Baths, Rain, Hully Gully and Wine

Despite a day of mostly rain, we made the best of it in touring around some scenic spots during our visit with friends/hosts Lena and Peter from the town of Rosbach, Germany. This is the artsy (raindropped) view through a window of Peter's car.

A hillside of grapevines beckons in the view from our window seat in a very nice (and equally expensive) stop for lunch at Johannisberg, where the neighbors include an old and very large home (the type called castles, but the castles as we know castles are called kastels) and a Catholic church dating to around the year 1140. It has held up quite nicely.

This is a street scene in the Rhein River town of Rudesheim. Above the town, on the highest peak, rises an enormous militaristic monument to Prussian might erected around 1870 -- and perhaps only slightly smaller than our Statue of Liberty. (Wonder what the old gal might look like holding a sword....)

Another view of the grape crop at Johannisberg, with the river flowing past. (Did anyone say 'Riesling'? We bought some here. The Riesling cost about $10 for a full-liter bottle.)

There's lots of German towns with the word 'Bad' in front of their names. This shot was taken in Bad Nauheim, but it really wasn't bad in the bad/good kind of way. Here, Bad means 'spa,' and this is part of the spa at Bad Nauheim -- a wall through which the local salt-laden spring water drips, and the salt slowly coats the exterior planted surface, producing a supposedly healing atmosphere for visitors to breath as they sit on benches or stroll by on an elevated walkway. It smelled salty -- a little like the aroma at Utah's Salt Lake, but much less putrid. The water is pumped to the top by an old wooden waterwheel.

Belgium has many a pissing statue. Here in Bad Nauheim, they favor spurting breasts -- but about those legs....

Our group poses for Bonnie in front of the central square fountain in Bad Nauheim. Shown, from left, are Silviu (originally from Romania), his German wife Ute (they first were penpals, and their courtship was by pre-Internet mail); Peter and Lena; friends Elaine and Gene from California (who had arrived a day earlier in a nonstop flight from San Francisco to nearby Frankfurt.

An old marble and tile bathtub in one of the historic spa buildings at Bad Nauheim. There were photographs of the spa's many distinguished visitors, including a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt around 1890. (For seemingly unrelated reasons, he later declared war on Germany.)

Our friends Peter and Lena own an athletic club (including several clay tennis courts, indoor courts, and a couple of spacious rooms packed with high-tech workout equipment), and an indoor playground called Hully Gully where the children's bouncing platforms include this toothy critter whose mouth opens and closes. Kids can climb in, get swallowed up, and come out the back somewhere.

Members of the athletic club meet with a personal trainer to create a workout regimen that is programmed onto a memory card they insert like a key into a slot on each machine, which then operates with precise weights and pressures. At periodic intervals, the patrons have an evaluation by the trainer and their cards are updated with any revisions in their workouts.




The dinner table at the home of Peter and Lena showing, clockwise from left, Bonnie, Silviu, Ute, Lena, Peter, Elaine, Gene and David.

(All photos by Bonnie, with captions by David -- in case you hadn't guessed)

Polterabend

Saturday morning we said goodbye to Beate and Ellen and drove our rented car to Rosbach where we're staying with Lena and Peter. Beate and Ellen have promised to visit us in the states again.

We arrived at the home of our hosts in Rosbach where we soon left for a polterabend. We arrived at the party to
find a pile of broken dishes in the driveway. As we found out, a polterabend is a German wedding tradition where guests to the party bring old dishes and break them to wish the couple good luck and chase away bad spirits. Good food, friendly people and even fireworks filled the evening.

Stay tuned for the next Germany installment.

Binary Systems

For a few days, after visiting the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial and the Sashenhausen concentration camp, I noticed the composition of my images had changed. I was dividing my photographs in half. Perhaps it was a subconscious influence of the binary systems I had observed.

Binary systems exist on many levels. Not limited to math and technology, these systems are also about perspectives and the walls, both literal and figurative, that they create.

Former President Bush lived in a binary world which is aptly illustrated in his words, "You're either with us or against us." Binary is about on/off, either/or and, on another level, them/us. It can also be in/out. It is you/me but not "we." The Holocaust is an icon of binary policy. Through an extensive Nazi campaign, the Jewish population (along with gypsies, physically and mentally challenged people and political dissenters) was configured to be unlike everyone else. "You're either like us and fit in or you're out."

We visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin where we reviewed this terrible history. We saw photos of German citizens wearing hooked-nose masks, mocking the "other," de-humanizing Jews.

The Nazi binary system grew into an unimaginable extermination policy between 1933 and 1945. I sat in a darkened room at the Memorial where names of victims were projected onto four walls and a short biography was read both in German and English. The name of Yefim Mintz was projected on the walls surrounding me. He was just three-years-old when he was extinguished by the binary mentality carried to extreme. Four walls...three years...only two possibilities--live/die.

Although somewhat different in context, the Berlin Wall is another example of division caused by a non-mathematical binary system. The Wall divided Berlin for more than 28 years. We visited the East Side Gallery which displays art on a part of the Wall that was once Checkpoint Oberbaum Brucke. It was once a binary switch, in/out.

In 1961 politics divided people with the help of the Wall and now, after the wall's destruction in 1989, the Wall has become a vehicle that brings people together through art. More than 100 artists from 21 countries have contributed to the world's largest open-air gallery.

While we were looking at the art, a group of Chinese tourists insisted that we hold hands together in front of the Wall. The fact that the Wall can evolve from a divisive to a uniting force gives rise to hope. It also reminds us of the power of art.



I cannot help but think about how binary the U.S. has become and how crucial it is to move away from this perspective. Germany is evolving and, in some ways, is ahead of the U.S. As of the beginning of this year, same sex marriage is legal. The "others," those who were once considered so different, are now more accepted as "us." A metaphorical wall is beginning to crumble.

I've noticed, however, that an invisible wall still remains many places in Germany for those who must travel by wheelchair. Inaccessibility spells "either/or." You either have two legs that work like everyone else's or you just can't get from here to there. Germany, as does the rest of the world, still needs to eradicate binary perspectives.

What can we do? As the Wall tells us, "Many small people who live in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world."

Sans Souci and Reichstag

It was a busy day today, starting with a drive to Potsdam where we stood on the bridge that separated the east from the west and where canoers were shot by patrols on the east side if they drifted too far from the invisible dividing line in the water. After that we walked to a castle in Potsdam, Sans Souci built by Friedrich who ordered it fashioned after Versailles.

We ended up at the Reichstag where after a short wait in line and after going through security, we took an elevator to the modern dome on top. It was a photographer's paradise with panoramas, architecture and silhouettes. I uploaded one of my many pictures to give you an idea of the space we walked in.







After returning, we celebrated the marriage of Beate and Ellen who married soon after Germany passed a law permitting same sex marriage at the beginning of this year. Germany has come a long way and seems to have passed the U.S. which still cannot get past this debate.

Exploring Berlin

Today we began to explore a little of Berlin with Beate and Ellen.




We began with a quick view of Germany's "white house" where the President lives and not the chancellor. Then we hopped on a tourist boat and cruised up the Spree River where we passed some of the city's landmarks, including the Dome which we later went into. David, Beate and Ellen climbed the steps to the top while I stayed behind and studied the changing light on the golden altar.



We had a snack at an outdoor cafe where we were told we had to try the currywurst and Berliner Weisse. David and I shared both and romantically sipped the raspberry Weisse together. Both were very good!

We ended with a visit to a section of the Berlin wall that remains and a look at the beginning of an exhibit called the "Topography of Terror," a collection of photos with captions during the reign of the Gestapo.



Finally one of many graffiti examples that I could relate to!

Koelbl and Blue Man

Interesting day today. First we saw a photography exhibit by Herlinde Koelbl.

She had a huge exhibit that must have taken a lifetime. Photos were grouped by categorz. For example, there was one section with just portraits of children, another which included society pitures, another of people in their living spaces, another about the subjects and their bodies, etc. No cameras were allowed so I don't have anz pictures but zou can find out more about the photographer with a Google search.

Then there was the Blue Man Group. I'd seen the Blue Man Group in Chicago around 2000. Since David, Biete and Ellen had not seen them, I suggested that we go. As it turned out, they were all disappointed. Oh well...I enjoyed it. It really is a celebration of creativitz, relationships and play.

Although we were not allowed to photograph the show, we could take pictures in the lobby and I managed to get David to take one of us just before the show started. Below are some of these pictures.

Fireworks Celebrating Our Arrival? Nein!

This is the Pyronale, the 4th Pyronale World Fireworks Championship which takes place in the Olympic Stadium. Fridaz night included displays from Turkey, Singapore and Austria.

We saw Saturday night, in the cold and wet, displays from Poland, South Africa and Spain. The ones from South Africa were spectacular.

Welcome

On the way up to our friends' apartment, one of their neighbors had this as a greeting to their apartment below.

Another Journey

David and I wait at BWI Airport for our 9 p.m. flight to London where, 12 hours later we will transfer and take a flight to Berlin. We don't look forward to the cramped all night travel but we do look forward to seeing our friends.












At the airport in Berlin, our friends Beate and Ellen greet us with yellow roses and German flags. Beate and Ellen first stayed with us in Pasadena (Maryland) as Servas travelers four years ago and now we are happy to see them again.

Now to finally sleep!

Wedding Anyone?

I can now perform weddings in the state of Maryland.

Contact me: schupp9 (at) comcast (dot) net
.

Color of Change

Color of Change is making an impact on the hate mongering of Glenn Beck. Large companies are now thinking twice about the negative advertising that results when their names are connected with someone who seeks to destroy. Beck may be crazy like a Fox in his rhetoric that leads his flock to look for "otherness" through lies, but he is still crazy. Read more here.

World's Ugliest Pie

I don't cook. Let me repeat that...I don't cook. That being said, last night I made pie crust from scratch.

This is a picture of the pie before it went into the oven. David made the filling and I tackled the crust. I struggled with trying to keep it in one piece so I could get it into the pie dish but it wouldn't hold together.

Could it be because I left out 4 tablespoons of water when I mixed it? Could it be the wine that I sipped while making it?

It was delicious though!

..............................................................

No Water Allowed

Once upon a time, there was a retired couple. He had been an editor and retired from The Sun after 40 years. She had been a middle school teacher who earned a doctorate after retiring from teaching 7th graders.

This nice couple joined the Maryland Film Festival and received free screening passes. They recognized a good deal when they saw one and they liked the Maryland Film Festival people.

On his blog, the man reviewed films they saw. Although he didn't listen to his wife's opinion on the films, that was okay. They still kissed at the end of each movie and at the end of each night.

The woman was a big water drinker. Waiters at their favorite Chinese restaurant, the Szechuan Cafe in Pasadena (Maryland), did a good job of keeping her water glass full but they had to work hard to do it. She had asthma and her doctor said she should try to drink a gallon of water every day. Her gastroenterologist also said she needed to drink loads of water.

When this couple went to see movie screenings, sometimes she bought a fountain Coke at the theater but other times she carried a small bottle of water from home with her. People at the movie theaters were all understanding so the water was never a problem...

...until Bengies.

This nice couple drove 34 miles from Pasadena (Maryland) to Bengies Drive-In to see another screening. They did not take a bag full of snacks. They did not stop at McDonald's on the way. They weren't hungry because they had just had dinner (chicken, rice and asparagus). They had no alcohol in their car. They came to see the movie. However, they did have two fresh bottles of water with them.

"Wait! You have to get rid of your water." A Bengies man shouted at them as they drove in and began to look around for a pull-in spot. He told them they had to throw away their fresh bottles of water and buy new bottles of water from the drive-in's concession stand. Management wouldn't budge.

So, rather than throw away two $.50 a bottle waters and buy two $1.25 a bottle waters, this couple left without seeing the movie. They drove home another 34 miles, spending $5 in gas in the end.

It was the principle.

They also kissed that night.

In case you're interested in the theater's House Rules, go here:

http://www.bengies.com/HouseRules.php

It's enough to scare off a nice retired senior couple and their blog readers.



Comment from David.................................................................

The nice husband adds: An offer to buy two bottles of water from the concession stand, while keeping the two contraband bottles in the car unopened, was refused. The two perfectly good, unopened bottles of water, had to be thrown away, or we would EACH have to purchase a "food and beverage permit" for $7. So it was throw away 50 cents worth of water, pay $14 to keep and even drink that water, or leave the premises. We chose the latter. The great American drive-in movie theater has been vanishing from the landscape. Bengies may be the last in metro Baltimore. It has not had an easy time surviving. Inflexibility cost it all of $2.50 worth of water sales tonight, and the possibility of a hotdog sale or two during the screening.

Little Ms. Personality

I haven't met Stella yet but feel that I already know her because her Daddy and Mommy have been busy recording her life. When David and I go to Germany we'll get to meet her in person. Oh...and we'll also see Jeremy, Maja and Holly...her parents and her dog. If you want to smile and delight in the little things in life, visit The Bunny Rabbit Chronicles.

Movie Review: Humpday

Humpday, an off-beat buddy movie, surprised me. I went to see the Baltimore screening with my husband David because we’re members of the Maryland Film Festival.

I hadn’t read about it before going but fully expected the typical formula for former college buddies who re-unite after going in different directions. I expected stupid run-of-the-mill sex jokes and gags. Instead I found something different.

Andrew (Joshua Leonard) knocks on Ben’s (Mark Duplass) door unannounced late one night after they parted ten years ago from wild-boy college days. Ben is married, owns a house, lives a white picket fence life and is starting to work on a family with his wife Anna (Alycia Delmore). Andrew is a wandering artist who has traveled the globe and lives a free-style life. One thing leads to another and they decide to make a porn movie that’s not porn but art and have sex together even though they are straight and not gay.

There’s much more to the story but I found the relationship dynamics interesting. The story was merely the vehicle to set the scene to examine relationships between two men and between a man and his wife. It looks at games we play in these relationships, what we hide from others as well as ourselves, how people are not always who they seem to be and how sometimes we have to push the boundaries in order to discover who we are.

Writer/director Lynn Shelton beautifully explores the ironies of life and relationships through able actors and realistic filming techniques. The camera is hand held and actors frequently walk in front of the lens, blocking all view from the audience. Dialogue among the characters mimics the rhythm of real conversations where one voice interrupts and sometimes several people are talking at once. The conversational flow and the camera work create a setting that pulls the viewer into the scene with a “you are there” feeling. In spite of the lack of car chase scenes, guns and explicit sex in the plot, this movie maintains a tension through its characters and dialogue.

Most of the audience for our screening got up and left as soon as the credits began to roll. They appeared to be eager to leave and not because they liked the movie. David and I talked with another senior couple—he liked it but she felt uncomfortable. David and I both liked it and how the movie makes you think about relationships in your own life.

You should see it and decide for yourselves. It is unlike any other buddy movie you have seen.

Humpday is a comedy and is rated R. It starts this Friday, July 31 at the Charles in Baltimore.

You can see the trailer .

To read a better written review of Humpday, check out the New York Times here:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/movies/10hump.html

And here's one from the Baltimore Sun with a focus on the writer/director, Lynn Shelton and the influence of the Maryland Film Festival on her creativity:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-ae.li.humpday30jul30,0,2151511.story

By the way, Humpday does not have a Website by its title as most films do. If you go to http://humpday.com you’ll discover a search engine that very close to Google’s style. However, given its name and possibilities for implanted malicious code on computers, I wouldn't use it until I found out more.

The Mind

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited." - Plutarch




Image from Parallel Lives, Amyot translation, 1565

We Must Remember...

...and try to extinguish the hatred.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
Elie Wiesel




The Southern Poverty Law Center is working to fight against hatred. Support their efforts.

Read David's account of our trip to the Holocaust Museum with the son of a Nazi from WWII.
http://ettlin.blogspot.com/2009/06/holocaust-memories.html