Question 1: What are some of the “things” or activities that Austrians do for fun?

Answer:

Austrians love to socialize, either at wine taverns or cafés where they hang out. Austrians love to ski, snowboard and even ice-climb in winter and hike/walk in the Austrian Alps and bicycle in Summer. They are also avid theater, concert and opera goers and even the small villages have bands, choirs, and folklore groups.

Question 2: What’s one thing the public probably does NOT know about Austria?

Answer:

Austria is over 1000 years old and up until the 20th Century was one of the world’s largest empires. Austria became a European power not by warfare, but by strategically marrying into the other royal families of Europe thereby neutralizing any enemies. A good example of this is Empress Maria Theresa’s daughter, the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, who married King Louis XIV and ended up losing her head.

Question 3: Share some aspect of Austria as regards to what it has contributed to the world.

Answer:

In the field of music alone, composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Josef Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg brought great joy to the world.

The post 3 Things We Didn’t Know About Austria appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Breathtaking. Mind-boggling. I am reading about Alex Honnold’s free climb of El Capitan in Yosemite but my mind cannot gain a firm foothold on what Alex does and how he ticks. However, reading the story of his El Cap climb rekindled memories of my first experience dipping my toes into the dimensions of what he does. Welcome to a story set among the magnificent beauty and outdoor spirited, playful people of the Tirol, Austria. I first saw images of Innsbruck on television from the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Thus, was planted the seed of passion.

While spending a few summers in Innsbruck, I was fortunate to become buddies with some of my professors there. Through them, I was introduced to some joyful, young, local climbers. (As well as being introduced to far too much local schnapps!) I then got to do my best to keep from peeing my pants when these climbers took me along on a few “hikes”/ climbs. These are called “klettersteig” in Austria. It means they are not necessarily vertical climbs but are also horizontal along ledges (4 inches or 3 feet wide) with, in many places, metal cables drilled into the mountain side for you to clamp your climbing belt onto for safety. They took me to t beautiful, fantastic, scenic views amid wondrous areas. I am forever grateful that they tolerated me as the silly newbie. I was extremely keen. This must have helped. Or it provided them plenty of laughs.

We took cable cars up halfway and then had to do plenty of climbing and scrambling up and up along steep crags usually with wide footholds. We inched our way along the mini-ledges.

One day is particularly memorable…. We had climbed up and up there in the Karwendel Range above Innsbruck. We paused to enjoy great views down to the city 7,000 feet below. Then we went up and over a crag to the side away from the city to where nothing but deep valleys and mighty snowcapped mountains stood before us as far as one could see. At this point we proceeded along a narrow ledge. The drop down to the valley below was steep, not vertical but about 75 degrees. It was about 6,000 feet to the valley bottom. My stomach was sick. My brain screamed at me and I froze. But I had asked these dudes to take me along and they had grown to tolerate me from earlier slightly less exposed and frightening climbs so they said yes, come along. I forced myself to stare into the cliff face, not look down! I glanced only at the place to put my boot in the next moment as we slid along this ledge. We were roped in together. I was in the middle of 4 experienced climbers to whom this was a walk in the park. They had no fear of the exposure and height.

As jovial Tiroleans they were joking around as they proceeded but they were also speaking to each other in serious, technical terms. They were encouraging me and telling me that I was roped in with them and entirely safe. On numerous occasions, despite trying not to look down, of course I would look down by accident as I glanced down between my feet and then saw the vertical drop! My bowels wanted to empty. I wanted to not move ever again.

We stopped every couple of minutes to stare at the wonderful panorama. After we had been edging along for about 20 minutes the guy in front of me, let’s call him Anton, suddenly became alarmed as he looked back at me – he told me “stop, don’t move !” He inched back along the edge closer to me and fiddled with my climbing belt. Then he said, “Oh my, your climbing belt was unhooked from our safety line somehow and so you had no safety if you slipped.” Argh. This precipitated a huge moment of enlightenment as I then instinctively took a good look at the precipitous drop of 6,000 feet down and imagined having slipped and how I would have been thinking, in the first instant, that I was perfectly safe and attached to those guys…. And then my confused mind would have briefly realized I was hurtling off the side looking up at them above just before meeting some jutting rocks. The next reaction was to then feel a surge of far less fear! This was due to the knowledge that I now realized how supremely safe it felt to be firmly attached. Despite numerous panic attacks for the next hours I made it all the way with these guys. What choice did I have? No retreating on my own. They were patient with me during my frozen moments of “meditation” to calm down.

At the end I was exultant! There was an overwhelming, deep sense of a truly significant life moment – a breakthrough. A humbling new perspective on self, world, life.

Alex Honnold speaks of feeling only peace and tranquility as he chills his way vertically upward without safety devices. For this more vertigo prone athlete, peace and tranquility arrived back at the bottom, at Innsbruck, in a chair at a café’ next to the glorious, rushing Inn River whilst filled with gratitude to my fun, tolerant Tyrolean guides.

The post Above Innsbruck: Climbing Karwendel appeared first on Traveling Archive.

This delectable soup comes to us by way of Ms. Susanne Servin of Herzerl Tours. (See Ms Servin’s past recipes on Traveling Boy.) Her heartwarming Viennese soup is easy to prepare, and proves to be the ideal component for battling a cold winter’s day. I know.  I just made it. — Audrey

Ms. Susanne Servin Sharing Another Recipe With You

This is now many years ago — I was sitting and watching a cooking show on television with my daughter. And it was about French cuisine. I remember saying to her “I am so sick and tired that Americans only know about Italian and French Cuisine. Nobody knows anything about the great Viennese Cuisine.” Where upon my daughter calmly said “So why don’t you take them to Vienna and show them how good the Viennese cuisine is.”

The Viennese Cuisine, which has been around for 1000 years, is a result of the many countries united in the Austrian monarchy; and of the pleasure-loving lifestyle of the Viennese. They take eating very seriously and that is why they cook so well.

I rose to my daughter’s challenge — I started a travel company called Herzerl Tours. I created my first tour to Vienna “A Taste Of Vienna” where travelers got a chance to attend a famous Viennese cooking school. There they would learn how to cook Viennese style.

I even convinced Robin Leach and the Cooking Channel to come on one of my tours and film it — the result was a show called “Gourmet Getaways with Robin Leach to Vienna” on the Cooking Channel (I still have a video).

So one of the things we cooked — as Viennese like soups — is the recipe I am bringing you here: Viennese Potato Soup.

Viennese Potato Soup (Wiener Erdäpfel Suppe)

Four portions if served as main course, 8 if served as soup before main dish:

• 1 lt. chicken stock or 2 cans of chicken stock (add one cup of water)
• 1 oz = 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 oz = 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 oz = 1/4 cup bacon, cubed
• 2 – 3 cups of root vegetables, cubed — carrots, parsnips, etc.
• 3 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp dried Porcini mushrooms, soaked in lukewarm water
• 2 tsp salt, pepper
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

1. Cut onion, vegetables and bacon into small cubes
2. Melt butter and brown the cubed onion, vegetables and bacon in a pot
3. Add flour, brown it but not too long.
4. Fill pot with the stock, add spices and drained mushrooms,
5. Stir until soup starts to boil, reduce heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes,
6. Add potato cubes, let soup simmer again for about 15 minutes — potatoes should be soft
7. Now the soup is ready — if necessary, add more spices
8. Serve and garnish with chopped parsley

Guten Appetit or as we say in Vienna “Gesegnete Mahlzeit!”

The post Viennese Potato Soup (Wiener Erdäpfel Suppe) appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Gingerbread houses, Christmas trees, caroling and concerts on board ships add extra spice to cruises on Europe’s rivers during the month of December. But the biggest incentive to don winter coats and hats is the Christmas markets in ports along the way. Almost every city has at least one filling municipal and cathedral squares in the weeks leading up to December 25 and almost every river cruise line operating in Europe extends it cruise season into December to take advantage of the holiday glow. I was aboard Viking River Cruises on its Danube Waltz itinerary cruising from Budapest, Hungary to Passau, Germany with stops in Bratislava, Slovakia, Vienna and Linz, Austria.

Each city’s Christmas markets embraced the festive season by selling decorations, holiday novelties, food and mulled wine to warm heart and soul under twinkling lights on cold December evenings. Some added musical entertainment and carnival rides. Can one be too old to climb aboard a carousel?

An infectious holiday cheer brought smiles to passengers and crew on board. One afternoon crew members donned Santa hats and reindeer headbands to lead passengers in a sing-along that ended with a conga line winding through the lounge. An advent choir boarded the ship after dinner in Bratislava for an a cappella performance. In Austria, costumed singers and musicians presented songs from “The Sound of Music” and ended the evening with Christmas carols — “Silent Night” in three languages.

Passengers participated in trimming Christmas trees, personalizing globe ornaments with markers. The pastry chef patiently taught us the art of gingerbread house-making and to my envious eyes some structures turned out quite good.

The kitchen crew made an extra effort to warm us up with a holiday glow. After a shore excursion one chilly afternoon the chef welcomed returning passengers in the reception area with cheese fondue spread on slices of fresh bread plus cups of hot chocolate with an optional splash of rum or amaretto.

Have holiday gifts to buy for family and friends back home? Bring an extra suitcase. Cities along the Danube offer shopping districts with brand-name stores as well as cute boutiques. And, of course, the Christmas markets present a bounty of items, some handmade.

Christmas markets bring out residents, especially after work and on weekends. If you’re game, you might interact over a glass of gluhwein. After visiting two or three markets, the next few might seem just the same, but be on the lookout for one-of-a-kind finds and local food specialties.

In Budapest, crowds filled two Christmas markets within walking distance of our ship. A Nativity scene with large, colorful figures stood in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica where a Christmas tree towered over an ice rink. Vendors in wooden huts sold Christmas ornaments, marzipan, Hungarian fried bread and steaming cups of mulled wine.

In Slovakia, sausages and potato pancakes simmered on stoves in a small market outside Bratislava Castle perched 300 feet above the Danube. Our excursion stopped for a view from the windy terrace then descended to the Old Town for a walk on cobblestones past warmly lit cafes to a Christmas market where cloth dolls in folk dress caught my eye.

In Vienna, I strolled past Rolex, Dior and Tiffany stores on Kohlmarkt Street on my way to Café Central where a glass case overflowed with pastries. A reindeer head made from gingerbread mousse and baked apple called out to me.

Christmas markets were scattered across Vienna, one by city hall, another at Am Hof where raclette oozed onto plates and flutes of Champagne bubbled on a wooden bar. Outside Hofburg Palace, a few vendors sold high-end goods. I couldn’t resist a jaunty made-in-Austria woolen hat. At my favorite market, outside St. Stephen’s Cathedral where Mozart married in 1782, I had to have two wooden toy trains in letters spelling my grandsons’ names.

That night, we boarded a motor coach to travel along city streets lit with holiday decorations to a small theater for a Mozart and Strauss concert just for Viking guests.

In Linz, Austria, streetcars streamed past Christmas market stalls on the Hauptplatz, one of the largest squares in Europe, but shoppers seemed so engrossed in the goods they barely noticed. My search for an authentic Austrian gift for someone back home yielded only apparel from distant lands — Peru, Nepal, China — so I left, disappointed.

In Passau, Germany, our tour group went to Café Simon for a demonstration of gingerbread making with samples of three flavors washed down with an orange and rum punch. Refortified, I made my way to the plaza outside St. Stephen’s Cathedral where bells sounding the hour reverberated around more than 70 rustic wooden Christmas market kiosks. Patrons stood around high tables snarfing down foot-long wurst sandwiches. I resisted the temptation of gluhwein stands to seek out something German-made for that someone still on my gift list. I found it inside a make-shift shop where a young woman was selling woolen hats and cute head wraps made by her German grandmother.

Just when passengers think they have seen their last Christmas market, those departing from the Munich airport find one more under a canopy between terminals. More than 40 market stalls and 450 Christmas trees set up here along with an ice-skating rink with skate rentals for those who want to do a few spins before their flight departs.

For once, I was glad mine was delayed.

Viking River Cruises: 800-304-9616

The post Christmas Markets Add Festive Spirit to December Cruise on the Danube appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Take a flying tour of ancient Rome, recreated digitally in spectacular detail

by J-P Mauro for Aleteia.org

There have been some beautiful digital recreations of ancient Roman sites, but the work being done by History in 3D goes above and beyond. At the tail end of 2021, they released this 8-minute aerial tour of their work so far. The project is far from complete, but it promises a unique and accurate view of ancient Rome. This is Rome as it would have looked during the time of Christ.

The majority of this ambitious digital recreation is the product of just two 3D modelers: Danila Loginov and Sergey Bardyshev. On their website, they note that Danila founded the project in 2011, for which he serves as team leader and modeler. The team’s goal is to create the most complete, accurate and detailed 3D reconstruction of ancient Rome.

France Joli – The Voice of Montreal

In 1979, sixteen-year-old France Joli burst onto the international music scene with the Disco-Era classic Come To Me. More hits followed: The Heart To Break The Heart, Gonna Get Over You, and, more recently, France’s cover of the Leonard Cohen favorite Hallelujah.

Ms. Joli is back with a new song. It’s a cover of the ballad Heart of Stone from the hit Broadway musical SIX (about the wives of Henry VIII). Joli puts her trademark disco spin on the track along with soaring vocals that rival the stage version.

In a revealing new interview with filmmaker/discophile Kelly Hughes, the celebrated chanteuse Québécoise talks about the making of Heart of Stone and shares behind-the-scenes stories about her most beloved songs.

Pandemics Do Eventually End

Even if Omicron is complicating the question of when this one will, it won’t be like flipping a light switch: The world will have to learn to coexist with a virus that’s not going away.

Pandemics do eventually end, even if omicron is complicating the question of when this one will. But it won’t be like flipping a light switch: The world will have to learn to coexist with a virus that’s not going away.

The ultra-contagious omicron mutant is pushing cases to all-time highs and causing chaos as an exhausted world struggles, again, to stem the spread. But this time, we’re not starting from scratch.

Vaccines offer strong protection from serious illness, even if they don’t always prevent a mild infection. Omicron doesn’t appear to be as deadly as some earlier variants. And those who survive it will have some refreshed protection against other forms of the virus that still are circulating — and maybe the next mutant to emerge, too.

The newest variant is a warning about what will continue to happen “unless we really get serious about the endgame,” said Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health.

“Certainly COVID will be with us forever,” Ko added. “We’re never going to be able to eradicate or eliminate COVID, so we have to identify our goals.”

At some point, the World Health Organization will determine when enough countries have tamped down their COVID-19 cases sufficiently — or at least, hospitalizations and deaths — to declare the pandemic officially over. Exactly what that threshold will be isn’t clear.

Read Full Story

 

Where Does the Name January Come From?

January is named for the ancient Roman god of transitions, Janus, who is often depicted with two heads that face in opposite directions.

St Canute’s Day

St Canute’s Day is the feast day of the Danish king Canute the Holy, which was originally on January 7, the day after Epiphany.

National Park Fee-Free Days of 2022

By Elizabeth Preske of TripSavvy

Outdoor enthusiasts, get ready to start planning your 2022 adventures. For five days this year, the National Park Service will waive entrance fees for all 423 of its parks, monuments, and memorials.

Even though you can visit a majority of the national parks for free at any given time, 108 NPS sites—including Acadia, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks—charge admission fees ranging from $5 to $35 most days of the year. But if you plan accordingly, you can hit up America’s most popular parks without worrying about this key cost.

The National Park Service fee-free days for 2022 include:

• Jan. 17 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• April 16 – First day of National Park Week
• Aug. 4 – Great American Outdoors Act anniversary
• Sept. 24 – National Public Lands Day
• Nov. 11 – Veterans Day

Read Full Story

We Must Come Together on COVID

The new Netflix film Don’t Look Up is a star-studded allegory about climate change. The world faces a clear and imminent threat, and the question the movie poses is: Will we be able to overcome the narrow self-interests of politicians, the business community, and individual nations to defeat the threat we collectively face? Will too many people around the world be too gullible and passive to demand the right actions from their leaders?

In the case of the film, it does not give away too much to suggest that doing the right thing is a challenge. The film is not just a parable about our inertia when it comes to the ever worsening, nearly irreversible climate crisis—it is a reminder that the idea that the planet will effectively unite in the interest of self-preservation is itself a romantic myth.

The coronavirus pandemic has shown that bona fide global cooperation is more fanciful and out of reach than ever.

It was a very different sort of Hollywood product, President Ronald Reagan, who—with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev—helped promote this fantasy of an enlightened global community. During a 1985 summit in Geneva, their conversation took an odd turn. As reported by Gorbachev himself, “President Reagan suddenly said to me, ‘What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?’” Gorbachev responded, “No doubt about it.” Reagan replied, “We too.”

Our modern experience with shared existential threats tells another story.

Read Full Story

Ramen for Winter

The roots of ramen can be traced back to China, whose noodle-eating food culture was introduced in Japan during the 1860s. It was at this period when Japan ended its national isolation and reopened its ports to the outside world.

30 Best Ramen Recipes

Free Jabs and Sauna at Austria’s Fun Palast brothel

 

Forget free beers, lotteries and discount food, a brothel in Austria has come up with a sure-fire way to incentivise people to get the coronavirus vaccine. Not only is Fun Palast in Vienna administering jabs, it’s offering up a 30-minute session in the ‘sauna club’ with the ‘lady of your choice’ to anyone who gets the vaccine at the on-site clinic.

READ FULL STORY

---

Larry David on Larry David

Larry David to host ‘Saturday Night Live’ (blastingnews.com)

There are many things about me that I’m sure might be of interest to readers. Things I’ve never really told anyone. I’ve always been a private person, but I wanted to make sure I got a few things down in writing, just in case anything happens to me-or before I forget!

MORE about Larry DavidLESS about Larry David

Like, here’s something: People might be surprised to learn that I’m a speed reader. I took a course when I was a kid, and one would be hard pressed to name a book I haven’t read. Books are my constant companions. Like, last year, I went to Turks and Caicos over Christmas and read “The Count of Monte Cristo” on the way there and “Anna Karenina” on the way back. I’m glad I read them in that order. It might have ruined my vacation otherwise! So, you know, stuff like that.

Not sure how much time should be given to my standup years, but I’ve thought of a few stories that might be worth mentioning. There was one night at the Improv when I made a woman sitting in the front row laugh so hard that she went into convulsions and eventually lost consciousness. An ambulance had to be called, and she was taken to Roosevelt Hospital. It was touch and go there for a while, but thankfully she pulled through. I visited her the next day with the best bouquet of flowers that New York had to offer and humbly stood by while she told the nurse how “damn funny” I was. Pretty embarrassing, but what choice did I have?

From that point on, everyone started calling me Killer. People came to the club in droves, asking if Killer was going on. It wasn’t bad for my social life, either. No sooner would I finish a set than there would be half a dozen women at the bar, trying to talk to me. “Kill me! Kill me!” they would pant. I would choose two and off we’d go. One particular night, the husbands showed up. (I had no idea they were married-swear to God!) Fortunately, my father taught me how to box when I was a kid, and there’s no doubt I could’ve turned professional if comedy hadn’t called me. In any case, I was not to be trifled with. I calmly explained this to both husbands, but they were not impressed. Two minutes later, they were lying flat out on the sidewalk, whereupon their wives and I hopped into a cab and I did another set across town. When it was over, I bought a round of drinks for everyone, even though I didn’t have a penny to my name. (Interesting stuff, right? Hope it’s useful. Either way, I’m good-your call.)

There wasn’t much money to be made in standup back then, so I supported my fledgling comedy career by working as a tour guide at the Central Park Zoo during the day. I’ve always had a deep connection with animals and I thought that would be the perfect job for me.

And it was, until some kid was admiring the polar bear and decided to jump the railing to get a closer look. I was in the middle of giving a tour when I heard screams coming from the kid’s parents and raced over there. The boy was on the ground in a state of shock, as the polar bear hovered over him, about to attack. As luck would have it, a few months prior I’d attended a lecture at the New School by one of the world’s foremost Ursus authorities, Dr. Meyer Dusenberry, who explained that if we were ever face to face with a bear we should create a cacophony. Without a second to lose, I grabbed the lid of a hot-dog pot from a nearby Sabrett’s cart, leaped over the fence, and frantically rattled the lid against the bars until the bear retreated. Then I slung the kid over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry (learned from my years as a volunteer with the F.D.N.Y.) and returned the youngster to his grateful parents. They offered me a huge reward, but I declined, saying that my reward was seeing their happy faces. No amount of money in the world could top that!

I kept in touch with the boy throughout his youth, and, after his parents lost all their money in a Ponzi scheme, I put him through college and medical school. Today, he’s on the verge of a monumental cancer-research breakthrough and is slated to appear on an upcoming cover of Time. I told him I preferred to remain anonymous in the article. (You don’t have to include this in the book, but, if you want to, I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.)

People always ask me what I would’ve done had I not become a comedian. Besides the aforementioned stints at prizefighting and animal husbandry, I was also a child prodigy at the piano. By the time I was eight, I was playing Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major flawlessly. There’s no telling how far I could’ve gone, but my budding career as a virtuoso ended when my “friend” Frenchie dropped a bowling ball on my foot. It broke my third and fifth metatarsal bones. I lost all proficiency with the pedals, and my tone was never the same. As I look back on that incident, what’s most galling to me is that I was only two strikes away from a perfect game when the “accident” occurred. Many years later, I ran into Frenchie at Yankee Stadium and accidentally dropped a fist in his face.
But the universe works in mysterious ways, because the day after my bowling-lane encounter with Frenchie I attended a podiatry convention (by then I’d become obsessed with the intricate bone structure of the human foot), where I met a doctor who told me that the simple act of running might be the best thing for my injury. Soon I was pounding the pavement nearly thirty miles a week, and, before long, not only was I playing the piano again but I had signed up for the New York City Marathon. It was my first race, but clearly I had a gift for distance running, because, after eighteen miles, I found myself in fifth place, only an eighth of a mile behind the leader.

We were approaching the Queensboro Bridge when, for some reason, I turned to my right and, behind the crowd, I noticed a holdup of a jewelry store in progress. Even though I was in striking distance of the leader, I couldn’t ignore what was taking place. I made a sharp detour to my right and slithered through the crowd. When I arrived at the store, the robber was brandishing a gun at the terrified jeweller while emptying the contents of the case into a cloth sack. I proceeded to sneak up behind the thief, karate-chop his arm, and render him unconscious with a sleeper hold that I picked up from watching Chief Jay Strongbow in a wrestling match on TV. Then I handed the gun to the jeweller, told him to call the police, and added that, if the robber were to wake up, he should shoot him if he made a move. Mission accomplished, I made my way back to the race and still managed to finish twentieth. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that, had I not foiled the robbery, I would’ve easily placed in the top five, or maybe even won. (Life’s funny. Bought a new watch today and was reminded of that story for the first time in years. Can’t think of any reason that you wouldn’t use it, unless you don’t want people to know the truth. News flash! There’s more to me than just jokes!)
I entered the marathon again the following year and thought for sure that this time I’d sweep the chips, but two days before the race I was contacted by an adoption agency. There was a child available in Romania, and she was mine if I could get there in twenty-four hours. As badly as I wanted to win the marathon, I couldn’t pass up this amazing opportunity. For years, I’d longed to adopt a child. I had so much to give, so much knowledge to impart. That night, I was off to Romania. When I returned home, it was with a beautiful, sightless little girl named Natasha, whom I renamed Jill. She was six years old and didn’t speak a word of English, but, given my proficiency with languages, I was fluent in Romanian within five weeks. Tragically, after a few months, Jill’s birth mother showed up and begged to take her child back. How could I deprive a mother of her little girl? And so, as difficult as it was, I gave Jill up. I still write to her every day in Braille and make the trek to Bucharest annually. She’s the love of my life.

So, these are just a few memories-yours to use as you see fit. Just know that there’s certainly a lot more where they came from!

Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television series Seinfeld, on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which he created and stars in as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. He has written or co-written the stories of every episode of the improvisational comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm since its pilot episode in 1999.

 

It’s Winter, Wear a Hat

Story courtesy of bernardhats.com/all-about-hats/history-of-hats

The History of Hats begins with one of the first pictorial depictions of a hat appears in a Thebes tomb painting which shows a man wearing a conical straw hat.

MORE about History of HatsLESS about History of Hats

Other early hats were the Pileus, a simple skull cap; the Phrygian cap, worn by freed slaves in Greece and Rome; and the Greek petasos, the first known hat with a brim. Women wore veils, kerchiefs, hoods, caps and wimples. St. Clement, the patron saint of felt hatmakers, is said to have discovered wool felt when he filled his sandals with flax fibers to protect his feet.

In the Middle Ages, hats were a marker of social status and used to single out certain groups. The 1215 Fourth Council of the Lateran required that all Jews identify themselves by wearing the Judenhat (“Jewish hat”), marking them as targets for anti-Semitism. The hats were usually yellow, and were either pointed or square.

In the Middle Ages, hats for women ranged from simple scarves to elaborate hennin, and denoted social status. Structured hats for women similar to those of male courtiers began to be worn in the late 16th century. The term ‘milliner’ comes from the Italian city of Milan, where the best quality hats were made in the 18th century. Millinery was traditionally a woman’s occupation, with the milliner not only creating hats and bonnets but also choosing lace, trimmings and accessories to complete an outfit.

Men’s hat, 1600-1625

In the first half of the 19th century, women wore bonnets that gradually became larger, decorated with ribbons, flowers, feathers, and gauze trims. By the end of the century, many other styles were introduced, among them hats with wide brims and flat crowns, the flower pot and the toque. By the middle of the 1920s, when women began to cut their hair short, they chose hats that hugged the head like a helmet.

The tradition of wearing hats to horse racing events began at the Royal Ascot in Britain, which maintains a strict dress code. All guests in the Royal Enclosure must wear hats. This tradition was adopted at other horse racing events, such as the Kentucky Derby in the United States.

Extravagant hats were popular in the 1980s, and in the early 21st century, flamboyant hats made a comeback, with a new wave of competitive young milliners designing creations that include turban caps, trompe-l’oeil-effect felt hats and tall headpieces made of human hair. Some new hat collections have been described as “wearable sculpture.” Many pop stars, among them Lady Gaga, have commissioned hats as publicity stunts.

---

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-deserved break after dismantling a domestic terrorist bomb at Pike Place Market.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. – Harry S. Truman

Dog Quotations

Together in Spirit – The Best Friends Animal Society

At the core of Best Friends Animal Society’s work is the dream that one day animals will no longer be killed in America’s shelters.

MORE

---

Movie of the Week

Bringing Up Baby (1938). Directed by Howard Hawks.

While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.

---

Booster Reminder

If you want to be proactive, go and get your vaccine, go get your booster, try to work to get the population immunity up to a higher level as Omicron becomes a variant here in the U.S.

MORE

How COVID-19 harms the heart

A colored chest x-ray of the enlarged heart of a 74-year-old female COVID-19 patient. Some patients continue to experience cardiovascular symptoms months after recovering from COVID-19-even though their chest scans and other tests come back normal.

Many patients are experiencing heart palpitations, chest pain, and shortness of breath even after recovering from COVID-19. But new studies offer reason for hope.

READ MORE

---

Springsteen’s Relationship With His Father

Bruce Springsteen endured verbal abuse from his father as a child that later resulted in breakdowns and mental health issues, the singer revealed in an explosive tell-all interview.

Springsteen, 69, admitted that his father made him feel ashamed for being more like his mother, as opposed to tough like him.

“My mother was kind and compassionate and very considerate of others’ feelings,” he told Esquire. “She trod through the world with purpose, but softly, lightly. All those were the things that aligned with my own spirit. That was who I was. They came naturally to me. My father looked at all those things as weaknesses. He was very dismissive of primarily who I was. And that sends you off on a lifelong quest to sort through that.”

Today, Springsteen has dedicated his life to over 29 charitable foundations, often through his music and concerts.

MORE

Ben Franklin Quote

In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him byinoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.
― Benjamin Franklin

What Are YOUR Holiday Cancellation Rights?

Courtesy of Matt Fernell, www.money.co.uk

If you need to cancel your holiday it is important to know where you stand before you speak to your travel agent or insurer. Here are your rights when you have to cancel your holiday.

No one wants to have to cancel their holiday but if this happens to you, you need to know what your rights are when it comes to getting your money back. Our guide explains it all.

READ MORE

---

The T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s Top Five North-American-English Language Travel Novels

As can be expected the presence of Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac dominated the lists. Regarded by many as the greatest and most influential writer in the 20th century, Hemingway’s writing style is minimalistic, direct, and unadorned, a result of his early newspaper training. While Kerouac termed his style of writing, “spontaneous prose,” which gushed with unedited sentences that captured the truth of the moment. Both writers’ work is based on personal experience. John Dos Passos, a Hemingway contemporary, and Mark Twain, whose novel, The Adventures of Huckeberry Finne, is considered by many as the Great American novel, are also well represented.

See Results of Top Five North-American-English Language Travel Novels

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1983) was a prolific German filmmaker, actor, playwright, theatre director, composer, editor, and essayist. Along with Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders (while some consider also Volker Schlöndorff), he is widely regarded as one of the prominent figures of the New German Cinema movement.

MORE about FassbinderLESS about Fassbinder

Fassbinder died at age 37 from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and barbiturates. His career lasted less than two decades, but still completed over 40 feature films, two television series, three short films, four video productions, and 24 plays. The T-Boy Society of Film & Music rates The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972), The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Fox and His Friends (1975) and Lola (1981) among his best films.

Running more than 13 hours, with a two-hour coda (released in the U.S. as a 15-hour feat ure), his landmark German TV Mini Series, Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980), an adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, was the culmination of the director’s inter-related themes of love, life, and power. New York film critic, Vincent Canby hailed Fassbinder as “The most original talent since Jean-Luc Godard.”

FOCUS: Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Produced at the peak of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s creative powers, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)) reworks the narrative and thematic framework of Douglas Sirk’s classic melodrama All That Heaven Allows (also the inspiration for Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven) in telling the improbable love story of Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a thirty-something Moroccan immigrant working as a mechanic, and Emmi (Fassbinder muse Brigitte Mira), a German widow who is old enough to be his mother. The unlikely pair gets married and quickly encounters prejudice and discrimination from neighbors, friends, and family (including Fassbinder himself as Emmi’s son-in-law). This tender romance-cum-social-commentary has endured as one of Fassbinder’s most accomplished masterpieces..

Covid-19 Variant Omicron Induces Wave of Travel Restrictions

By Elizabeth West / Business Travel News

---

Effective today, United States has barred all foreign nationals arriving from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.

READ MORE

---

Urban air mobility may soon replace taxis, rideshares

By Gautham Nagesh

Within a few years, the most efficient way to get to the airport may not be a taxi or rideshare service, but an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that can quickly get you to your destination for about the same cost as a ride in an Uber Black. Urban air mobility flights may cost as little as $50 to $80 and would typically carry between two and 10 passengers on short distances up to 200 miles.

It is late afternoon in Manhattan and you have a flight to catch at Kennedy International Airport. Instead of sitting in rush-hour traffic for two hours, you take a short ride to a nearby parking garage where you board an electric aircraft that takes off vertically from the roof and deposits you at Kennedy 20 minutes later for roughly the same cost as a fancy ride-share. You make your flight in time.

While this scenario might sound far-fetched, several companies say they are on the verge of being able to offer safe, cheap, clean electric aircraft that can help passengers travel distances between two and 150 miles without the need for a conventional runway. Public and private experts believe the technology could grow into a massive market that helps ease congestion and changes the way people travel in major metropolitan areas.

READ MORE

---

The Best Cities to Relocate to Around the World

The pandemic has heightened our appreciation for where we live, with many reconsidering their hometowns. Coupled with the flexibility of remote work and international borders slowly opening up, now might be the time to consider that relocation you’ve long dreamed of.

To determine the ideal places to call home, U.K. finance site money.co.uk studied the best cities to move around the world in its Relocation Report, released this week.

READ MORE

---

Importance of Listening

Sounds are omnipresent in nature and many species’ lives depend on their acute hearing. What if as human beings we could learn this lesson from nature? In her latest blog, Dr. Kathy Allen offers 4 key reasons why we need to listen to what is happening around us.

Listen here: Kathleen Allen | The Sounds of Nature

World’s Worst Airlines in the World

Travel company AirHelp, which helps travelers get compensated for flight delays, wanted to find out how dozens of airlines around the world stacked up against each other, so they crunched some numbers to create a ranking. The final list accounts for the quality of amenities, on-time arrivals and how well the airlines resolve flight-delay compensation claims.

READ MORE

---

Switzerland by train, bus and boat

Receive detailed information about travelling by train, bus and boat –
all on mystsnet.com, Swiss Travel System’s Media and Trade platform. Keep
abreast of current information around the news world thanks to press releases
and download inspiring texts, pictures and videos from the Download Centre.

READ MORE

The post France Joli, Wear a Hat, World’s Airlines Ranked appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Henry VIII and Hampton Court Palace

When one invokes images of English King Henry VIII they’re generally of an obese and egoistical king, who was no stranger to the royal casting couch, despite his marrying six of his conquests. But this is not the Henry of early years; an avid hunter and sportsman, a helpless romantic, sublime dancer, and highly educated man who actually composed his own songs and played numerous musical instruments. Henry was in born in 1491, the second son of King Henry VII. He was once a tall and slender man, considered physically attractive and charismatic by many. But a tragic jousting accident led to a life-long, unhealed wound on his leg, ending his physical days of sport, dancing, and hunting. Plus, he was confronted with daily excruciating pain that added greatly to his to his discomfort in walking and gruff demeanor. No English King, though, was more responsible for laying the groundwork for making the British Empire the world’s greatest power, lasting for two-hundred years, with flags flying over 40% of the globe.

With the death of his Henry’s elder brother, he became heir to the English throne, but was considered unfit to rule at the age of 10. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was awarded the title of Lord Chancellor, and stepped in to rule the nation and amassed a considerable fortune. Sparing no expense, Wolsey built the original Tudor palace, Hampton Court Palace, along the Thames, then on the outskirts of London. It was considered the finest palace in England. Henry was soon anointed king, and, in the Tudor tradition, married the widow of his brother, Katharine of Aragon from Spain.

When Katharine, now in her 40s, was unable to produce a male heir, he turned his eyes on one of Katharine’s ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. He instructed Wolsey to ask Pope Leo X to annul his first marriage, but when Wolsey failed to succeed in this impossible task, Henry broke with the church and married the now pregnant Anne Boleyn. Henry was excommunicated from the church, and the English reformation began where he appointed himself as head of the Church of England.

Hampton Court attracted Henry’s attention, and Woolsey, who had fallen out of favour, wisely gifted him the palace. Henry was a lavish spender, always in need of income, so he ordered that 800 well-funded monasteries be disbanded and their lands and treasures taken for the crown. No expense was too much for Henry as he began to enlarge Hampton Court. He already owned over sixty houses and palaces, yet few were large enough to hold or feed his assembled court of 1,000 subjects. A vast kitchen was built, quadrupling the original size. The renovation of the palace followed the design by Wolsey’s Gothic Tudor and Baroque architectural-style, adorned with Renaissance ornaments.

A visit to Hampton Court today is a step back into history. I was overwhelmed by its scope and size, and could easily have spent countless hours there. At its gatehouse there’s the astronomical clock, made for Henry VIII, and 30 or so suites used for the grandest visitors, with the opulence depending on the status of the occupant.

Once inside, I was confronted with the lavish use of half-timber, rectangular and bay windows, carved wood paneled walls, lavish moldings and design. Two staircases lead to the 106 ft. long and 40 ft. wide Great Hall banquet room where Henry would ‘play’ the role of a Renaissance monarch. The hall features a spectacularly decorated hammer-beam, and walls covered by Henry’s most treasured tapestries. I was pleasantly surprised to find everything so accessible, making it easy to become part of the experience. I felt like a monarch by literally sitting at Henry’s place at the grand table, or laying down in a large sleeping room, which I assumed was for less distinguished guests, for there was only straw on the floor as bedding.

Henry used Hampton Court to demonstrate magnificence and power through lavish banquets, extravagant court life and expensive art. By the 1530s, Hampton Court became a palace, a hotel, a theatre and a vast leisure complex. It was Henry’s favorite royal residence, and only two of his surviving ones.

Mozart – Geburtshaus & Museum – Salzburg, Austria

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could read and compose music, plus play the violin and piano, when he was five years old. Born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria (then the Holy Roman Empire), he had a unique ability for imitating music, which first became evident when he recited a musical piece by simply observing his father conducting a lesson to his older sister. This led to a childhood on the road, where the young prodigy performed before many of the royal courts of Europe. At 17, no longer a child prodigy, he returned to Salzburg and accepted a post as a court musician, but was frustrated with the poor salary and lack of opportunities. His early travels and uncanny memory, though, had provided him with a plethora of musical styles and experiences, from which he used to create his own compositional language. He eventually settled in Vienna where he achieved fame, and is now considered one of the most influential and prolific composers of the Classical era. Mozart was never happy with his career in Salzburg as he experienced little fame; however, the city today is a Mecca for all things Amadeus. An essential stop is a visit to Mozart’s Geburtshaus (birthplace).

This is the house where his parents lived for 26 years and young Mozart was educated. Now a three-story museum, it is filled with original instruments – Mozart’s childhood violin, concert violin, clavichord and pianoforte – portraits, family letters, and furniture and objects of daily use, including Mozart’s very cradle. I strongly recommend a private tour, where guides are walking encyclopedias about his life. I asked why were Mozart’s famous eyes so bulging? He didn’t eat his vegetables!

Another Mozart must is a dinner concert at the famous Stiftskeller St. Peter, considered the “oldest restaurant in Europe.” The concert is performed by candlelight between food courses, prepared with traditional recipes from Mozart’s era. Period-costumed musicians, including two opera singers, perform arias from “Don Giovanni”, “Le Nozzi di Figaro” and “The Magic Flute.” Dining under magnificent chandeliers and surrounded by 18th century décor, not to mention the stirring music, is like being transported back to the magical times of Mozart.

The setting in Salzburg, itself an enchanting fairytale of a city, only enhances the experience. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city’s wealth was built on the mining of salt (‘salt’ translates to ‘salz’ in German, hence the city’s name). The west bank of the Salsas River borders the Alborg Historic Centre (known to locals as the Altadt), and is where most of the attractions are located. The fortress Festung Hohensalzburg towers over stunning baroque architecture and narrow cobblestone streets where smartly dressed locals sit in elegant coffee houses, noshing on delicate pastries and Mozartkugln (Mozart chocolate balls).

Edvard Grieg – Troldhaugen & Grieg Museum – Bergen, Norway

Despite his diminutive 5 ft frame, Norwegian composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a towering rock star long before the expression existed. Born into a successful Bergen merchant family in 1843, his life dramatically changed when violin virtuoso Ole Bull recognized his talent and also introduced him to the treasures of Norwegian folk music. Grieg studied the masters abroad, but dreamed of reprieves to his beloved Norwegian countryside – a pattern which continued after he became a world-renowned composer. Grieg and his wife built a home on Lake Nordås on the edge of Bergen, which he called his best opus so far. Christened Troldhaugen, the Victorian villa featured a tower, flag pole and rooftop vegetable garden. It soon became a center piece for Bergen’s artistic community and visiting dignitaries. Grieg loved the attention, but needed quiet to work, and built a composer’s hut by the lake. Grieg died in 1907 of chronic exhaustion. But today his legacy lives on at Troldhaugen – a living museum consisting of the Edvard Grieg Museum, the Villa, the Composer’s Hut, Concert Hall and Edvard Grieg´s tomb.

For me the highpoint of a visit to Troldhaugen was a recital at the concert hall, which is discreetly built right into the grounds, complete with sod roof. The floor-to-ceiling windows behind the stage overlooks the composer’s hut where Grieg would work, superstitiously sitting on a stack of sheet music by Beethoven so that he could reach the piano. At the end of each day, he would leave a note: “If anyone should break in here, please leave the musical scores, since they have no value to anyone except Edvard Grieg.”

It is essential that you spend at least two days in Bergen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bergen boasts endless tourist attractions, and the Bergen Tourist Card is an important component to your tour of this historic harbor town. The price allows you free or reduced- price admittance to the Bergen Art Museum, Fantoft Stave Church (a medieval wooden cathedral), harbor boat tour, Bergen Castle, and St Mary’s Church. Wander through the harbor fish market and down the wooden streets of the historic warehouse district. A fish buffet should be on everyone’s list for a sampling of Bergen’s world-famous fish soup, gravlaks (cured Atlantic salmon), fish cakes and hearty breads, all washed down with the city’s own Hansa beer.

The post Pilgrimages: Places I’ll Remember, Part 3 appeared first on Traveling Archive.

By way of a little background, as a teenager I had my first visual exposure to the horrors of the Holocaust in some newsreel depictions of the liberation of some camps after the war – the emaciated survivors with their sunken eyes, gaunt bodies and harrowed auras. I called my mother, who had told me of the Holocaust my whole life, and said: “Mom, I finally understand.” Now six decades later, I came to understand even more.

Mauthausen, one of the largest of the camps, was built high upon a hill in Linz, where Hitler was once a resident, near a large quarry. The rationale behind concentration camps evolved over the war years from imprisoning people, enslaving them and engendering fear among the general populace to simply one of extermination. And that was carried out in so many ways. Mauthausen was considered a Level 3 Camp where the guiding principle was that no one left – everyone was to be killed in some way or other. The SS excelled at very efficient methods of mutilation and annihilation.

The roots of genocide, according to our guide, were fostered in anti-Semitism, an us vs. them mentality, a de-humanization of others who are seen as “less.” It was hard not to draw some parallels to today’s world…

Many bodies engulfed “the stairs of death” leading to and from the quarry where malnourished and mistreated prisoners were forced to carry very heavy stones up very high stairs and often died in the process. Others were simply pushed down the steps. It becomes difficult to hear the stories as they became so visually enshrined.

Other cases involved prisoners forced outside during winter over whom cold water was poured – a particularly appealing entertainment for the SS guards who delighted in “showering” people to death – outside the actual gas chamber showers, that is…. Because any SS who shot an inmate trying to escape got extra days off, a favorite party trick was to entice prisoners into situations where they might appear to be escaping – and then shoot them. Stomach cringing continues.

Others, sick and beaten, simply died during daily roll call, a grueling process of standing in the heat or cold for 4-5 hours at a time, and being forced to do exercises when most of them could no longer stand. It is hard to hear all of this – and my stomach clenched and my eyes teared and I was overcome by a sense of helplessness and disbelief that these things actually happened – and no one cared.

In the barracks hundreds were housed in such horrendous conditions the term unsanitary does not begin to describe the degradation. On the wall is a quote depicting the “wheezing, hissing, moaning, sobbing, snoring” that filled the night-time air in 20 languages. “The noise fused into a single, terrible sound produced as if by a giant monstrous being that had holed up in the dark.” Another quote:”Anyone who hadn’t been brutal when they entered the world became brutal here.” More gut-wrenching stomach-churning.

And then we went through the gas chambers where thousands were killed and then the ovens where their remains were buried, with a side visit to the infirmary where unspeakable “experiments” were carried out.

And yet the neighbors and surrounding community ostensibly didn’t know what was happening, despite being within earshot of the thousands of prisoners suffering and screaming. In fact, some complained about the noise – but not about why it was occurring. The grandmother of our guide, who was seven at the time, said she could smell the stench of the burning bodies; she knew something bad was happening but nobody talked about it.

Of the 200,000 prisoners who occupied Mauthausen from 1938-1945, about half were killed. There were only 20,000 survivors when liberation finally came on May 5, 1945, with another 80,000 already too ill to benefit from the end of the war. Not surprisingly, the liberators were shocked at the condition of the prisoners. I imagine so too were the community members when they were finally exposed to what was really happening in their backyard. At this point, my stomach was in perpetual decompression mode.

There were signs on walls from visitors in multiple languages: RIP, Never Again, and You won’t be forgotten. A simple drawing of an eye with a tear coming down was the one I most related to.

Most of the guards went home after the war suffering no consequences and little was said about what they had done. No one talked about it. According to our guide, it took Austria four decades to acknowledge its part in the Holocaust.

There were multiple school groups of teenagers at the camp and I felt thankful they were learning of the atrocities they otherwise would probably have no knowledge of. I wished I could understand what they were saying about their experience. History will now change as there soon will be no survivors, no one to say this is what actually happened, and the Holocaust will be relegated to the status of other historical occurrences which the young will learn about in school but will not relate to. Who really cares about the Crusades? There will be no visceral understanding. It will have nothing to do with them. There will be nothing to keep it from happening again. I only wish I could call my mother and tell her once again, that now I REALLY understand…

For more information, visit the Danube River Cruise Tour page.

The post Mauthausen Concentration Camp: Because Turning Away is Never an Option appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) could read and compose music, plus play the violin and piano, when he was five years old. Born into a musical family in Salzburg, Austria (then the Holy Roman Empire), he had a unique ability for imitating music, which first became evident when he recited a musical piece by simply observing his father conducting a lesson to his older sister. This led to a childhood on the road, where the young prodigy performed before many of the royal courts of Europe. At 17, no longer a child prodigy, he returned to Salzburg and accepted a post as a court musician, but was frustrated with the poor salary and lack of opportunities. His early travels and uncanny memory, though, had provided him with a plethora of musical styles and experiences, from which he used to create his own compositional language. He eventually settled in Vienna where he achieved fame, and is now considered one of the most influential and prolific composers of the Classical era. Mozart was never happy with his career in Salzburg as he experienced little fame; however, the city today is a Mecca for all things Amadeus. An essential stop is a visit to Mozart’s Geburtshaus (birthplace). This is the house where his parents lived for 26 years and young Mozart was educated. Now a three-story museum, it is filled with original instruments – Mozart’s childhood violin, concert violin, clavichord and pianoforte – portraits, family letters, and furniture and objects of daily use, including Mozart’s very cradle. I strongly recommend a private tour, where guides are walking encyclopedias about his life. I asked why were Mozart’s famous eyes so bulging? He didn’t eat his vegetables!

Another Mozart must is a dinner concert at the famous Stiftskeller St. Peter, considered the “oldest restaurant in Europe.” The concert is performed by candlelight between food courses, prepared with traditional recipes from Mozart’s era. Period-costumed musicians, including two opera singers, perform arias from “Don Giovanni”, “Le Nozzi di Figaro” and “The Magic Flute.” Dining under magnificent chandeliers and surrounded by 18th century décor, not to mention the stirring music, is like being transported back to the magical times of Mozart.

The setting in Salzburg, itself an enchanting fairytale of a city, only enhances the experience. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city’s wealth was built on the mining of salt (‘salt’ translates to ‘salz’ in German, hence the city’s name). The west bank of the Salsas River borders the Alborg Historic Centre (known to locals as the Altadt), and is where most of the attractions are located. The fortress Festung Hohensalzburg towers over stunning baroque architecture and narrow cobblestone streets where smartly dressed locals sit in elegant coffee houses, noshing on delicate pastries and Mozartkugln (Mozart chocolate balls).

Edvard Grieg – Troldhaugen – Bergen, Norway

Despite his diminutive 5 ft frame, Norwegian composer Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a towering rock star long before the expression existed. Born into a successful Bergen merchant family in 1843, his life dramatically changed when violin virtuoso Ole Bull recognized his talent and also introduced him to the treasures of Norwegian folk music. Grieg studied the masters abroad, but dreamed of reprieves to his beloved Norwegian countryside – a pattern which continued after he became a world-renowned composer. Grieg and his wife built a home on Lake Nordås on the edge of Bergen, which he called his best opus so far. Christened Troldhaugen, the Victorian villa featured a tower, flag pole and rooftop vegetable garden. It soon became a center piece for Bergen’s artistic community and visiting dignitaries. Grieg loved the attention, but needed quiet to work, and built a composer’s hut by the lake. Grieg died in 1907 of chronic exhaustion. But today his legacy lives on at Troldhaugen – a living museum consisting of the Edvard Grieg Museum, the Villa, the Composer’s Hut, Concert Hall and Edvard Grieg´s tomb. For me the highpoint of a visit to Troldhaugen was a recital at the concert hall, which is discreetly built right into the grounds, complete with sod roof. The floor-to-ceiling windows behind the stage overlooks the composer’s hut where Grieg would work, superstitiously sitting on a stack of sheet music by Beethoven so that he could reach the piano. At the end of each day, he would leave a note: “If anyone should break in here, please leave the musical scores, since they have no value to anyone except Edvard Grieg.”

It is essential that you spend at least two days in Bergen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bergen boasts endless tourist attractions, and the Bergen Tourist Card is an important component to your tour of this historic harbor town. The price allows you free or reduced- price admittance to the Bergen Art Museum, Fantoft Stave Church (a medieval wooden cathedral), harbor boat tour, Bergen Castle, and St Mary’s Church. Wander through the harbor fish market and down the wooden streets of the historic warehouse district. A fish buffet should be on everyone’s list for a sampling of Bergen’s world-famous fish soup, gravlaks (cured Atlantic salmon), fish cakes and hearty breads, all washed down with the city’s own Hansa beer.

Jimi Hendrix – Museum of Pop Culture (formerly EMP) – Seattle

For this native Seattleite, the Emerald City’s most famous export is James Marshall Hendrix. Born in 1942, Hendrix’s life in Seattle was unremarkable. A second cousin of mine discovered from an attendance record that ‘Jimmy’ had actually been one of his students at Garfield High School – nine years after the fact. Hendrix later dropped out of school and joined the army, never looking back. A self-taught musician, the left-handed Hendrix played a restrung right-handed guitar upside down, creating a completely original sound. Discovered in New York by the former Animals’ bassist, Chas Chandler, Hendrix was relocated to London, where his name was changed, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed, and his career blossomed. Once asked if he was from Seattle, Jimi replied, ‘A thousand years ago.’ None the less, he was one of us.

I was a wide-eyed adolescent at the time of his death in Sept of 1970, and snuck into his memorial at the Seattle Center. Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell were in attendance. It seemed fitting, though, when Paul Allen created a museum for Jimi at the Seattle Center almost 30 years after his death at 27. Famed architect Frank O. Gehry was commissioned to build the museum, which must be seen to be believed. Coined the Experience Music Project (now Museum of Pop Culture), the venue showcases the world’s largest collection of rare artifacts, hand-written lyrics, personal instruments, and original photographs celebrating the music and history of Jimi Hendrix. I found the exhibit devoted to the early Northwest sound particularly riveting, where local legends like the Wailers and Sonics would ravage the crowd at the iconic Tacoma club, the Spanish Castle. The then unknown Jimmy would occasionally sit in (sometimes playing outside on the sidewalk) and later immortalized the club in his song, “Spanish Castle Magic.”

After experiencing Jimi at the Museum of Pop Culture, make sure you spend some time at the Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World’s Fair. To get there, simply hop on the Monorail, located in the Westlake Mall across the street from Nordstrom, for the ten-minute journey. The ride still seems futuristic to me. Spread across 74-acres, it is one of the U.S.’ greatest urban parks. The centerpiece of the city park is the iconic 520 ft., the Space Needle. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower, it too was created for a World’s Fair. Avoid the pricey revolving restaurant and head to the observation deck. You will see the appeal of the Emerald City; framed by the snowcapped Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Puget Sound and Lake Washington, not to mention lakes, canals and bike trials cutting through the city proper.

The post Three Musical Pilgrimages: Mozart, Grieg and Hendrix appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-earned break after organizing a protest at an alt–right Neo-Nazi rally in Oklahoma.

Dog Quotations

Beatle Beat Trivia

The First Wives Club

Match the Beatle with his first wife:

a. John
b. Paul
c. George
d. Ringo

1. Maureen Cox
2. Cynthia Powell
3. Yoko Ono
4. Mimi Smith
5. Linda Eastman
6. Barbara Bach
7. Pattie Boyd

Answers Below

100 Best Things to Do in Austria

Courtesy: J Miller

Hidden in the heart of Europe lies the land of emperors, waltz and schnitzel. A paradise for skiers, hikers and city lovers all in one. From the steep hills of the Alps to the magnificent palaces of Vienna, every tourist can find something just to their taste.

MORE

The World’s First Floating Space Hotel is Launching in 2021

Are you always looking for something a little different when it comes to travelling? Well, booking a “room” in a hotel that floats in space would probably be right up your street.

Robert Bigelow, a billionaire hotel mogul, has announced plans to launch just that.

The 72-year-old says a ‘B330’ line of space stations, advertised as ‘fully autonomous standalone space.

MORE

Hands down, this Canadian gem is our pick for the most hilarious, madcap travel show on the cybersphere.

Here’s a look back as the Travel Guys take on Santa Rosa.

WATCH the VIDEO

Beatle Beat Trivia Answers

The First Wives Club

Match the Beatle with his first wife:

a. John: 2. Cynthia Powell

b. Paul: 5. Linda Eastman

c. George: 7. Pattie Boyd

d. Ringo: 1. Maureen Cox (aka Mary Cox)

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
and twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
in such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
what wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils

Send Deb your favorite travel poems.

7 German Words that Perfectly Capture the Feeling of Living in Trump’s America

There is a word for how you’re feeling — it’s just not an English one

Courtesy, Liz Posner, Alternet

When I set out to research the German words that capture what it feels like to be an American living during the era of the Trump administration, I didn’t expect there to be so damn many. Like many of my fellow citizens who have flocked to therapists’ offices over the past year, eager to sort through their trauma at being governed by a narcissistic megalomaniac, I was already aware that the current political era was doing something strange to my psyche. But it can be hard to pin down exactly what these emotions are, if words for them even exist.

MORE

10 of the World’s Craziest Landings

Courtesy Ashley Rossi

These 10 airports have some of the craziest landings in the world. Fretful flyers, you’ve been warned.

Flying can be a nerve-racking experience for fretful travelers; however, landings at these 10 airports are sure to frighten even the most frequent flyers. From an airport at the edge of a cliff to sandy beach landings, here are the world’s craziest runways — consider yourself warned.

MORE

Time Capsule Cinema

Z – A Look Back

By Walt Mundkowsky

Costa-Gavras’ Z predisposes one to admire it, as the first film to indict the brutal military regime in Greece; in fact, the music by the long-imprisoned Mikis Theodorakis had to be smuggled out of the country.

MORE

Countries Difficult for Americans to Visit

In spite of broad generalizations that Americans have no interest in leaving their own borders, US citizens are traveling abroad in record numbers. According to the US National Tourism Office, nearly 67 million Americans chose to take an international trip in 2016. The world may be our oyster, but some countries impose harsh visa requirements that may hinder American tourism.

MORE

Shaq Fits the Fun Ship Brand

Former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal is now Carnival’s newly-named Chief Fun Officer. Yes, Shaquille O’Neal. Of course it makes sense for he embodies the kind of people Carnival wants on its ships: social, happy and a tad goofy around the edges.

MORE

The post 7 German Words, Austria, Space Hotel and More appeared first on Traveling Archive.

1. Question: What are some of the “things” or activities that the people of Salzburg do for fun?

Answer:

Salzburg is a very social and lively city. Locals enjoy to be part of what Salzburg is famous and loved for – they stroll through the inner city, meet with friends in one of the many coffeehouses for some coffee and cake, do their grocery shopping on the farmers’ markets and definitely partake in many of the city’s cultural offerings from concerts in the Mirabell Palace or on the Hohensalzburg Fortress to the renowned Salzburg Festival in the summer. Salzburg is also a great place to be for an active person. In the evenings and on weekends, you see friends and families biking along the Salzach River (which runs through the city center) or going for walks and hikes in the nearby hills and mountains, some of the best ski resorts of the region are also very close, maybe a 30 min drive away. And not to forget about all the culinary offerings the city has, from award winning top restaurants to local inns and beergardens, the people of Salzburg love to go out – and sport their traditional garb – Dirndl (dresses) for the ladies, and Lederhosen for the gentlemen! (Check out all the great biking options in and around the city – also for visitors.)

2.  Question: What’s one thing the public probably does NOT know about Salzburg?

Answer:

Hmmm… it’s definitely NOT the Sound of Music or Mozart. There are a few things that I have found surprise people: Salzburg has never been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (although geographically located in it) – it was an independent Archbishopry (hence ruled by the Catholic Church) and became part of Austria only 200 years ago. It still has the nickname “Rome of the North” – check it out, it’s pretty interesting.

Whereas Austria’s wines have gained recognition in the US, notably the Gruener Veltliner (the Groone, or GrueVe), it is lesser known that Austria, and in particular Salzburg, have a very long (beer) brewing tradition. The first breweries in Salzburg were established by the end of the 14^th century, and some of them are still brewing beer today, most notably the Stiegl Brewery!

3. Share some aspect of what Salzburg has contributed to the world.

Answer:

W.A. Mozart and his oeuvre, The Sound of Music in all its incarnations, the Salzburg Festival and its many celebrities, and any combination thereof.

The post Three Things About Salzburg appeared first on Traveling Archive.