Miscellaneous Memories of Germany

Today I am finally updating my blog... that is because here in Paris - yes, we have left Germany - we have FREE internet access! I think Mom really enjoyed Germany and Austria and it was with regret (really!) that she boarded the TGV for Paris. As we had to get up before 5:00 am to catch the train, we were kind of too tired to do much in Paris today, but will try to update you tomorrow... but for now... I leave you with some last images of Germany:

Linderhof, Oberammergau and Neuchwanstein

On the 27th, we continued on our worldwind tour of all the winter wonderland tourist spots. from Munich (yes, we travelled back late on the 26th), we took a bus to a number of beautiful spots in Southern Germany. The first stop was Linderhof, the residence of Ling Ludwig II of Bavaria during the last 4 years of his life. Built in the late 1800s, it is tiny, but over the top. It seems Ludwig was idolized Louis XIV and hence, you find paintings of Louis and his mistresses throughout the palace... and a mini version of the Hall of Mirrors (since I am in Paris now, perhaps I should check out the real one in Versailles).

Next stop was Oberammergau, a town famous for the Passion Play which is conducted every 10 years, purportedly in thanks for the cessation of deaths due to the plague. 2010 will be the 14th play. We didn't see the play obviously, but were able to appreciate the murals on the sides of the buildings and the woodcarvings the town is also famous for. Truly art!

And finally, the main event. We arrived at the bottom of a 40 minute trail up to Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's famous fairy tale castle... the one that Disney fashioned the magic kingdom after. And like Disney, Luidwig created a different theme in each castle and even each room. Neuschwantein was designed as a tribute to Wagner, with each room dedicated to a different opera... but as it Wagner die, he wasn't able to visit... and later Ludwig died, leaving the castle unfinished. His family, unable to repay all his building debts (he apparently didn't use German taxes, but his own funds to create these over the top luxuries), stopped the building and turned them into museums.


And on the way down, it is possible to have an excellent view of Hohenschwangau Castle... a castle built by Ludwig's father Maximillian II of Bavaria. Ludwig lived there as a child. Interestingly, "schwan" means swan. Note that it appeats in the names of both of these castles. In Neuschwanstein, there were plenty of swans, painted, embroidered, etched, gilded and those made of Nymphenburg porceline. Ludwig loved this stuff... someday I will buy mom a souvenir, but at the moment, I can't afford such a swan!

Boxing Day in the Austrian Alps

On the 26th of December, we were picked up at our hotel by a bus bound for the Alps. It was beautiful... even for the unclimatized, like me. Unbelievably, it had started snowing on Christmas, so by the 26th, the sky was blue, but the peaks were covered with fresh powdery white. We headed out on the Autobahn and then up, up up. ON the way, we passed a fortress (name?) that can be seen in the background of the meadow scenes in "sound of Music".

We finally reached our destination, what seemed to be a popular destination for Austrian and German families. Behind this church is a gentle slope with a skii lift which doesn't lift, but drags skiiers and tobogganers up the hill. Across from this church is a huge skii jump which was used in the World Cup events.

And after a little lunch of what else, roast pork (I had grilled trout) and potatoes, we headed to the horses. All of our bus loaded into sleighs which took us on a large loop of the area (the cross coutry skii route) with only a short stop for hot chocolate... beautiful. I only wish (that as it took the horses about 90 minutes to make the route) we had more than blankets to keep us warm on the back of the sleigh.

Christmas Day! Salzburg, Austria

After breakfast on Christmas morning, we headed to Austria. An hour an a half later, we were in yet another Christmas market! Salzburg's stay open until the 26th. Who knew? We had actually come for other reasons...


We had plans for evening... We took a funicular up a very steep mountain to Festung Hohensalzburg.

At the Fortress, we enjoyed dinner, 3 courses, before moving to another room in the medieval fortress for a concert of Mozart, Vivaldi, Dvorak and Sschubert. I suppose you can imagine there were violins... 5 to be exact, plus a cello and a double bass.

A view of Salzburg from the Fortress:

December 24 - From Franconia to Bavaria

After a morning of strolling around the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Lonely Planet rightly claimed that this museum is under-rated - it was fabulous- what we had time to see of it), we boarded a train for Munich. München, unlike much of Germany was not yet closed, so we headed to the main square for yet another Christmas market. The picture to the left is dark shadows of a Christmas market stall in front of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady). Below is the Rathaus, or City Hall... unfortunately, the famous Bavarian restaurant "Ratskellar" was closed over Christmas.

UNESCO Heritage Sites

Living in Kurdistan... or anywhere in Iraq is difficult. One of the things that make it difficult for me (because I live in a relatively safe place with a good job etc etc) is not so much fear... or even boredom, but rather the tauntings of fabulous historic places which cannot be visited. Recently, I had been poring over a little Iraqi guidebook (produced by Iraq When Saddam was a "glorious" field marshall, when I came across beautiful photos of a place called Hatra - a UNESCO World heritage Site - which used to be the capital of the first Roman Empire. I then found out that, while probably only about an hour from Erbil, I cannot go there as it is in Ninevah (near Mosul close to the Syrian border). Not good!
So while in Germany, I decided if I couldn't visit the site I really wanted to visit... I would visit a different World Heritage site - Bamberg. It's history and architecture are as old as the rest of Germany - an important link with the Slavs in the 1100s, it prospered and later became a center of enlightenment in Southern Germany; but what really sets it apart is that is isn't reconstructed from the original stones (like much of the region), it was undamaged by the world wars. Fuzzy pictures taken at dusk:

December 23rd - Nuremberg

On the 23rd, we wandered around Nuremberg... First stop was the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg, an important castle as between 1050 - 1571, it was inhabited by ALL of the Holy Roman Emperors at different stages of their respective reigns. It was a bit of a hike, up the hill, but Mom made it!

We then visited the Albrecht Dürer House. The photo stolen from Wikipedia, but apparently this image is now in the public domain, so no copyright infringements here. The picture below is a self portrait, but doesn't hang in Nuremberg in his house... or even in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg! I believe it is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY... and if not there, maybe Vienna or Munich.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate...

I hope all my colleagues who went home over the winter break are enjoying Christmas with their families... and for all of those who didn't, I hope you are relaxing and having a well deserved break (except for my students who I hope are not relaxing too hard... but learning the joys of reading).

Some pictures from the Christmas markets in Germany. Mom's first impression of Germany was evening in the Christmas market in Nuremberg - the largest and maybe most impressive market... The pictures I took; however, were not so impressive as the weather was a bit dull. Below is Nuremberg's market.

We spent the 22rd in Rothenberg o.b.T. The pictures below is from their market:

And although the Käthe Wolfhart Chistmas shop has branches everywhere in Germany, the biggest one is in Rothenberg:

On the evening of the 23rd, I actually bought a few things at the Christmas market in Munich (soap and paper star lanterns):

Rothenberg ob der Tauber

This message has been sitting in my drafts for days (Because I couldn't get the photos to load - but that has been fixed)... Written on the 22nd, it was the day after we journeyed out to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a town which has been preserved (and reconstructed) so that when you enter, it is like entering a town in a different era.
Mom awoke rather late (severe jet lag), but we still headed to the station for return tickets to the medieval city of Rothenberg. About an hour and two train transfers later, we arrived... Mom says that she was not prepared... Half timbered houses, city walls, towers, cobblestones, turrets and oriel windows... massive 700 year old churches... and then the Christmas market in the center.
First stop was for a beer in Meistertrunk Pub and Restaurant where legend has it, a past mayor saved the city from certain destruction by downing a gallon of beer. Mom downed only 0.3 liters... and not in one gulp.
We then visited Käthe Wolfhart, a famous Christmas German Christmas shop... but with it's impressive headquarters in Rothenberg.
After this, we went on a little walking tour where we views the walls, towers, churches... and the city from the wall... and then we returned to town for a Bach trumpet concert in St. Jacob's Church. The building of this church started in 1300 and used to be a famous church for pilgrimages as there was a relic - a drop of Christ's blood preserved in a crystal. A suitable carved altar was commisioned to hold this precious item and it remains in this church.
Finally, we stopped in the Christmas market for a half meter sausage sustenance before catching the train back (no time for more as shops were closing). Below is a picture of Rothenbergs special sweet: Schneeballen!

Brat and a Beer

Photo courtesy of this site (click).

Seems that last night we accidentally stumbled into one of Nuremberg's best! Attire is casual and so is the seating - you squeeze in wherever there is space. Mom and I sat with a table of young German guys (no "family seating" here - no screen to hide female diners as in Erbil). Luckily, like everyone in Germany so far, they were friendly... and spoke English.

PS. the waitress in the picture, although not our waitress, was there... and the bratwurst on the tin plate is pretty much all the meals look like... too bad there are no pictures of the pretzels.

Arrival in Nuremberg

Photo compliments of www.hotelreservation.se

So far everything in Germany really has been quite convenient. After collecting my mother from Gate B2 in the Frankfurt airport, we headed 2 floors up to the Deutsch Bahn station to hop a train to Nuremberg. It took about 3 hours during which mom gazed at tiled roofs and snoozed and I started reading for January's lessons back in Hawler (I will leave the marking until later).
The hotel was directly across from the train station, making things somewhat easy (although I deeply regret that the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul wasn't open over Bayram as I truly needed to have purchased either another suitcase with wheels - last medium sized one broke- or something light that I could throw over my back... my borrowed leather thing, although pretty and not so big, weighs a ton).
After dropping the bags, we ventured out, turned right, crossed the street and found ourselves in front of the tourist information center. The smiling and friendly woman there gave us all the necessary information and we headed to the Christmas market. Surrounded by the heady scents of spiced wine, cinnamon and gingerbread, we sipped glühwein from little ceramic boots, sampled the Nuremberg lebkuchen and then headed for some real sustenance: Nuremberg bratwurst, sauerkraut and horseradish, all washed down with a beer. We came back early for mom to catch up on her sleep after nearly 2 days of traveling with no sleep. I haven't taken any pictures yet and the only postcards are one of Frankfurt airport that mom bought where else, but in the airport... and some free ones from the hotel (see above for an idea).

We leave for Munich on the 23rd, but from now until then, you can search for little shadows of mom and I by clicking here on Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarket's page and then on their link to their webcam images from the last 30 minutes. The morning is passing and mom is still sleeping, but I imagine today we will buy a day pass for local trains and go to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Dogs, Donkeys & Shoes: update from Frankfurt

Here I sit in my airport hotel in Frankfurt getting in a few last minutes of expensive, but very functional high speed internet connection while watching CNN (I don't have to leave for a few more minutes).

It would seem that while the Bosnians are using dogs to find mines in Iraq, the Canadians are training donkeys to negotiate difficult terrain in Afghanistan. The donkeys trainees will not only allow them to reach hard-to-reach place (donkeys don't need much water and are strong); it will also keep good relations with Afghani farmers whose walls won't be destroyed if the Canadians are using donkeys instead of tanks to reach other Canadians needing supplies.

Also to watch: changes in the Iraqi feelings re: the shoe throwing incident. Seems the journalist was beaten... I am sure you are not surprised.

Dog Handling in Chamchamal

In fall of 2006, I can still recall landing in Iraq, the whole atmosphere being somewhat scary and foreboding. The sky was dark and inky and I couldn't see any lights below. This time leaving at dusk, Erbil looked completely different. The electricity seemed to be working and there were strings of lights zigzagging their way out of Erbil, festooned here and there with twinkly baubles of small towns. I had a good view out of the window because the Austrian Airlines Airbus I was in was squishy to say the least. At only 5'5", my knees were touching the seat ahead and there wasn't enough space to comfortably read a book, let alone unfold a newspaper.

But neither the view nor the squashy seating of the airbus is the point of this post; it is about my traveling companions. I was squashed against the window by the two massive (and I mean massive- tall, broad, big) Bosnian guys sitting in the center and aisle seats. Souad, the one nearest me tried sparking a conversation in his broken and accented English. "Where you live? I live Chamchamal. Chamchamal no good. Erbil very good." It was good to be reminded that there are places harder to live than Erbil. Truthfully, I cannot even imagine living in Chamchamal... a VERY small town between Sulemaniya and Kirkuk.

It turns out that the man was traveling home with 3 other Bosnians who all work as a part of a mine detection unit. He was a dog handler. He explained that if it is known that there are many mines, dogs are not used, but are used in places like Chamchamal were it is unknown if there are still mines remaining or not. They comb the ground in an even fashion like a lawn mower until they smell a mine. Then they sit. Apparently he found 10 mines in Guantanamo Cuba and about 2 to date in Chamchamal (but countless others in Kosovo, Macedonia... )


The above map and photo are from 2003 when the Chamchamal was still dangerous. The lighter colored area of course was and is Kurdistan.

Shoe thrown at Bush priceless?

As distasteful as it was to me, many students had copies of the infamous Saddam hanging video clip downloaded onto their phones. I don't know why, but I imagined the phenomenon would repeat itself with the whole Iraqi journalist throws shoes at Bush incident. I was completely wrong. I asked a couple of my students what they thought...

Student 1: I couldn't watch... Shameful. Absolutely shameful. How could he do this to somebody's president, present or past? In our culture, we must respect a high ranking person's position!

Student 2: Stupid man, that journalist just wanted to be famous. But it worked. Did you know that some Saudi guy offered $10 million for the shoes?

Student 3: I am a Kurd, not an Arab. This has nothing to do with me. (Why this has anything to do with having an opinion is beyond me).

Student 4: Did you know that this has not really been on local TV much? I only just saw it on Al Jazeera International. Muntadar al-Zeidi doesn't represent all Iraqis.

Friend in Turkey: Wow, the Turkish company (all shoes in Iraq seem to be from Turkey, Syria or China) that made those shoes is going to be RICH!!!

Mu: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha choke ha ha ha ha ha... (as he played the following clip over and over again). This last was more the reaction I was expecting. Shows I still know absolutely nothing about this place!

Ahmet Özhan sings for Semazen (dervishes)

Kiki moves to Adana

THat friend that I met in Konya was actually "Kiki" (in right side bar: Kiki in Skopje); except that Kiki is no longer in Macadonia. She has moved to Adana to teach there. Today I found that she had posted her photos on Facebook... and she actually took picture of the sema ceremony. Since I have none of my own... I had to post them here...

Today was a significant day at the Mevlana Center as the president of Turkey attended. After a dinner at Batmaz Turkish restaurant in Ankawa (which incidentally has changed hands and is actually BETTER!), we came back to find that Turkish channel TRT International was broadcasting live from Konya. I got to see part of the ceremony again, starting from a live concert by Ahmet Özhan. Check YouTube!

No photos!

On Saturday, after the long journey back from the border, the car needed a fill up and a good wash. We headed to Khak Gas Station... After filling up, they give a coupon for the car wash... Amazing! Especially considering that in 2006, Mu mostly filled up his tank by purchasing his gas from a child at the side of a road who then emptied on of the plastic containers filled with pink (the premium gas) into the tank.

I had to take a photo. What I didn't expect is that the car wash man would come and tell me that photos were not permitted. Mu laughed and asked why the man thought that the station was so important as to prohibit photos. But I wonder.... is this a left over from more dangerous times? Does a photo give a plan to someone with bad intentions?

Delayed again by FOG

And the trip back to Hawler was just as difficult as the journey from Hawler. Although the border crossing only took about an hour, it was because we didn't arrive at the border until just after midnight (after 5:00 am by the time we arrived home). We departed early only to be delayed another 3 hours in the Konya due to fog... Below are the pictures taken to measure the density of the problem. The first was probably taken at about 10:30 am after an hour or two of delay...



And the second photo about 30-40 minutes later... Finally we made it to Istanbul, but of course far to late to catch the connecting flight to Istanbul. Two hours later in Ankara, we were again delayed in continuing on to Diyarbakır.

Mevlana Sema - Whirling Dervishes

When I was a child, my mother told me about the whirling dervishes, but I have to say that I couldn't understand her fascination with them. However, Iraq being so close to Turkey, I couldn't' pass up the opportunity to see them. On Thursday Evening after dinner, along with friends working in Adana and Antep, Turkey, we visited the modern center built for Sema for the 15 day Şeb-i Aruz' celebration. Spectacular! The stands were filled with Turkish pilgrims who joined the head semazen in prayer as the ceremony ended. The top two pictures below come from the Turkish Airlines in flight magazine. I post these particular photos as they are taken in the Center in Konya where we saw sema... I can even recognize the semazen from being there!


Likewise the next two photos are also of familiar semazen and I found them in a photo bank by Ogun Altun.


Please click on the two links at the top of this post for enlightening information on the whirling dervishes.

Lesley's Shadow, Me & the Turkish Tulips

Too many times to Turkey, I had become accustomed to the many decorative tulips adorning parks, subway stations, textiles, porcelain and more... It was again Lesley snapping photos of tulips (no, it wasn't only cats) that made me stop and ponder the preponderance of tulips.

Well, it seems that those of us who think that we enjoy tulips thanks to the Dutch would be wrong. In fact it was an Austrian ambassador to Emperor Ferdinand I named Busbeq who noticed the lovely things growing in the gardens in Constantinople in 1556... They henceforth became one of the most desired botanical item among the well-to-do in Europe. In the 1560s, a small number were exported to Hapsburg, Brussels, Augsburg, Paris, and Prague...

And back in the Ottoman Empire... from 1717 to 1730, Turkey was called the Tulip Era after the 'King of the bulbs'. Under the reign of Sultan Ahmed III, Burak Sansal describes this period as one of peace and enjoyment.

Aziziye Minarets

Above, please view a minaret of Aziziye Cami. Unlike the pointy tops of the minarets of Sultanahmet Cami, these look like royal balconies. Is this a Persian style? Would seem appropriate as Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi was born in Iran.

Mevlana Museum in Konya

My first (and possibly last) visit to Konya, my first stop was the Mevlana Museum. Housing the Mausoleum (with tombs of Rumi and the Mevlevi order), a mosque, dervish living quarters (arranged around the edges of the complex much like a Japanese castle or monastery), and dance hall, the museum was truly impressive.


Unfortunately, the weather in Konya was rather too cold for me, and although my jacket-less companion kept proclaiming, "It's NOT cold!!!", the thick coats of all the other pilgrims and the frost coating the grass confirmed my right to complain. My fingers freezing, I couldn't concentrate on taking photos and so you, beloved reader, must suffice with what is here, or visit Mevlana Net.