July 2010

July 2010

This summer seems to be speeding along. Tomorrow is already the start of July. At the moment we have sunny days up to 30°C and the World Football Championship has taken over our lives!

Tomorrow, I am going to Jüterbog for the day. I may report on it later depending on the photos I take ... or not!

On Friday I am off to learn more about steering a boat when I try my hand at being the captain of Rolf's boat. You may remember that I did this in the summer of 2009. Let's see how much I have remembered. I do remember though a very nice restaurant on the side of the lake!

Saturday is a teachers' workshop I have booked to attend. Should be cooler than standing outside for 31plus °C have been forecast! In the evening Germany play Argentina in the football championships. I shall be in front of my big screen with a glass of something cool for that event!

The rest of the month has the usual appointments and things to do. What about birthday and other things?

Jutta will be 62 on the 2 July and will be spending it with Gerald in a Kur-Hotel on the Ostsee. David died too young and it will be 2 years ago on the 3 July. I was one of the last to visit him and you may remember my report on this blog. I have two concert appointments with Angelika already arranged this month. Looking forward to that.  There are also 'Oldie' trips planned to Weimer and Wernigerode.

Adele's birthday  on the 26th July marks the day after I plan to fly to the UK and spend three weeks there. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends in the south who I have't seen for ages. I shall hire a car and enjoy the drive before going to London to see other friends before heading north. Should be interesting!

The Canoe

The Canoe

Last Thursday I got a telephone call. "Can you help me John?" said the voice at the other end. It was Harro. He is one of the new 'Oldies'. He wanted help to set up his boat, actually a canoe, before taking it to his son's so they could take his grandson out on the water.

"Ja, okay, no problem", said I. A short time later he picked me up and we drove to Mugglesee. We carried 'The Canoe' to the water and so started an interesting puzzle. The canoe is in parts and you have to assemble it. Harro last did this about three years ago, with his son, and now was not sure how he had done it.

We opened the bag and put the parts onto the side of the lake - as you can see. He worked on it for 90 minutes to realise he had put the wrong bits together and would have to start again! I suggested he give up. He agreed.

We packed 'The Canoe' back into its bag and drove to an open-air bar area on the side of the lake. There we ate freshly grilled Wurst and drank a cool Berliner Bier. Nice! We talked about football. As you may know, Germany has jus won won 4:1 against England. My forecast was 3:0. I wasn't  far off!

Rebuilding

Rebuilding  New Orleans

I returned to New Orleans and the delights of Tony and Rita's house the day after my birthday. It was the 9th May and as you all know, it was Mother's Day.

I bought a little present for Rita - it came in a bottle! And they had bought a lemon cake for me! I think it had something to do with our G&T ritual which required lemons. Very nice surprise.

Lots of activity for Tony had to pack to go to Brazil to promote his book, and Bevan was excited about playing in an orchestra and so on. We finally got into their car and drove to a concert hall where three 'young-youth' orchestras were preparing to give their parents and families a special show for Mothers' Day.

It was a great concert and packed out with Mothers and other family members. Really nice and happy atmosphere. Outside I asked if I could take some photos. They agreed. I later took some at their  home and was really surprised at their quality.

Later, we took Tony to the airport for his Brazil flight then Rita took me the longer route back so I could see the worst destroyed areas of the city when Hurricane Katrina struck 5 years earlier. It was my request for I had read that the actor Brad Pitt ( not my favourite!) was leading a project to rebuilt this area and using environmentally friendly technology. After seeing the project I have more respect for him as a person - but I still don't like him as an actor!

The singer-pianist Fats Domino lived in this devastated area. He had to be rescued from his roof. Later his house was re-built. There is a photo of me outside the new version of his old house.

It was sad to see the flattened areas where earlier thousands of people had lived, but projects like that headed by Brad Pitt give hope and a new chance and direction - as does the rebuilding of Fats Domino's house. What a clear signal to all!

BR-2

Baton Rouge - 2

The 'New State Capital Building' has 34 floors and is still the highest State Capital building in the USA. It was the brain-child of Governor Huey P. Long and built in the early 1930's.

The motives all show the 'brave' fighters for freedom in the style also used by Stalin and Hitler - but there are no natural images of the native indians or blacks who worked on the plantations. Mmmmmh...very interesting indeed!

Volumes have been written about this 'populist' Democratic Party politician in books and  newspaper articles.  He promoted the cause of the poor against the rich and powerful in the state, particularly the oil and chemical companies who you can still see along the banks of the river.

He was elected to the US Senate and rejected Roosevelt's New Deal. He produced and promoted a more radical programme, including setting an upper limit on the wealth of the richest, and with stringent re-distrubution policies in favour of the rural and urban poor.

He was assassinated. No surprise really but it is still not know who was behind his murder. Some writers argue a connection to the method used in the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy thirty plus years later. You can research these arguments yourself.

What I found interesting was the public demonstration of his activities as Governor and Senator, such as the memorial statue and garden in front of the capital building, and the many streets and parks still carrying his name. Interesting!

I went to the top of the building to see the city below and took some photographs. You can clearly see the petro-chemical plants along the river even in the state capital. I really enjoyed my time in Baton Rouge and could happily return to explore more of the city and its interesting history.

BR-1

Baton Rouge - 1

I woke up a year older in a nice motel on the north side of Baton Rouge. This is the capital city of Louisiana and means 'red stick'. The early French explorers travelling on the Mississippi saw a red stick on a bank of the river.

It marked the territorial border between two native Indian tribes. The explorers made a note and moved on. Later, French settlers stopped at 'red stick' and founded a settlement. As I opened my eyes there, I was one year older!

I jumped into my nice car and set off for the 'business and government areas', as it was described on my map. I realised the area was really 'dead' on a Saturday. Almost nothing was open and there was almost no movement on the roads. I like the city immediately!

I toured around then headed for the 'Old Capital Building'. It was built in the style of a European mock castle/palace from the Middle Ages and the 17th century. What an interesting, even strange, mixture of ideas! It has turrets at the top of the walls!

And so the building was the home of Louisiana's parliament for many years until Huey P. Long had another built to the north in 1933-34. I found the rooms pleasant in size and the historical presentation simple and clear. Ideal for groups of school children -- and oldies! There are some photos of me in the building.

After that, I found a coffee shop and had a coffee and snack before heading north to the 'New Capital Building'.

Cajun

Cajun Country 

I left 'Plantation Country', which stretches from New Orleans to St. Francisville, and drove into 'Cajun Country.

Its capital is Lafayette and its coastline covers about 80% of Louisiana's southern coastline. It is really being hit by the underwater oil leak. The first effects were becoming known when I visited the area.

This is the area of the swamp lands where transport is easiest in flat metal boats with outboard motors. There is a big sea-food industry. Correction - there was for I think it has now stopped because of the oil!

Cajun is a name originating from the French speaking settlers from Canada.  When the English defeated a French army at Quebec, many people decided to leave for the French governed area called Louisiana. I guess they must have travelled by ship for it sure is a long walk!

They settled in the swamp area of West-Louisiana and adopted a sustainable way of life based on hunting, fishing and farming. Much like the native indians they shared the land with! French is still spoken there and many signs are in English and French.

I stayed in Lafayette, which I like, and toured the area. I decided to spend the last day of my 66th year in a flat boat on the swamps so I booked a swamp tour! The weather was pleasant as were my fellow passengers. Our host was called Brian Champage. Great name! He also spoke French - much to the pleasure of a couple from France.

He told us not to dangle our hands in the water - danger of losing a few fingers to crocodiles! - then off we went. I took a few photos, as you can see, and one has a crocodile in the middle of the photo.

I was fascinated by how trees and plants had adapted to life in the water. The trees are waterproof and so were used to make the plantation and other houses we saw earlier!

Slaves

Plantation Slaves

On the left you can see paintings/photos of the 'Laura Plantation Ladies'. Laura is in the middle as a young women and again on the right as an old women.

The third 'Laura Lady' is the one who ruled there many years and was innovative in more than one way. She decided that buying slaves at the New Orleans market was too expenses.

She bought seven young slave women and put them into houses in the plantation slave area. She selected the fittest, healthiest men and allowed them to 'visit' the young women!

 In short, she decided to breed her own slaves rather than buy them!

This same 'Laura Lady' branded a slave on his forehead. The slave ran away so she sent a group of hunters after him. They brought him back and she branded him so that every one would know who he belonged to.

Amazing that such things were allowed to happen!  But then I think the English were doing similar things in other parts of the world!

The photos here are of the areas and remaining slave areas at the back of the plantation house. The first thing you would have seen was the large gardens for growing food for the owner family and the plantation slaves. In the centre was a large kitchen and dining area.

Originally, the plantation house and slave houses did not have kitchens. Cooking was done in a central place as was eating, but food was sent to the dining room in the plantation house.

An interesting organisation and division of labour.

There were hundreds of small house at the back of the plantation house. Each one house two slave families and had two rooms and a porch. Later a third room was added to some slave houses.

Most of them have burnt down, or fallen down. The 'Laura Plantation' is known for having preserved some of the slave houses and larger buildings used to store things. You can see these in the photos here.

Compare to the rooms in the plantation house!

Masters

Plantation Masters

Back to my Louisiana trip. All the land north of New Orleans on both sides of the Mississippi were covered by sugar plantations. Life was very good - if you were a master and lived in the plantation house.

I visited the 'Laura Plantation' for it is run by a historical trust which offers tours and preserves the buildings. It is called 'Laura' after the name of one of the women owners covering five generations in one family. Laura was either No. 4 or 5. 

They were originally French. A lot is known about the plantation, and daily life there, because she wrote books when she was an old women and living in Paris.  

There is information about income, costs and profits made by the slaves working the plantation. Profits were very large and enabled families, like Laura's, to live in style in the plantation house and in their house in New Orleans - and in Paris! 

Here are photos of me outside the plantation house, the main bedroom, the living room, dining room and the nursery. You can compare to how the slaves lived in my next post!

Neuruppin

Fontanestadt Neuruppin

Yesterday I went to Neuruppin with Oldie Hermann. All planned late because of the weather. It changed here suddenly from 30° C to 16°C and with cloud over the weekend. We worked out a route involving 3 S-Bahns and a regional train to get there.

A pleasant journey as I remembered that I had been there with Marita about ten years ago, but in her car! The town is built on the west side of a long lake called Ruppinersee. Its modern claim to fame is a writer called Theodore Fontane.

He was born there. I have a photo of the front of his birthplace. It is his parents chemist's shop! He was a busy student and also became a chemist but his passion was writing.

 Later he moved to London where he worked as a journalist. On his return to Germany he published a series of books that made him famous.

The one that all school children have to read, or so Hermann told me, is the one about his travels around the German Federal Sate of Brandenburg.

In German it is just called Land-Brandenburg, or Mark-Brandenburg based on its Roman name. This is not to be confused with the city called Stadt-Brandenburg, which I recently visited.

On arrival yesterday, I went to the tourist office and got some information and a nice clear map of the old town making up the centre near to the lake front. After a coffee, we set off to explore the old centre.

Actually it is not old for it burnt down a number of times, so in the early 1800's, the King told a famous architect called Schinkel to prepare plans for a new centre. This architect was also responsible for a lot of building  in Berlin after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Parallel wide streets with imposing buildings became the style of the old centre. Fontane was born in the town after re-building and becoming a military and administrative centre. In 1945, the Red Army used it as its main base north-west of Berlin until 1990-91.

The photographs show Fantane's birth-house, me in front of a statue of him, the old Kloster-Church on the lake front, the promenade on the bank of the lake and the Tempelgarten. We had a very nice lunch at a family restaurant opposite the Kloster-Church. Local fish -- of course!

Sorry, Andrea but I forgot to have a photo of me eating again :-)) I know you like these!

Bernau Fest

Bernau Hussite Fest 

I went to the Hussite Fest at Bernau today. I have been there before and even posted reports and photos on this blog. I haven't been for a couple of years, so I decided to go. The catalyst was Bernd and Kathryn who live near Bernau. Bernd and I worked in Berau for a number of years and we still keep in touch.

Bernd and Kathryn were also looking after a group of students from the USA. They are on a European tour which includes five weeks in Germany. All are studying architecture and most came from a university in Idaho.  I was able to chat to a few as we watched the procession.

Every year on the second Saturday of June, the good people of Bernau organise and host three days of festivities under the guise of celebrating the towns victory over a rather ragtag army of supporters of Jan Huss who were galloping around the area hoping to find food, drink and any gold objects lacking a clear owner! Actually, it is a big tourist attraction and brings in lots of money for local hotels and restaurants, and places that sell beer!

I like it for the fun and good spirits, as well as the beer and wurst!  The procession tells the story of the grounding of the town by 'Albrecht the Bear', its expansion, then problems of the plague (Black Death)  and war between the Catholic church and the new protestant rulers of north Germany.

 It reduced the population of the town by 80%, but the survivors pushed ahead and slowly rebuilt the town and added many features over the centuries. It also says something about the history of Land Brandenburg and the later Kingdom of Prussia.

There are lots of stalls selling many things related to the events - particularly local wurst and beer. I sampled both before I returned to Berlin. A nice day.

Tomorrow I am off to Neuruppin, before I settle in front of my TV to watch the German national football team play its first match in the World Championship in South Africa.