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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

St.Stefan, Hunger Cloth


Yesterday, exactly one year ago, I posted
several images of the so-called Hunger - or Fasting cloths.
During the Lenten period, some catholic churches,
particularly in Carinthia and Tirol
cover the images on their altars with a sheet of cloth.
Originally they were of one colour (mostly purple)
and meant to simply hide the pictures of the altar.
Later they themselves became veritable works of art,
being used to teach a largely illiterate population
the happenings during the life of Christ.

PLEASE VIEW THE FOLLOWING PICTURES
IN THE LARGE FORMAT FOR FULL ENJOYMENT


This is the "Fastentuch" of the church of
St.Stefan im Krappfeld.
On either side of the image of the cruzifiction
are four circular pictures, showing scenes
of the Bible.



The upper circle depicts a moment of
Jesus carrying his own cross to the place
of his execution and, I believe,
Veronica, offering him her kerchief to wipe the sweat off his brow.
The lower circle shows the resurrection, with two astonished guards
sitting beside the grave.


In the same church they found a painting
of the Pieta behind a layer of plaster.
Although this work was covered by plaster for many years
the colours are well preserved.
Unfortunately there is an area of Christ's midsection
which was damaged. Talented restorers, however,
will undoubtedly bring the entire image back to its original beauty.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL BELIEVERS

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Lonely in Trieste


This lonely tourist in Trieste
only looks lonely.
She's lucky !
She's with me !
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TRIESTE, ITALY


Trieste is a city in north-eastern Italy,
close to the border of Slovenia.
Between 1382 and 1918 it belonged to
the Habsburg Monarchy.
For much of this time it was the 4th largest City
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The city now has about 205,000 inhabitants,
stemming from Italy, Slovenia and from
several other Balcan Nations.


At the foot of the city, right at the harbour,
the roman Catholic Church.


The Teatro Verdi, Triest's Opera House.


The "Canale Grande", not to be compared with the
Grand Canal of Venice,
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Trieste - Teatro Verdi


The Teatro Verdi, the Opera House in Trieste, Italy
seats only about 1400 persons.
It was built in the style of Opera Houses all over Europe
but, with "a little extra" to give it the Austro-Italian flair.



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The Elixir of Love


Some of the very colourful scenes
from this Opera.


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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Church Windows...

New, most modern Church Windows were installed in the "Pfarrkirche" in Bleiburg.
The artist who created them gave a lecture, explaining the meaning of his creation.
Unfortunately I came to late to hear his explanation and instead of telling you what other people said about them, I will show them to you, so you may come to your own conclusions.
Without colour, contours are cut into the glass. If I can interview the artist, I will report the result in this Blog at a later time.
Since there is so little contrast, these windows are very difficult to photograph. One just has to wait for the right time of day and the right outside light in order to obtain a meaningful image.
Sorry I could not do better, but I thought these windows of sufficient interest to post them here for you.
Greetings from Bleiburg.
Bert

Modern Church Windows




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Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Austrian National Youth Skiing Championships

The town of Bleiburg, where we live, and its "House Mountain, the Petzen" once again were selected to host the Austrian Youth Championships in alpine skiing. There was the Special Slalom, the Giant Slalom and the Super G.
Children in various age groups came from every Province of Austria to compete in these three disciplines. The excitement throughout the town was palpable and when in the evening they all came into the Main Square for the Medal Presentation, you could hardly move for all the crowd assembled. I did not actually count, but it seemed to me that the Tiroleans and the children from Carinthia earned the most medals. But as each name was called out, regardless from which Province they came, there rose a great cheer from the people.
To look into the fresh and glowing, beautiful faces of those children gave me a warm feeling.
I truly believe that not only those who reached the podium, but all of them were "winners".
Greetings from Bleiburg, Carinthia.
Bert.

Here come tomorrows Champs


From the Province of Upper Austria.
a proud contingent !!


Young Tirolean girls
after having performed great deeds
on "the Petzen"


Boys and girls from Carinthia.
Some of the very best....

...they proudly display
the Provincial Flag
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The next women "Olympians"


Here are the ladies of the under 16 division
winners of the Giant Slalom

As you can see, she is not only a good skier
but a very pretty girl too.


Some youngsters "under 12"


a proud 1st place winner,
displaying the flag of her Province.
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The GS winners in the 14 year olds


Look out World !
Here come the New Champions of the slopes.


The winners received a trophy and a certificate.
The pride they felt was written all over their gleaming faces.



The 12 year old division winners
from the Province of Tirol.
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Band in the Parkhotel Tristachersee.


Gerhard Bucher (trumpet) Charly Reicheneder (Tenor Sax)
Mandy Plzak (String Bass), Otto Reischmann (Piano)
Peppi Kreuzer (vocals)


This time, Gerhard is on the Flute and Charly on the Clarinette


A soleful Duo: gerhard and Charly.


Peppi Kreuzer, a multi talented vocalist.

WHAT GREAT MUSIC THEY MADE
THANK YOU.
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Jazz Konzert im Parkhotel Tristachersee.

It was a wonderful opportunity to hear good Jazz, enjoy great food and superb wines.
In the Parkhotel on the shore of Lake Tristach in East Tirol.
Surrounded by Mountains, directly at the foot of a perpenticular wall of rock, steep and high enough to scare you a bit, stands this 4 star hotel, owned and operated by an energetic, hardworking and knowledgable, super friendly Josef ( Peppi ) Kreuzer.
He not only runs the finest establishment for miles and miles, but also possesses a good voice which he uses freely to act as the vocalist for the band he hires to entertain his guests.
No wonder, that his hotel is full to capacity, and in spite of the dining room being "sold out",
there is excellent, efficient service. The quality of the food is beyond compare.
What a joy it is to experience the results of the combined labour of a real enterpreneur and his skilled staff.

The reason for our visit there,( it's a 2 and 1/2 hours trip over 200 km) was because my old friend, Charly Reicheneder, played there with a wonderful quartett of excellent musicians.
The musical leader of this group is its pianist, Otto Reischmann. A pianist of the old school, who can elicit soulful melodies from his keyboard or hard driving rhythms...whichever the tune calls for.
Gerhard Bucher blows a mean Trumpet and Fluegelhorn, and a gentle Flute.
Charly Reicheneder, my old and trusty friend, on the Tenor Saxophone can blow a soulful ballad which makes you close your eyes and dream a bit, only to be electrified by the most raucous riffs this side of Coleman Hawkins.
Then there is Mandy Plzak on his Double Bass, underlining the melodious structure and driving the band rhythmically in the absense of a drummer.
And last but not least...can I believe this, the owner and general manager of the Parkhotel Tristachersee, takes the wireless microphone and sings all kinds of melodies out of everybody's song book. There are Italian Songs, "come back to Sorento", there are Jazz tunes, and there are sentimental Carinthian melodies. all offered in a smooth voice, slightly reminiscent of Tony Bennet.
The band played without interuption until midnight and when they finished you were left with a sense of regret. You wanted more of the good stuff.

Tired, we fell asleep in a luxurious room on comfortable beds, to wake up the next morning for a lavish breakfast. (If you want to control your weight, this is not the place to do it.)

We decided to drive home the long way around. Through the Lesach- and the Gail valley, over a couple of snowfree mountain passes and through the lovely Rosental (Valley of the roses) until, some 4 hours later and after a leisurly drive we arrived back home in good old Bleiburg.

Above here and below you will find some pictures taken during this lovely two days.

Das Quartett am Tristachersee


Otto Reischmann, Piano
und musikalischer Leiter


Charly Reicheneder,
Tenor Sax und Klarinette


Gerhard Bucher
Trompete, Fluegelhorn und Floete


Mandy Plzak
Contrabass.
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