Month: October 2017

Bayerisches Viertel in Berlin, Germany

http://www.touristinspiration.com/knowledge/things-to-see-and-do/bayerischer-platz-12454.html

” . . . .  The ”Bayerischer Platz” is the center of the ”Bayerisches Viertel”, (Bavarian district), with many streets named after Bavarian cities, which was destroyed a lot [more] during World War II (about 60%).  . . . .  ”

I just had a look at my post from January 2015 about Bayerishces Viertel. We used to live in Bozener Strasse. I always assumed that the town of “Bozen” was in Bavaria. I know now that is not the case.

Bolzano (Bozen) is in Southern Tyrol and belongs now to Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolzano

“During the gradual decline of the Romans’ influence in the 7th century, Bavarian immigration took place and the first mention of a Bavarian ruler in Bolzano dates from 679.[5] At that time, the Bavarians named the nearby villages around Bolzano Bauzanum or Bauzana.[6] Germanpopulations have been present in the region of Tyrol since this time.”

It seems, even though it belongs to Italy, the German population in Southern Tyrol is predominant. Here is what I found in wikipedia about the modern-day South Tyrol:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Tyrol

“Modern-day South Tyrol, an autonomous Italian province created in 1948, was part of the Austro-Hungarian County of Tyrol until 1918 (then known as Deutschsüdtirol and occasionally Mitteltirol[1]). It was annexed by Italy following the defeat of the Central Powersin World War I. It has been part of a cross-border joint entity, the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, since 2001.

 

My friend Eva Todtenhausen once tought me the text to the following Tyrol melody:

 

 

I was ten at the time, and I still remember the words!

https://auntyuta.com/2015/01/27/bayerisches-viertel-2/

This post brings back memories about Bozener Strasse. This is the street where I lived during most of my childhood and early adulthood years. Some of the buildings look a lot more colourful now than they used to. I like some of the very bright colours. During the 1930s and 1940s we children would use Bozener Strasse as our playground because there were usually no cars parked there. Our street was very out of the way and had no through traffic. Tante Ilse and Onkel Addi for instance parked their car in a nearby garage. I think to that garage it was a five minute walk!

I sometimes like to just browse through some older posts of mine. Being able to ‘search’ for certain subjects, often helps to find some posts that I am specially looking for.  Today for instance I wanted to find a picture from my first birthday. I assumed that at  some time  I had published this picture that was taken on my first birthday. Inserting “first Birthday” in the search space, resulted in the following:

https://auntyuta.com/?s=first+Birthday&submit=Search

Alas, nothing came up about my first birthday, but on the other hand quite a few posts that I enjoyed having another look at. Feel welcome, to browse through some  of my  posts too. I hope you find some of the posts interesting.

Cheerio, and have a good day!

 

 

 

Milena Glimbovski, Germany Milena sells nude food – what on Earth is that?

http://www.dw.com/en/milena-glimbovski-germany/a-18742296

“The average German produces 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of waste every year. And if you go grocery shopping at a normal German supermarket, you’ll quickly see why: From meat to cheese, vegetables to fruit, most items on sale are wrapped in plastic. That’s something 25-year-old Milena Glimbovski couldn’t wrap her head around.

“Why is all of this food I buy every day wrapped in so much plastic? Is that really necessary?” Milena says. “I mean, it’s crazy: you can even buy ecologically friendly condoms, but you can’t get food without packaging,” she adds.

So she decided to set up Berlin’s first packaging-free supermarket. That was not a piece of cake: For example, finding suppliers who deliver food without packaging took her a whole six months.

What started as just an idea in 2012 finally became a reality in September 2014. Since then, Milena has been the proud owner of a small shop, aptly called “Original Unverpackt” (Original Unpackaged).

It is located in Berlin’s vibrant, trendy Kreuzberg district, and sells 400 different products – from nuts to noodles – all package-free. Customers can fill as much of each product as they want into small linen bags, Tupperware they bring from home, or glass jars they can get in Milena’s shop. As long as it’s reusable.”

Wrapped in plastic? No, thanks.

“Original Unverpackt” is a small supermarket that looks more like a kiosk, and yet it offers 500 different products – from nuts to noodles – all package-free.”

What does that have to do with the climate?

“Milena is doing the climate a big favor: In order to produce plastic wrapping, it takes fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal. About four percent of the world’s annual petroleum production is converted directly into making plastics, and another four percent gets burned to fuel the process. To produce one kilogram of plastic, six kilograms of carbon dioxide are emitted – that’s about as much as a 40-kilometer-long car ride emits. This obviously doesn’t do the climate any good.

Milena’s customers love not only the products, but also the shopping experience itself: Turns out that shuffling nuts into bags brought from home is actually way more fun than just tossing a pre-packaged bag of nuts into a cart.

But when they get to the spaghetti section, many customers are a bit helpless, Milena says. “They wonder: where could we possibly put that?” Spaghetti won’t fit in most Tupperware containers.

But Milena is used to solving problems, so she even has an answer to this: “Old Pringles tubes,” she says and smiles. Genius.”

Europe: The reconstruction of the Free World, ULRIKE GUÉROT, ROBERT MENASSE, 30 March 2016

http://www.eurozine.com/europe-the-reconstruction-of-the-free-world/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Gu%C3%A9rot

http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/German-Publishers-and-Booksellers-Association-Robert-Menasse-wins-the-German-Book-Prize-2017-for-his-Novel-Die-Hauptstadt-The-Capital-1003544231

German Publishers and Booksellers Association: Robert Menasse wins the German Book Prize 2017 for his Novel “Die Hauptstadt” (“The Capital”)

PR Newswire

Oct. 9, 2017, 12:55 PM

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany, Oct. 9, 2017 /CNW/ – The winner of the German Book Prize 2017 is Robert Menasse for his novel “Die Hauptstadt” (Suhrkamp).

Statement from the jury:

“The humane is always worth striving for; it is never reliably given: With his novel ‘Die Hauptstadt’, Robert Menasse vividly shows that this also applies to the European Union. With great dramaturgical skill, he light-handedly digs into the deepest layers of this world we call our own – making unmistakably clear that, among other things, the economy alone will not be able to guarantee us a peaceful future. Those who are undermining the peace project that is Europe are among us – not infrequently, ‘the others’ are we ourselves. With ‘Die Hauptstadt’, Robert Menasse has achieved the goal he set for himself: In the novel, contemporaneity is realised with such literary ability that contemporaries will recognise themselves in it and those born later will be better able to understand these times.”

 

The “Strandkorb”

 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Bartelmann

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kt001JDb2I

Who was Wilhelm Bartelmann?” inventor of the beach basket” Google celebrating 172nd birthday. Wilhelm Bartelmann The “strandkorb” beach-chair was invented in 1882 by German basket maker Wilhelm Bartelmann in Rostock, originally for his customer Elfriede Maltzahn, who suffered from rheumatism and had requested in his workshop a “seating accommodation for the beach that would provide shelter from the sun and wind” Wilhelm Bartelmann Biography Born: 7 October 1845 Died: 25 July 1930, Rostock, Germany

https://auntyuta.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=11106&action=edit

I remember “beach baskets” from my childhood days.  The above picture from 1940 of a “Strandkorb” with my mother and Tante Ilse in it and my father leaning on the side of the Strandkorb I published in a blog here:

https://auntyuta.com/2016/05/25/my-father/

Heaps of Beach Baskets to be seen here:

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g187364-d2037827-Reviews-Warnemunde_Beach-Warnemunde_Rostock_Mecklenburg_West_Pomerania.html#photos;geo=187364&detail=2037827&ff=274298172&albumViewMode=hero&aggregationId=101&albumid=101&baseMediaId=274298172&thumbnailMinWidth=50&cnt=30&offset=-1&filter=7&autoplay=

I just found another blog I wrote about our stay in Graal/Muritz in 1940:

https://auntyuta.com/2012/01/16/the-beach-at-graalmuritz/

During the summer of 1940 we were on holidays at the Baltic Sea. We had rented a small cottage. Auntie Ilse was staying with Mum, little Bodo and me most of the time. Our maid Gertrud was with us too. Dad worked during the week in Berlin and came to Graal only on weekends.

Two year old Bodo must have already been quite a walker. I remember that Dad took us for walks in the nearby forest where we would be looking for blueberries. These berries were quite delicious. We would eat them for supper with some sugar and milk.

The beach was not far from our cottage. We went there every day. A photographer had a shop close by. During the day he often took pictures of people on the beach. The following day he displayed the pictures in front of his shop ready for sale. I think people did not order to have their pictures taken. They bought them only if they happened to like them.

In my files I have two of these pictures. They are more than seventy years old now. I was reminded of these pictures when we went to an Australian beach the other day. In one of these old pictures you can see my father with my mother and Auntie Ilse. The women sit in their ‘Strandkorb’. These ‘Strandkörbe’ are very popular on all German beaches. They are popular still to this day. They are a good windshelter. I think people usually place them in such a way that they can catch the sun. Mum and Auntie Ilse were always proud of their suntan.

The Honey Place at Urunga

To start with I copy here what I found about the Honey Place on the internet:

https://honeyplace.com.au/

It says:

Welcome to the Sweetest Spot on the Mid-North Coast

“The Honey Place is a family run business, Established in 1982 on the Mid North Coast of NSW. We are specialists in gourmet honey. Our Honey is sourced from state forest and private  Eucalyptus old growth forest. As far north as Texas in just inside the Queensland Border, through to Walcha and any where in-between including right here in Urunga. Our Honey has been extracted the same way as it has been for hundreds of years, so the honey retains all of the natural properties that you are looking for. Our Honey is 100% Australian, Pure, Unpasteurized and not micro filtered.”

 Your Experience

“At The Honey Place you will be able to see into the mysterious world of the Honey bee. With our Glass display hive its nice and safe to get up close and personal with Bees. You can also see the friendly Australian Native bee (non-stinging), view a very informative video, taste all of our many varieties of honey, and ask our staff as many question as you like. You can come and enjoy some of our award winning scones with jam and cream, while sipping on a superb cup of locally roasted coffee.”

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During our recent holidays we decided one day to drive to Coffs Harbour for an outing. On the way there we stopped at the Urunga Honey Place. We had a lovely time there, sitting in the sun sipping our tea. We also bought some delicious honey.

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We very much liked our break at the Honey Place. But Coffs Harbour was not so good for us on that day. I’ll write about this some other time.

PS: The Honey Ice-Cream was delicious!

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Katharine Murphy: Our casual acceptance of terrorism measures endangers liberty

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/07/casual-acceptance-terrorism-measures-endangers-liberty

Katherine Murphy writes about it in The Guardian.

She says:

“State politicians waved through Malcolm Turnbull’s proposals for a face recognition database and 14-day detention with barely a shrug

Leaders in western democracies are quick to declare in times of national security emergencies that the threat of terrorism cannot change our way of life.

It really is time to cut the crap. Terrorism has changed our way of life, and in profound ways.  .  .  .   .  ”

Further on she says: ” . .  .  things have changed.”

“We should not pretend otherwise. All the Churchillian rhetoric, while well intentioned and fashioned to soothe, insults the intelligence of the electorate.”

 

I agree with what Katherine Murphy says in her article. What do you think?

 

 

Sintra et al

I am very impressed by this very detailed post and want to reblog it.

swissrose's avatarThe Little Wash-House

I hardly know where to start with this post – no amount of images could cover the impressions, really, and it becomes clear that travelling vicariously is going to have its limits for some of you! How I admire the travel writers of old who must assume that their readers are unlikely to follow in their footsteps and to need to describe what they have seen in suitable phrasing…

We flew into Lisbon and very warm summer weather, picked up our rental car and headed to the coast for a few days, thanks to a wedding invitation – German friends have decided to tie the knot and as they are closely connected to Portugal, they decided festivities would take place there. Different!
On arrival, however, we were greeted by a very unrestrained and raging Atlantic crashing full force into the most westerly coast of Europe – and it had brought…

View original post 1,721 more words

‘Our Ocean’ conference tackling plastic waste and other threats to our seas

http://www.dw.com/en/our-ocean-conference-tackling-plastic-waste-and-other-threats-to-our-seas/a-40821386

. . . . .

“Plastic is now “on the menu,” Britain’s Prince Charles said as he kicked off the Our Ocean conference on Thursday, warning that “we are very close to reaching the point when whatever wild-caught fish you eat will contain plastic.”

. . . . . .

Experiences in my Life

It has been a while  since I added anything to my childhood memories. If I had another look at it now to see what I have written  some time ago, maybe I would find a few things in there that I do not remember so well anymore now. With time the memories seem to fade somewhat. This is why it is important to write down the things that I do still remember now.

Today I thought about it how blessed I am that I have a number of great-grandchildren. Yes, there are five of them now. Grandson Tristan has two girls, grandson Ryan has two boys, and granddaughter Roxanne has one boy. The two girls are nine and ten years. The boys are five and three years, whereas Roxy’s little Carter is now 10 and 1/2 months.

Since all of us do not live very close together,  I cannot see the family on a daily or weekly basis. Even a regular monthly meeting is usually not on the cards for Peter and me.  After all we are both in our eighties. Still, I am very happy that Peter can still drive enabling us to participate in special family celebrations. A few times a year our extended Family does come to visit us. I am always thrilled when a lot of visitors turn up at our place!

Everyone tells  us that it  is great that our family keeps in contact for birthdays, and at Christmas time and Easter. I do appreciate this very much and am very grateful for it. It is very rewarding to see the growing up of  great-grandchildren.  Watching them at their different stages kind of reminds me of my own childhood.

I often ask myself: What was I like at such and such an age? I still do have vivid memories about some events and some family members from the time when I was about three or four. So would my great-grandchildren perhaps remember people and events from the here and now when they are in their eighties?

When I go back to the time when I was about three or four, Cordula often comes to mind who was just eight months younger than I was. We could see each other quite often. Actually, I think she was a bit like a sister to me. When her Mum took Cordula for an outing. I was often allowed to go with them. I have such good memories about these walks! I cannot recall that my Mum ever asked Cordula to come along with us when my Mum took me for  an outing somewhere. I think occasionally Cordula would come to the apartment where I lived to play with me. But usually I would go for visits to  where Cordula lived just two floors further up on the fifth floor.

To me – even as a child – these  five story high Berlin apartment buildings  were just perfect as a  place to live  in. When we moved to a desolate country area because of ever   increasing bomb raids on Berlin, I missed Berlin very much.

Last year when we went for  a visit to Berlin, we  stayed in an area where  all the buildings  were five stories high. All of them were beautifully restored and maintained. “Wie im tiefsten Frieden”  – like there was absolute peace. This is what we used to tell us during the war when anything seemed like it was before the war started. These buildings I  am referring to were last year well over 100 years  old!

 

 

What leads to Writing about my Experiences?

Doing a ‘Proust.’ published by Oosterman Treats Blog

Doing a ‘Proust.’

The above was published on the 2nd of October 2017. It fascinated me to find out about the importance of Marcel Proust. I researched on the internet a bit about Marcel Proust and published here the things I found of special interest:

Source: Marcel Proust Biography

The following write-up I found very interesting:

“French novelist Marcel Proust was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. His books abandoned plot and dramatic action in favor of the narrator‘s descriptions of his experiences in the world.”

Well, it says that Proust’s books “abandoned plot and dramatic action  in favour of the   narrator’s description of his  experiences in the world.”

I reckon this is  exactly how I would like to be  able to write. I very much long to write about my experiences in this world. And I always only wanted to write for the followers of my blogs but also for my family and future descendants. I like the idea that family members, that come after me, can perhaps make themselves a picture of me as a person and the experiences in my life. I am 83 already. I published in my blogs whatever I have written so far. I hope my desire to write a bit more is strong enough to discipline me to actually do some  more writing during the time that is still left to me.

http://www.notablebiographies.com/knowledge/Marcel_Proust.html