a grid pattern reminiscent of grave markers all standing to different heights. Once you enter the memorial the ground is uneven, sloping this way and that. The center is quite depressed so that you cannot see out. The blocks muffle all of the city noise making it eerily quiet in the center. There are no inscriptions, nothing to break the seemingly endless series of blocks just a sense of the enormity of the tragedy.

Fraser in the Holocaust Memorial

Berlin, particularly East Berlin, is a curious mixture of grand old architecture, Soviet-era utilitarianism, blatant tourist pandering and brand new American-style development. This photo shows a faux Checkpoint Charlie where you can pay the “guards” to have your picture taken with them. Note the McDonalds right beside it. The real Checkpoint Charlie, or rather the location where it once was, is about 1 block away. It did not look like the recreation pictured (at least not since the 1950’s) but resembled a typical drive-through customs port not unlike any along the Canada-US border but with more guns, barbed wire and barricades.

The hotel had several Segways (battery-powered human transporters) so we spent part of Sunday and Monday cruising around town. We visited a cemetery (of course) as well as the Tiergarten, a large public garden reminiscent of New York’s Central Park.

Us on the Segways

From Berlin, we took the train to Dresden. Stay tuned.

Holland/The Netherlands June 2010

I was finally able to leave Liverpool and arrived safely in Amsterdam to be greeted by Jan and Annie Langen (Opa’s brother and his wife). We travelled to Cuijk – Opa’s birth place. It’s a small village very close to the border of Germany. I saw the street that Opa grew up on and where he played and crossed the river to go swimming in the river. I also saw his school and church – which is the tallest and most lavish building in the village. Actually, Holland is similar to New Brunswick and Quebec in that way – where the church is the tallest structure.

I visited many other villages and cities in Holland as well as Cuijk. I was in Nijmegen, Arnhem, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Hertogenbosch, Boxmeer, St. Agatha, and Grave, to name a few.

Here are some pictures and brief descriptions of the area where the pictures were taken.

The first windmill I saw was just outside of Cuijk.

I went to Hertogenbosch – where Bosch is from. Needless to say there are many replicas of his work in the town. There is an old church that has been transformed into the Bosch Museum. This is the view from the tower of the church.

As well as seeing all the sights, my education of Holland included eating certain “typical dutch” foods. Pancakes were on the agenda as a must to try. They are not the same as the pancakes we have in Canada. Mine and Jan's had mushrooms, cheers, and onions. I would say it is more like an omelets. This is Jan and his pancake.

We went to a beautiful park in the middle of Holland (about 1 hr south east of Amsterdam) called the Hogue Veluwe National Park. A very wealthy couple (Helene and Anton Kroller-Muller) bought the area in the early 1900s and turned it into a public place for all to enjoy. You can tour their country home/hunting lodge – called St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge – designed by the famous architect Dr. Hendrick Berlage, who also designed the Amsterdam stock exchange building. You can also and cycle or hike all through the area. It is beautiful. Helene Kroller-Muller was an avid art collector who fulfilled her dreamed of having her own museum on the grounds of the park. She collected 11,500 pieces – which includes 180 works and 91 paintings from Van Gogh - the largest private Van Gogh collection other than the Van Gogh family collection.

St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge.

Here I am standing next to the original Café Terrace in Arles.

Annie and I took a cruise through the canals in Amsterdam. On the tour, I saw the Anne Frank house.

The canals in Amsterdam.

A cheese store in Amsterdam

Annie and I having lunch in Amsterdam (we shared a sandwich and Dutch krokettes – which are pasty, meaty, deep fried things)

Being my first time in Amsterdam required a walk through the Red Light District. Here I saw many coffee shops (soft drug shops – with very little coffee). This one was called the Old Church Coffee Shop and was situated directly opposite one of the most beautiful churches in the area. - seems to be a strange arrangement.

There were many signs that the Dutch take football serious. They desperately want to win and I’m convinced that beating Germany would result in a major holiday.

During my visit to Utrecht, I saw many florists selling Holland’s national flower – the tulip.

On my last day, I visited Grosbeek and saw the Canadian Cemetery, with more than 2000 graves. I also visited the war museum there – which was very educational. Amazing to learn about the attacks on Holland that occurred so close to Opa's village.

Liverpool and The Lake District

I flew into Manchester from Copenhagen and took a “free” bus to Liverpool. It was not supposed to be free but the driver told me to “just take a seat”. When I got off, I went to pay and he said ‘no worries’. So…first impression of Liverpool was good. From then on, it stayed neutral or went down– so best to classify the city as “not one I would visit again”. The people are very friendly enough but it has a rough edge to it – perhaps because of all the struggles during Thatcher’s government. Apparently she did nothing for the working class and as a result, cities such as Liverpool went downhill fast – with rebellion and crime increasing. It now appears to be turning around but remains dirty and rough. The city is called the People’s City and those living there called Liverpudlians. The name reflects the way the people stand together. They talk of working together for social change and overcoming appalling conditions. They call themselves resilient people with a strong sense of humour.

When I left Copenhagen, I was excited to be entering an English speaking country again; however the dialect in Liverpool was as difficult to understand as any foreign language. In fact, Swedish was easier. I had to ask people to repeat themselves two and three times before I could understand them. The accent is SO strong and some words so slang and obviously unique to the area.

Besides my work at Liverpool John Moores University, I did see and do some interesting things in Liverpool:

All museums are free. They all belong to the Museum of Liverpool – the same idea as the Smithsonian. I went to the Walker Art Gallery where they had a special Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit called “High Kicks and Low Life”. I saw the original Moulin Rouge painting. I also went to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, at Albert Docks, where I saw the original model for the Titanic. Their entire Titanic exhibit was really good. A third museum I went to was the Slavery Museum showing slavery through the years up to the present with human trafficking. Finally, I went to the Tate and saw a special showing of Picasso.

Albert Docks where the Mersyeside Maritime Museum, Tate Museum, and Beatle's Story are:

Liverpudlians are very proud of the Beatles. Here are a few pictures of Beatles attractions:

Outside the cavern Pub:

Inside a Hard Days Night Hotel:

There are two competing football clubs: Liverpool and Everton. Most kids in the city wear the shirts from one or the other. I happened to be there when Everton unveiled their new “away” uniform (pink and navy) and the lineup for purchasing the shirts or shorts was crazy. Boys and girls of all ages were buying the shirts (pink did not seem to be a factor in the decision).

The unveiling of the pink and navy Everton shirts:

During my stay, I took a day trip to the Lake District. This was beautiful and breathtaking. I did a couple of small day hikes, saw the house of Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth’s cottage, and took a tour of Lake Windermere.

Lake Windermere:

Along the hiking trail

Me at the top of a viewpoint looking over the lake

My tea and scones - always a must-have in England

Although it was interesting to see all the museums, exhibits, some nice architecture, and have a trip to the Lake District, I wanted to move on to other places. Liverpool was not my kind of city – so I went to the airport 4 hours early. Unfortunately, when I got there, I found out my flight was delayed 90 minutes. Then, 30 minutes before the new departure time, they announced an additional 30 minutes delay. This continued until the plane was 3.5 hours late. I thought perhaps I had finally visited the Hotel California – “you can check out but you can never leave”!