The Parliament of Austria

I know, I know...  I've posted pictures of Austria's Parliament buildings before.

It's difficult not to photograph them when you stand in front.

They are, so I read, in dire need of substantial repairs.

The "Pallas - Athene - Fountain" (covered for the winter period)

Was it not "al dente"?

Tooth implant and an Italian Restaurant all together ?

The Pasta must be as hard as a rock!

Serious Inroads into Austrian Culture

I am slowly getting used to the Anglicisms which creep into the German language on every level.
Someday I will make a compendium of  all the English, or English derived words used in the daily news paper.
I am actually not "getting used to it" but I am getting less amused.
Now an Anglicism has moved not into the language, but into one of the most fervently held customs:
In Austria, on Christmas Eve comes the "Christkindl", (the Christchild) and brings the presents and in many homes it also brings the Christmas tree.
On the 6th day of December St. Nikolaus visits homes and brings some small presents, like a bag of nuts, some Ginger bread etc.
At no time does Santa Claus, coming on a sled, pulled by some reindeer, sliding down a chimney, get even an honourable mention.
Just look at this, however !  

Please remember : We are in Vienna, the Capital of German speaking Austria. And yet : What do I see ?

In large red letters : Merry Christmas !

Then in smaller dark letters the German equivalent: 

Froehliche Weihnachten.

Why is there a chimney ? The Christkindl has never been known as arriving through a chimney. And then on the chimney, 

in blue Neon: HO HO HOO.

I have never heard of the Christkindl calling out HoHoHoo.

Only Santa Claus calls out HOHOHO.

Now, please move with me into the interior of St.Stephens Cathedral.

There is a little store which sells souvenirs 

of a religious nature to visitors.

The German word for Cathedral is "Dom".

St.Stephen's Cathedral in German is called the Stephans Dom.

Now we could call this little store just "Souvenirs".

But what do we call it ? "Dom - Shop".

Nowhere in any German dictionary will you find the word "Shop"

I wonder and think about it. The thought of the stronger culture overwhelming the weaker one comes to mind.

I may write about this later.

Bertstravels

VIENNA AT NIGHT

It was a cold and windy evening. But Vienna at night, in particular the Kaerntner Strasse, the Graben und all the streets in this nucleus of the First District are too beautiful not to visit, just because it's a little chilly.
So, here are some more pictures of "Vienna by night"!

Some side streets, running off the Graben, 

featuring their own Christmas Decoration.

Night and Day

When I first saw the Haas  building I thought that it was simply terrible and did not fit into the surroundings, the St. Stephens Cathedral Square. When I saw it the third and fourth time, I got used to it and now it looks quite Okay to me.

The "Haas Building" by day. ( at 11.32 AM )

The "Haas Building by night  ( actually at 4.50 PM )

St. Stephens Cathedral during daylight hours

and during the dark.

IN VIENNA

My second day in Vienna.

Christin will be operated today and by tomorrow she will be the proud owner of a brand new right hip.

Needless to say, she is worried in spite of the many assurances that it is by now a routine operation.

It is evidently a lot easier to talk about somebody else's hip replacement, than to think about your own.

Unfortunately I could not do anything for her. Today's morning hours were used for preparation, the actual operation is at 2PM...  in fact, if everything goes according to plan, they will have started by now. It's 2,10PM.

Since I would be neither use nor ornament in the Hospital, I took my camera and walked around in the First District.

At the City Hall there is a "Christkindl Market", a "Christmas Market"  where they sell everything that has to do with Christmas and some things which do not. I don't know how many stands there are. There must be at least a hundred, maybe more, or maybe they just look that many, arranged in semi circular rows.

Today, it seems, is the day for school kids to visit this magic place. There were hundreds of them, chaperoned by teachers and parents.

Let me show you a few pictures:

The City Hall ( das Rathaus ) of Vienna.

Seat of the municipal Government,

featuring a huge plaza in front,

which is used for various "happenings".

This month it's the "Christmas Market".

Another shot of the City Hall. There are many, maybe a hundred sales huts in front.

I have always liked Vienna's "Rathaus". The building, that is.. 

not necessarily the politics emanating from it.

One group of about 20 pupils. Grade 1 or 2 of Primary school.

At this age, racial prejudice has not yet started.

Kids, fortunately are colour blind. It takes adults 'education' to teach them differently.

Who does not like 'Maroni' ?

1 little bag of these roasted chest nuts at 2 Euros, keeps a kid happy for as long as it takes him/her to devour them.

Wait a while, I will soon post more images of  'a cold day in Vienna'

Remember this name:

Jean Claude Junckers ! (And please do not pronounce it as you would if he were English.)
Jean Claude was, until recently, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. A small country in the North-West of Europe, housing about 500,000 Luxembourgers.
This small Principality recently was best known as just about the best Tax haven for the largest corporations and the richest individuals, not only of Europe, but also of America. And who do you thinks made it possible that so much money flowed almost totally tax free into Luxembourg ? Jean Claude; that's who.
As the Premier and also the Minister of Finance he passed, almost single handedly, Laws and Rules and Regulations which caused these firms to pay next to no taxes at home.
In a simplified version, that's how it worked:
Corporation XYZ operating, say, in Germany made huge profits, for which taxes would have been payable in accordance with the tax laws of Germany.
So, clever XYZ set up their head office in Luxembourg and this head office charged the German daughter huge licence and other fees, until there was almost no profit to declare in Germany. All the Profits had been channeled to Luxi, where Jean Claude made certain that no, or minimal taxes had to be paid there.
What a neat and dirty trick. I have not heard of Junckers having worried about his dirty hands, and I truly wonder if JCJ did all this out of the goodness of his heart, or if there were, by any chance, some other reasons for his governmental largess.
All this had become public knowledge about a month after Mr. Junckers was elected to the position of "Commission President of the European Union. A pretty important job, I would say.
So, instead of being charged with aiding and abetting Tax evaders he gets to be the top cooky in Europe.
Of course he claims that everything was done completely legally. It might be reasonable to assume that if I can pass the laws, everything I will do, will be completely legal.

Now Jean Claude Junckers comes up with a brilliant idea: The EU will make available a 315 Billion Euros "Growth package" which will pull Europe out of the financial stagnation in which it finds itself.
How will this happen ? Where will this considerable amount come from ?
Quite simple: The European Union will provide 16 Billions Euros, the European Investment Bank will chip in another 5 Billion. That makes it 21 Billions. Quite a way short of 315 Billion, you say?
Not a problem: Mr. Junckers expects a "leverage effect" through which the private sector, encouraged by Guarantees of the EU and the EIB will invest on a ratio of 1:15.
And here is the 315 Billion (with a B). Why did he not "assume" a ratio of 1:20 ? Then he could have raised even  more money to fight, as he says Unemployment in Europe.
Since public money will guarantee  the investments of the private sector, a ratio of 1:15 he says, may well be expected. Is this not a little bit like dreaming in technicolour?

I tell you what happened in Austria: The Government guaranteed Bank Loans for investments in the East block countries. The most hair raising investments were undertaken, which from the out set had little, if any hope to succeed. But substantial fees could be charged and much money could flow into private hands.
When the investments failed, the Government had no choice but to fork over the guaranteed amounts..
Is any of the East block Countries now richer and better off than they were before? I rather doubt it.
Maybe I do not understand the totality of Mr. Juncker's plan. But as I see it, it will be just another boondoggle for which, in the final analysis, the European tax payer must bleed.

I've heard of the miraculous increases in fish and bread, but in Euros?

For Europe's sake, I hope that I am wrong and Mr. Junckers can perform this miracle.

so hopes

Bertstravels.

Right On.....

I am always proud to be a Canadian.
A member, by choice, of the most tolerant group of people on the planet,  and I could go on and on, reciting all the reasons why I am happy to be a Canadian.
sometimes, however, something happens that puts the head on the nail.

During the meeting of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, so it is reported, Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper met Russian President Vladimir Putin with the following words:

"Well, I guess I'll shake your hand, 
but I only have one thing to say to you:
You need to get out of Ukraine."

Short, precise, no gobble-de-gook, honest and absolutely to the point.
Simply the Canadian way.

So says 
Bertstravels.

Devils in Disguise

During the end of November and the beginning of December          ( actually, right up to the festival of the "Holy three Kings" on January 6, ) the "Perchten" or "Krampuses" make the streets of many communities in Austria and Bavaria "unsafe" for young people, mostly young girls.
The Perchten, predominantly young men, dressed up in frightful masks and costumes, roam the streets and, armed with switches, threaten all who have come to see this old custom.

When I was young, St. Nickolaus appeared, accompanied by a Krampus. While Old Nick handed out small presents, such as nuts, gingerbread and some candies, Krampus would recite the "sins" we had committed and for each one he would gently slap our behind with his switch.
An old custom which we all survived without lasting harm.

This quaint custom has now developed into the "Perchten Run", conducted by Perchten Clubs, who manufacture their own costumes and in an organized way visit neighbouring communities.

Last night was the Perchten Run in Bleiburg.
Eighty two (82 !) different clubs participated, each consisting of 10 to 20 devils.
The Main Street had been cleared of parked vehicles and all traffic was re-routed, and this seemingly never ending procession of devils, some spitting fire, moved through our town, causing no damage, and bringing much added revenue to Restaurants and Bars from the thousands of onlookers lining the parade route.

Fire breathing Perchten.

Two Perchtens pulling a charriot

Two horns were not enough for this one.

Among the

  estimated 800 to 1000 devils

there was this lonely St. Nick.

This almost 7 foot devil moved deftly on stilts.

Are things getting better ?

For many years now, it has become known that a great deal of child abuse has been happening and is still happening, perpetrated by Catholic Priests.
It probably started in year One, when "the Keepers of the Flame" were forced to "officially" be celibate. So, I assume that it went on in Pre-Christian times. The Greeks probably indulged in it, as did the Romans. It was, however, well hidden, and never talked about, since those committing this heinous crime were usually in power, legally as well as spiritually.
It was only fairly recently that it came to the light of day, when victims dared to speak out and tell the world of the criminal conspiracy happening in the Catholic Church.
At first we heard about it in Canada, the USA, Ireland, Austria, and many other countries where Roman Catholicism reigns the roost.
When it became rampant in Germany, the then Pope, Benedict XVI issued an "Apostolic Letter" with the instructions that issues of child abuse were not to be reported to the local Authorities, but were to be dealt with inside the institution, privately, subject to "pontifical secret."

Isn't this just dandy! You rape little kids and we make sure you don't go to jail, where you belong, but you get your knuckles rapped and then transferred to another Parish.

Now we hear the News ( Kleine Zeitung, 20th November ) that in the Spanish Province of Granada several Catholic Priests are said to have misused children over many years. Even the local Bishop, who followed the Pope's instructions for an explanation only hesitatingly ( I wonder why) is under fire.
One of the victims, now 24 years of age, had written a letter to the Pope asking for help.
The Pope personally telephoned this young man and asked, in the name of the Catholic Church, for forgiveness,  and that's the new twist, he urged the man to lay charges with the Police.

Quite a positive change from:
"investigation, subject to pontifical secret"
to: the urging to  "Call the Cops".

Anyone convicted of the crime of child abuse and those convicted of a Cover Up (pontifical secret)
should be sent to jail in accordance with the laws of the country.

So thinks

Bertstravels

.

Who is he ?

Some time ago I paid a three day visit to Nürnberg, Germany.
Naturally I had brought my cameras along and took many many pictures.
I have been looking at these images and have written to the "Förderverein" in Nürnberg for information.
I am posting herewith two images which puzzle me, although to some extent they are self explanatory:

Here, I am certain we are dealing with "Eve and Adam"

(above and below)

just after they had eaten the forbidden fruit.

They had become aware of their sexuality,

 and in shame they cover their sexual organs

 with  the proverbial fig leaf.

Christianity, of course, connects anything to do with sex

as shameful.

Who is the fellow on the left of Eve and on the right of Adam ?

Might he be God, his body demurely robed from shoulders to toes ?

He wears different head gear in the two sculptures, but,

 and I would love to know the meaning of this, 

His right forefinger points away from Eve, but, follow the trajectory,

points directly at Adam's hidden, fig-leaf-covered penis.

In both images he has a bit of a smirk on his face, as if to say:

"This has put you into trouble now

and it is going to give you a lot of trouble for ever."

This outstretched pointer must have a definite meaning

since the artist of what are clearly two different sculptures

 made a point in repeating it in both creations.

Or, Heaven forbid, maybe the artist made a mistake

 and it should have been God's Middle finger ?

Tirol in the rain...

... on our way home from Braunau, we drove through East Tirol, stopping in Lienz to visit some of Christin's friends. It was a cloudy day and rained off and on. Here I'll post some pictures I took inspite of the conditions.

There are craggy mountains everywhere you look.

Low hanging clouds bisect the foot hills and inspite of the late season, 16th November,  

the meadows are lush green and cattle still graze outdoors.

Why would anybody build a castle there ?

This Lonely Knight must have spent many a lonely night here.

e-mail from Africa

I've been in Africa on Safari exactly eleven times. The last two times in Zimbabwe, I was lucky enough to be guided by whom I consider to be the best guide  I've ever had.
His name is Ant (Anthony) Kashula and his lovely wife's name is Rawana.
Rawana operates her own Safari Co-ordination business for a number of Safari Operators, and I am glad to say, she has me on her e-mail list. 
The last e-mail describes the "feeling" of a Zimbabwe Safari right down to a "T". She calls it a "Bush Snippet" and I would like to repeat it herewith:

You wake up to a cacophony of churring long-tailed starlings in the flowering wild-mango trees and the booming "huh huh huh- huh of the ground hornbills.

Already, at 5.30 in the morning the night is losing her coolness, the promise of warmth and dry heat in the smells of the warming earth.
The colossal Wild Mango trees are thick with yellow flowers, their petals falling like rain as the myriad birds hop about their branches.

The 8th of September was the day that Zimbabwe gave up winter for summer, entirely skipping Spring, it would seem. The first week of September was so cold and windy  we were bundled against the chill and longing for a little warmth - yet, not a week later, we were dousing ourselves with cold buckets of water. There is something wonderful about nature's ability to just remind us of that we must give ourselves over to her dynamic moods.

The warmth heralds the eruption of flowers on the knob-thorn acacia, Acacia nigrescens. Looking over the vistas towards escarpments in the purple distance you see puffs of white down marking the sentinels of the bush. Combretum mossambicensis also providing long trails of white brush flowers to the otherwise quite bare earth flood plains.

I was lucky enough to spend two weeks camped beneath the Wild Mangoes with the starlings and some elephant bulls for company, as well as our two children and some delightful guests.
As is always the way however, often the most memorable wildlife experiences happen when you do not have guests!

We arrived back into camp one afternoon to find a resident leopardess had stashed an impala kill in the bough of a tree 4 meters off the path to our mess tent and 3 meters behind the mess tent.
With much parental clucking and concern for the toddlers we dragged her kill out into the riverbed.
We watched the perigee full (Super) moon rise across the sand of the river, reflecting in red, mercurial strips in the water. Huge and ethereal, before taking Tassia to our tent and viewing Mrs. Leopard on route. She sat crouched in the beam of the torch, looking for her errant Impala.
A waft of decay on the wind from the riverbed got her paddling off and there we watched her by the light of the moon happily crunching away.

Not many people think to plan their Safaris around moon phases.... but it got me thinking... why not ?

Rawana Kaschula.

                    **********************************************************

This so beautifully describes the facts and the moods of an African Safari. Anyone who has not yet experienced it does not truly know what they are missing.
Do yourself the biggest favour... call Rowana or her husband Ant and let them show you Zimbabwe, Africa at its best.

Guess who is just itching to go back there.

Bertstravels !
that's who!

Rowana mentioned the "Long Tailed Starling", the "Elephant" and the "Ground Hornbill"... she also mentioned a Leopard...
Here are 3 out of 4. I could also show you Lions and Cheetahs and all kinds of other denizens of Zimbabwe...  unfortunately no Leopard...

Although they are called "Ground Hornbill" 

they don't mind hanging out in a tree.

When they just sit aound, they look completely black.

 In flight, however, they show their

white wing tips.

Rawama mentioned the "long tailed starling".

This may be the "Glossy Starling"

but what the hey...  a starling is a starling. No?

I have literally hundreds of Elephant pictures.

This one will have to do.

Any closer and you'd have to call it :

"Too close for comfort."

True, this is not a Leopard, 

but it is a very rare picture of a Cheetah mother

with four healthy cubs.

I hope they all survived.

More of "Monika"

Some blogs back I showed you a few pictures painted by

MONIKA

There is space for three more.

These three images give you an idea of the

wide ranging talent of Monika.

Think about it !

When grey fog settles in the valley of the river Drau,
don't just remember the long gone sunny days of Summers past,
but think ahead to the wonderful Spring to come.

Bertstravels.

Talking about the Berlin Wall...

reminds me of our visit to Berlin in May or June of 1990. About 6 or 7 months after the momentous occasion, Gladys and I went to Berlin to see "what's happenin'"... and, of course, we visited the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charley and a most interesting Subway Station, where the trains never stopped, since this loop, servicing what was then East Berlin, cut through West Berlin. The entrances where bricked up and the trains just rushed through, not even slowing down.
The guide we had hired to show us the former Eastern Part took us down there and it produced in me, and Gladys later confirmed it, an eerie, almost frightening experience.
While walking around above ground again, with our guide, from one street to another, we noted the absolutely delapidated look of the buildings lining each street. On many facades one could still see the bullet marks dating back to 1945. While West Berlin proudly showed new buildings as well as beautifully restored old properties, the eastern part looked as if it were locked in a time capsule.

Back in front of the Brandenburg Gate many vendors were offering "genuine" concrete pieces of  "the Wall". Colourfully painted as was the entire wall along many stretches, by graffiti artists.
Gladys examined several pieces and finally decided on one. I suggested that she was falling for a fraud, since I believed this young lady had probably painted pieces of concrete last night in her kitchen. Much to my embarrassement, she spoke English quite well and assured me with some probably justified anger, that she was not a "bad person" who would cheat other people, but that the pieces sold by her were "absolutely genuine". In fact, she offered us a "Certificate" attesting to this and signed by her. It felt a little as if the fox was giving a Certificate of his good intentions to a chicken, the Certificate signed by him. Personally!
In any event, Gladys  bought the piece, overpaying by a considerable margin, to make up for, what she termed, my "unfounded suspicions"...
Unfortunately I do not remember what ever happened to this treasure.
Large, blank pieces ( Unpainted ) are now selling for something like 7,000.00 Euros
Go figure.

That and much more is what I remember of this time, 24 years ago.

Bertstravels.

Einstein's Quote

"Life is like riding a bicycle: To keep your balance, you have to keep moving"
Bertstravels agrees.

THE WALL CAME CRASHING DOWN !!!

This is a momentous day.

Today, exactly 25 years ago, on the 9^th of November 1989, the biggest, most heinous blemish on the European landscape came down. Dismantled by a jubilant crowd, consisting mostly of the young.

The Wall, dividing the East and the West was demolished inch by concrete inch and then slabs of concrete fell crashing to earth. Barbed wires were snipped in two, all along this violent, cynical, barbarous demarcation line.

I say „violent“ since a great many people who attempted to cross this line from the East to the West, were shot and killed by border guards of their own nationality and culture, sharing the history, good and bad, of their common ancestry.

I say „cynical“ because the announced purpose of the wall was to keep out possible invaders from the West, when the leaders of the East Block countries, knew well that the concrete, the barbed wire, the watch towers, the buried land mines, the armed guards with German Sheppard dogs on a running line, they all were in place to prevent their own citizens from escaping to the West.

I say „barbarous“ because there was nothing which might remind you of a civilized leadership, but of a Moskau inspired, directed and supported gang of criminal oppressors of their own people.

When the Russian leaders became less and less the political image of Stalin, Erich Honecker stayed the course with stubborn brutality.

In January of 1989 he proudly announced that „the Wall would last for a hundred years or more, unless the underlying reasons for its existence would cease to exist.“

By „the underlying reasons“ he meant the existence of the hated „capitalist Western world“, which, he believed, threatened his workers' paradise.

The underlying reasons would indeed cease to exist, but fortunately not those envisioned by Mr. Honecker.

The disintegration of the Communist state structures happened not only in East Germany, but also in the Check Republic, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. All along the course of „the iron curtain“ the people revolted and forced the communist leadership to step down.

Check in tomorrow, when some additional thoughts will be written by

Bertstravels

A little early, but

I know it's a bit early to post pictures of Winter in Ontario.
But it won't be long now before scenes like this will be visible in Algonquin  Park and elsewhere in Canada. These images were taken several years ago, but I thought that they both fit nicely into "today".

A small brook, whose name I no longer remember, 

makes me shiver

by just looking at it in this picture.

Snow Geese on their way South, running a little late,

make a quick rest stop in Canoe Lake.

for a change............

...some water lilly pads after a light rain.

This one you'll have to think about:

On the South Shore of Lake Simcoe, a small patch of lawn.

On a cold day, a strong wind carried spray onto shore

and each blade of grass was coated by a layer of frozen spray.

To see this better, please click on the picture.

Guarantees ?

Marriage has no guarantee ! If that's what you are looking for, go live with a car battery.

..so said Erna Bombeck

Afternoon and Evening on the "Saualpe"

At about 3PM we decided to go for a "little ride" in the country side.
Way up to a small town (800 inhabitants) called Diex. Also referred to as "the sun capital of Carinthia"
Diex is situated in South East Carinthia on the Southern slope of the "SauAlpe", high up ( 1159 meters a.s.l.) high above the Jaun Valley and the Lavant Valley.
Above us a totally cloudless sky, below us a blanket of fog, rising from the Drau river, lieing there, unmoving, looking for all the world like a silver grey lake.

From Diex along a well maintained, asphalted, but narrow road
 ( one car width)  to the Village of Grafenbach and from there, back down into the Lavant Valley, where, in the meantime the fog had lifted, and back home to Bleiburg.

It's hard to imagine a prettier drive.

above and below:

View from the Saualpe

View from the Saualpe into the Lavantal ( Valley of the Lavant )

The bank of fog, (or are they low hanging clouds ?)

like a silver lake.

There are many such churches called "Wehrkirchen" 

(defensive churches)

surrounded by thick walls, equipped with defensive installations

offering the last bastion of safety to the citizens, beleaguered by marauding bands.

Evening in the Valley

The twin steeples of the Church in Diex.