The Falls in Spring, March 2014

Picture taken by Pava Young

For the past two years I've posted about our tremendous Falls in the spring, and here they are again. The video from last year will give you a feel for how powerful they are: Last Year's Video

A Rather Long Book Update

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (2011). I really admire Tina Fey—she is so smart and so funny! I was curious to read what she wrote about herself and her life, but I was a bit disappointed that she didn’t seem so funny in this form (although still smart). What is really interesting to me about this book is that Fey managed to write an autobiography while not revealing very much about herself.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (2000). Now here’s a guy who knows how to write about himself. The traveling chef star comes across just as he does on his TV shows—very clever and self-centered but surprisingly not conceited. This book about Bourdain’s career as a chef and about the way things really are in restaurant kitchens is well written, interesting and entertaining.

Rausch der Verwandlung by Stefan Zweig (1982).  This novel is set in post WWI Austria where things are very difficult for people in the lower and rural classes. A young woman’s dreary life is quickly changed when her rich aunt invites her to spend time vacationing with her in an exclusive resort in the Alps. The young woman discovers how the other half lives, and how much is denied to her due to her class, a discovery that makes it impossible to go back to her normal life afterwards. The style of writing and the story really pull you into this book.

This has been translated into English as The Post Office Girl; a literal translation of the title is something like “intoxication of the transformation.”

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (1945). What a wonderful discovery this author is! She reminds me of Barbara Pym but is funnier and also bleaker. This is a story about a family belonging to the vanishing British upper class and about one member’s search for love. It’s beautiful and heart-breaking.

A Family Madness by Thomas Keneally (1985). Set in modern Australia (where the author is from), the main character falls in love with the daughter of a crazy Belorussian immigrant. The author skillfully goes back and forth between the events of the current time told from the protagonist’s perspective and the history of the Belorussian and his family in WWII under Nazi rule, told through letters and diaries. It’s all made up, but the historical details concerning Belorussian collaboration with the Nazis are true and very unsettling. I learned a lot about this topic from reading this book.

Going Home Again by Dennis Bock (2013). A story about a man who is living through a painful separation from his wife and daughter in Madrid, who decides for professional reasons to “go home again” to Canada. There he encounters his past, his former love, and his estranged brother, who wants to make amends. I like the amazon.com blurb about this book: “Masterfully rendered and deeply felt, Going Home Again is a beautiful exploration of the unexpected contours of life.” I think so too.

Unwiederbringlich by Theodor Fontane (1891).  A count from Schleswig Holstein and his rather critical wife are having marital troubles when the count is called to Denmark (where he is a member of the Danish court) to keep the princess company. He has an affair while there, with disastrous results for his marriage. The title could be translated as “Irretrievable,” so you can imagine what happens. The novel is long and rambling and very 19^th century, just the way I like them.

Weeds Like Us by Gunther Nitsch (2006). I read a lot of stuff that a lot of people might not like (see above), so I usually don’t recommend things to others to read. This book is an exception. It’s an absolutely engrossing first-person account of what happened to the Germans of East Prussia who were forced to live under Russian rule after 1945. The book has literary weaknesses, but the story makes it worth reading, and the author does tell a good story. If you are at all interested in WWII, Germans, Germany, or the fate of refugees, or if you just like a good survival story, read this book!

Stretch: Coming of Age in Post-War Germany by Gunther Nitsch (2010). This is the continuation of the above story about the author’s life after the family managed to get out of East Prussia. It’s not as good as Weeds Like Us, but I had to read it to see what happened next.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (2013). Harold and Maureen have been married a very long time, and things are not going very well anymore. Harold has recently retired and does very little with himself; his wife is critical and unhappy. One day, Harold spontaneously starts on a long walk across England to see a former friend and co-worker who is dying of cancer. This should have been good, and I did want to read more to see what would happen, but it was, all in all, very disappointing. I found it trite and predictable—two weaknesses that ultimately spell the failure of a story.

Die Vermessung der Welt by Daniel Kehlmann (2009). (English: Measuring the World: A Novel). This is another must read! I guess this would be called historical fiction…it’s about the German mathematician and scientist Carl Friedrich Gauß and the scientist and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Both were eccentric geniuses, and the author positively delights in describing their lives and personalities in a humorous way, yet filled with awe at their undertakings and abilities. Style is everything in this novel. In German, the story is told almost completely in “indirect speech,” which gives the reader the feeling that they are there, listening to the dialogue, and also lends an air of quaintness to the writing.

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (1901). The book portrays the decline of the wealthy Buddenbrook family in a hanseatic city in northern Germany in the late 19^th century. Not a lot happens—the fun of the novel is Mann’s character development and, of course, his famous irony.

Drachenfels...and a Translated Song

Before Greg left to return to Spokane in January, we took a day trip to "Drachenfels" near Bonn on the Rhine. We took the train to this little town

and then hiked a few kilometers up the hill

until we got to the top where we found this famous ruin from the 1100s called Drachenfels. I used to walk up this hill with my German grandparents when I would visit them in Bonn. There was a cafe at the top (there still is, but it's bigger now and not as quaint), and we would have refreshments while my grandmother recited poetry by Heinrich Heine, who wrote beautiful verses about many things, including the Rhine.

The day was gorgeous, no clouds in the sky, but there was haze below, so our picture is a bit fuzzy.

                                      

On the way down we enjoyed the view of this castle, Drachenburg, built in 1882.

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Here's a link to my translation of a song by Bettina Wegner that was published in an online journal called Ezra. The title and the tune of the song are taken from Buffy St. Marie, but Bettina Wegner wrote her own words. You'll have to scroll down a ways to get to it.

http://www.ezratranslation.com/Spring_2009.html

The Blue Rider

Painting by Franz Marc

After our fabulous week in Berlin, we wanted to keep on doing fun and interesting things, so we continued on to Munich. The highlight there for me--besides seeing a couple of friends, including the wonderful Pickls--was a visit to the Blue Rider collection at the Lenbachhaus. The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) is the name given to a group of artists who produced many vibrant paintings like the one above during the years 1911-1914. It is considered to be part of the Expressionist art movement and ended when World War I broke out. Check out this link if you want to read more about the Blue Rider group and the Lenbachhaus: http://www.lenbachhaus.de/collection/the-blue-rider/introduction/?L=1

When I was living in Munich I was never able to see this huge collection of paintings because the Lenbachhaus was closed for renovations. It was really neat to be able to see it this time.

New Year's Eve in Berlin

Brandenbug Gate from website berlin.de

Last night was just about the best New Year's Eve I've ever spent. I guess that should not be surprising--we are in Berlin, after all! I had heard about this enormous celebration at the Brandenbug Gate here and wanted to try to see what it was all about. However, we were warned that it is so crowded (over a million people were expected) that it is impossible to see or really do anything there. Also, we didn't relish the idea of standing around for hours and hours in the cold. So we decided to go early, see what was going on, and then go home and watch the rest on TV.

And that's what we did. Greg, Chris, and I arrived in the late afternoon around 5 pm. The area is enormous, stretching from the Brandenburg Gate a kilometer or two towards the Victory Column. The street is closed off to cars, food and trinket vendors line both sides, and there is a huge stage beneath the Gate. After we arrived, we promptly purchased our Gluehwein, watched the band on stage for a while, then strolled along the boulevard all the way to the end. We made our way home, had a nice dinner, then settled down in front of the tube with drinks and snacks to watch the festivities.

We ended up switching between the party at the Brandenburg Gate and a documentary on the Bee Gees (who knew they were so interesting?). A little before midnight the special guest performed on stage--it was Heino, the famous singer of German folk songs! He sang a couple of more modern, pop-style tunes, very cool to watch. He just turned 75 and looked a little funky and out of place up there, but what a treat to see him. At midnight the fireworks went off.

Heino

(Apropos fireworks in Berlin: they are everywhere on New Year's Eve, all day and all night long. Chris wrote on facebook that "New Year's Eve in Berlin is the single most horrifying, deafening and absolutely amazing experience"--which sums it up well! We thought it was probably good that most people who experienced WWII in Berlin are no longer living because it sounded like a war zone out there, and it could set off a lot of post traumatic stress if you had actually lived through the war here.)

It was indeed a memorable evening and a fun way to start the New Year!

A Quick Merry Christmas from Ddorf

Yesterday, on Christmas, Greg and I walked from my apartment in the Wersten neighborhood in Duesseldorf all the way to the Rhine River. We walked through some areas of town we hadn't yet seen, and ended up in Althimmelgeist near the river. Here we happened upon a brass band playing Christmas songs, and we were given the words to the songs and encouraged to sing along. The band then walked to another street corner nearby and played some more songs; we went with them and sang along again. Finally, we broke away and continued to the Rhine.

Today we are headed to Berlin to spend a week with Chris and see what interesting things we can find to see and do there. We have some opera tickets lined up too.

Merry Christmas!!!

Conrad and Chris are Traveling

Conrad has been on a two month around the world trip, of sorts. He went to Japan in mid August for a few weeks (I joined him for 10 days), and then spent September in Hamburg at a Goethe Institut, polishing his German. In his usual way, he saw and did a lot on his travels! After Hamburg he went to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit Chris, and now they are traveling together through Sweden and Norway.

I'll see Conrad for a couple of days when I arrive in Duesseldorf tomorrow. He flies home from Duesseldorf, with a week stop in Washington, D.C.

Chris went to Copenhagen in early September, and now he is planning to go to Berlin and work on his German at a language school there. Greg and I will be able to visit him at Christmas in Berlin (since we'll both be in Duesseldorf then).

Both boys are enjoying using their newly acquired German citizenship and passports in the EU! Here they are touring the world's largest ship that recently made a stop in Copenhagen.