GSC Winter 25: Regensburg, Passau, Melk, Wien

Regensburg Roman tower

 I'm lumping these places together as I saw them all as part of the AMA tour. I'd hoped we'd have a day in each port, and move from port to port each night; that would have given me time to explore the city a bit. We did sail a lot at night, but most of our port calls were relatively short, giving time for the AMA tour, a quick dash through the Markt then back to the boat.  I'll just note what particularly struck me in these places...

There was a sizable Roman fort in Regensburg with well built walls that were incorporated into the later medieval wall.  This was an old Roman tower by one of the gates... the garrison held about 6000 people!

The bridge over the Danube was very old and very beautiful... 

Artists quarter in Passau

Three rivers come together in Passau at the Dreiflusseck... When the Inn is snowfed from the Alps it often flows much faster than the Danube, effectively damning it with water. When this happens, the area of town by the river floods profoundly! This area is home to a lot of artists who have their ateliers in the ground floor and live on the floor above; when a flood is coming, they can move everything to up to their living quarters.

I didn't take many photos in Melk... they were the process of taking all the books out of the library for renovation. The chapel is lovely and well documented by others. I am certainly coming to realize that my favorite type of church architecture is Gothic.

We stopped in Linz briefly to pick up the group who had spent the day in Salzburg but it was cold and dark and rainy and the Markt was closed anyways so I went to bed. 

Normally one would not dream of Vienna not having it's own page but... I took a tour of "Imperial Vienna" which was a drive around the Ringstrasse followed by a walking tour which completely ignored the beautiful Michaelertor, and allowed us 20 minutes of free time at Stephensplatz. What's sad to me is that folks will take this cruise and say they've seen Vienna.  I'm trying not to be judgy but this type of travel does not suit me. We did walk by the Spanish Riding School where I missed a photo of 3 Lipps going to workout; the lead one was showing off; I did see this one posing in his stall.

Lippazaner in his stall

I took the tour to Schönbrunn which was really a bus to the Christkindlmarkt (we saw St Nick!!!) and did not include a garden or Schloss tour. This was not my favorite market. I tried the Uhudler (Glühwein from Burgenland) which was WAY too sweet and not to my taste. 

Our plan is to visit Austria next fall, so I felt okay about not spending the day doing something useful. 

Regensburg: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9n2P4WWsyPSUdUur5

Passau: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eHUQCCA9fU2oW6TR8

Melk: https://photos.app.goo.gl/neo1yZhog6jqjnsb8

Vienna: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oa5yCJCJbRZoNaxC8

GSC, WInter 25, Nürnberg

I arrived in Nuremberg yesterday from Frankfurt; my DB train was only 35 minutes late!!! Apparently that’s really good.  And the announcements were unintelligible so I feel like my experience was complete. I was so tired from not sleeping that I walked around like a zombie for a couple hours, ate some food, then fell asleep. At 1AM, I woke up (that’s my current problem) but opened the window; I was asleep a bit later and feel much better today. The open window was key.

When DH and I travel, we have a plan, and he keeps me moving. When I travel alone, I often have a list but no plan… I assume I’ll do what ever I feel like doing. The problem with that is when I’m zombie tired, then I don’t want to do anything. So… A plan. 

Sebalduskirche, inside

Today after a fine breakfast at the Karl August, I wandered around the old town and saw:

Sebalduskirche, all dressed up Advent. I did see it the night before when I did my zombie walk, but it nice to see it in the daylight (sunset at 4:20). I had watched them decorating the altar.

Lorenzkirche

Kaiserberg: I love fortifications! But all the normal signs were not present. I wonder if it had been destroyed in WWII bombing and not rebuilt?

Albrecht Drurer house: I saw it from the outside but didn’t go in

Tiergärtnertor: this was pretty interesting, but would not photo well. What was interesting to me was that the gate exited parallel to the wall and moat. 

The wall, and some huge ass tower… I don’t know exactly what the tower was. I’d started walking along the wall, figuring maybe I’d walk the entire perimeter *6-7KM) but when I got to the tower, I decided I was cold and I abandoned to go see the Lorenzkirche. 

Two knit shops: I asked about local wool, and was informed that there are a lot of German brands, and they can’t carry everything, so why was I asking. I thanked them very much and left.

Frauenkirche: I actually saw this the night before, in the dark, as they were getting ready for the Market opening. Lovely church. 

The Market opening was nice to see. First they turned off all the lights; then lit the front of the church. A  children’s choir sung, there was a small brass band, the Christmas trees were lit and the Christkindl read the traditional poem before the lights were turned on again. I had a bad angle to the stage so there might have been other things going on… It took awhile for the sizable crowd to disperse.  (The crowd had its advantages… I was a lot warmer when I was stuck in the middle of a sea of bodies). I’ll check the online video footage of it later to see if I missed anything.

The Market stalls were open in the afternoon, so I was able to walk through… I bought some super warm mittens!!! I was delighted to see that the offerings were different (and better) than what I saw in Frankfurt; I was afraid they’d be the same from city to city.

On Saturday, I checked out and went to find the Germanisches Museum… On my way I dropped back into a booth at the Christkindlesmarkt where I’d seen this darn cute little ornaments… I decided to buy them because there was no one at the Markt! Not so when I walked back, it was super super crowded.

I brought some home...

The Germanisches Museum was good… they claim to cover 60000 years of germanic history. I was delighted to see the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Chacolithic, and Iron Age artifacts. Yes, there were spindle whorls and damn small ones, too; those are made for very fine threads. My favorite artifact was the bull from Hallstatt. A lot of the collection on display was ecclesiastical stuff from the Middle Ages which is not my thing. The 20th century collections were interesting. 

My tour on the first day of the cruise took us out and around the city... then out to where the Nazi parade grounds and the courthouse where the WWII trials were. Seeing this from the bus was fine. The court is still in use and you can tour it only when there's not a trial being conducted. 

We then went to the castle where I learned some interesting things about the fortifications, and how to tell which parts of the wall were rebuilt and which were original (if there was a hole in the middle of the stone, it was original). The stone masons would put the holes in the blocks so that they could be lifted with calipers on a pulley system.

Nürnberg photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EmWfuVrJcxJNcygFA

GSC, WInter 25, More Frankfurt

 The weather was lovely today and I just felt like walking. After coffee near Willi Brandt Platz with it’s giant Euro, I found Faber & Castell’s flagship store and bought a couple of pencils and a sketch pad plus a cool eraser and sharpener, plus a small sketch pad, then popped into the bookstore nearby and picked up some German short stories (intermediate level of course).

I just read about the verb genießen in one of my German blogs. Apparently it’s not used in the same sense that we over use enjoy; the blogger had other suggestions (Das gefällt mir oder hat Spaß gemacht) but when I bought host chestnuts and commented on the sunny weather, the vendor told me it was a great day to enjoy being outdoors. AND she used the verb genießen, and that, according to the blog, is the appropriate use.  So much to learn.

I went in search of the Dom and finally found it. It was destroyed by fire in the 1800’s, and rebuilt, then a good deal of the church was destroyed and most of the surrounding area was leveled during WWII. It was rebuilt yet again, in the same gothic style. It’s a well lit, happy, airy cathedral with modern pale pastel stained glass windows. 

One of the rebuilt streets parallel to the river between the Rômerplatz and the Dom (Saalgasse) was a sheer and unexpected delight; each of the buildings was a little different, modern in feel yet with a nod to the past… I photoed some of the buildings. 

The next stop was lunch in Sachsenhausen… then the Liebieghaus Sculpture Museum. The main theme of the ground floor galleries were animal bronzes by August Gaul.  Apparently there was a Berlin Secession Movement similar to the Vienna Secession… The museum has a deep collection of ancient statuary as well as European historical art, and the Gaul pieces were located here and there amongst the older works highlighting various themes… It was really good. His bronze lioness brought tears to my eyes although I can’t tell you why I found her so moving.  In the basement was a huge collection of ivory carvings… after my initial distaste, I started to admire the material and the skilled carving. I think I would look carefully at the exhibition before returning, since such a large part of the collection is not in my sweet spot, but I’m super glad I dropped by.

I did go out a bit tonight; there was a Pokémon meetup… Slightly more organized than the ones I did with P&W in RWC. Basically, after giving folks time to finish one raid, the host would yell out a nearby location and the 40 or so participants would then move to the next location, then back on her signal. The other notable difference was that level of cigarette smoke despite the presence of a couple of young children. The meet up was located between the giant Euro and the Opera House, which was playing music to the plaza. Was there a performance? Between 6 and 7 PM? Hmmmm… A somewhat surreal experience but I got to hear (and try to decipher) a lot of accents.

Things to do in Frankfurt:

The Städel Museum

The sculpture museum down the street if so inclined

A quick visit to the Römerberg, including a walk down Saalgasse and a trip to the cathedral.

The archeology museum.

I missed 

a number of contemporary art museums

the design museum

and a trip to nearby Darmstadt.

There are a number of other museums (history) that might have proved interesting too, but I think you'd need to focus on a period.

GSC, Winter 25, Zürich and Frankfurt

 Here starts the travelogue… I’m calling it GSC for German Speaking Countries.... 

Lucy!!!

I spent 2 nights in Zürich; I spent a lovely afternoon with M and then had coffee the next day with an ex co-worker. M and I toured the Christmas Markets, then shared some fondue… Jeez, I really like cheese fondue but I can only eat it every 10 years or so… I stayed at the Townhouse Boutique Hotel which is about 2 blocks from the train station; it’s relatively inexpensive, and it was clean and mostly quiet. Next time I’d try to find someplace a little posher.

Zürich just turned on the Christmas lights, which are affectionately named Lucy. Here’s a view of Bahnhofstrasse, with Lucy, in the Sky with Diamonds. Yep, it was cold. I also stopped for some chestnuts. Note: Chestnuts are nearly impossible to peel once they’ve cooled, so eat them fast!

I had some extra time before my train to Frankfurt left, and it was raining, so I ducked into a church, and failed to record its name. It’s in the old town near the Fraumünster. I popped in to take a quick look; it’s a fairly plain church with a white and wood interior, and as I sat down to look around, the organist began to practice. It was lovely…

Frankfurt skyline

On to Frankfurt, where I’m trying to prove that you can easily fill 2 days with things to do. I visited the Städel and spent 3 happy hours looking at art. Not sure if it was the art (which was amazing) or the fact that I was listening to music through headphones… I grabbed this photo from the roof. Is that not the longest river boat you’ve ever seen? (ETA: turns out this is pretty much standard, and was the length of our boat.... It was amazing to see the Captain turn it around on the river.)

I spent a fair amount of time thinking about art and how pieces “feel” like each other and how artists view something then riff on it. I’ll put comments on the photos in the album…

Afterwards, I found the Christmas Market; it felt like it was a mile long, winding through the old town streets! I’ll put comments on the photos for that too. It was remarkably nostalgic and brought back fond memories of my mother, and I nearly cried a few times… I have no idea where all that emotion came from!! What triggered it was the old style ornaments, the wood things that spin around when you put candles under them, the vanille kipfel, and those wreaths and stuff that are made out of spices.  And the advent calendars. I ate too many kipfel. (Gipfel?)  I didn’t photo the barriers everywhere to prevent a car/truck from terrorizing the Market, but I did get the long line of Polizei cars…

It feels like the Market here is more about meeting friends for a drink and some street food before than about buying presents, but there were a lot of stalls selling small presents, or Christmas decorations. The street food was largely German (and the potato pancakes looked amazing!) but there were a few other stands including one selling Vegan German food and a couple offering burritos and tacos. Lots of Glũhwein.

On the way home I put my cookies in my pocket and ducked into the Archeology museum; it’s got a lot of well preserved artifacts from a Roman town nearby in the 200s or 300s. I believe a sign indicated they’re dug a trench and erected stone watchtower but had never built walls, like they did on the Scottish border. I thought the museum was interesting but I’m not sure it was on the must see list. 

Sachsenhausen, across the river, is exactly what it sounds like.... Where the Saxon's houses were. 

A link to the photo album for Zürich and Frankfurt is here https://photos.app.goo.gl/23kARYq7uhg57Lh58

Leaving....

I have a short list of things to do before I leave town.... 

Towels are hemmed and the hat is done. I've started the Age of Aquarius Poncho, from a pattern we got at the Portland Retreat, and Scotland vacation yarn; that'll be my travel project.

I never got around to writing about the sweater class I took in Ashland. The shoulders are really the trick of this sweater.  The shoulders look like set in sleeves but the knitting is easy like raglan sleeves. The front looks like this.

The sleeve is supposed to sit more naturally on the shoulder, which is the point of the tailoring. I was unable to talk the cats into modeling, and there are no babies in my life at this point, so I can't show it on a warm body...

I also cooked for the freezer to assuage my guilt from leaving DH on his own for T-day. I made some sausage and lentil soup, and these baked beans, but in the slow cooker; I added a little garlic and mustard.  Definately make these beans again. I think I'll do them in the oven next time, it'll warm up the house and make the consistency of the beans a little different.

https://dancearoundthekitchen.com/baked-beans-from-scratch/

Travelogue to commence shortly :)

Events, projects getting finished, projects getting planned...

I just finished the second of two events I did for our guild members! I think I've mentioned the first; a weave-in, where 7 of us came together and wove (mostly) from the same pattern. I have 6 new napkins waiting to be hemmed (five of which are identical and one is lovely but confusingly different). I had input the pattern into my weaving software incorrectly, so the motif is wrong but a consistant manner; then I noticed one of motifs is just wrong. I didn't notice it until days later, and I'm disappointed but once it's covered with BBQ sauce, who'll know the difference? Most of the rest of the group is still weaving off their projects, I'm looking forward to the pictures! (I'll post a photos of mine here once they're hemmed). 

Now that the event is over, I can finish the 3 unhemmed towels that I have that were waiting for the weave-in; I had them set aside to show the difference wet finishing makes to that weave structure. Now they can be finished!

Looks like there's a lot of hemming in my future... There are also 2 King size pillowcases that are worn on the hem crease; I'll hem those down to Queen size and get them back into the linen closet. (Note: Queen size is 30" deep as opposed to Kind which are 36" deep)

The second event was a study group in our guild called "Creative Endeavors" and I gave a quick card weaving demo/lesson. J had asked me to do it and I didn't feel good about saying no... I only had 2 hours minus their time for socializing and "Show and Tell" but managed to cover a whole lot (I think) and everyone got to play with the cards. A couple of people are pretty excited about trying it again so I offered to do a little warping and weaving clinic on a simple band. Now I want to do more card weaving. I'll have to wait until after my trip...

These two events took a lot of planning and work but the participants were very grateful and it was totally worth it. I feel like the guild needs more members teaching members and I'm hoping that by modeling the behavior we'll get more of that. I'm wondering if the space is the issue? Maybe I'll see if anyone wants to teach something here next summer.

A Celebration of a Table

Recent history

 The table top is done!!! Once the grout has dried a bit, we'll mount it to the table base... I'll need to seal the grout next week as well but I'm counting it as done.

I'm very pleased with the finished product; it looks better in person that in the photo.  HOWEVER... If I didn't critique my work, then how would I become a better artistan?

I originally wanted a ring of poppies in a field of graduating color, but one I got the poppies ready to go the rest of the concept didn't work. The project went on timeout. Then one day I thought it would be awesome to do a bay laurel (a native species) leaf border, like you see on quilts; I guessed where to put it and was relatively pleased with it. That took awhile as I got tired of cutting leaves, and wasn't sure of the spacing. (More timeout.) Once I completed the leaves, I couldn't figure out what to put in the middled (Again more timeout). Somewhere in the middle of this, the garage bay that I affectionately call "Studio B" was used for storage for a variety of fiber things, sapping my gumption. Finally, I decided to put radiating leaves in the center, and almost put the table again figuring out out what to use as background; this time, I just went for it. The thin gap between the leaves and the outer border was problematic.  But I finished the table. And grouted it today.

Better in person than in the photo... Table is 2' in 
diameter (60 cm?)

So the biggest issue was the design. Had I gone into the project with a design that worked,  we'd have been using this table 5 years ago and I could have moved onto other projects that didn't make me feel bad about my decisions.

Other issues?

• I don't love the leaves in the center. But I don't hate them, and I don't know what I could have done otherwise. 
• For background areas, I need to pay attention to piece size; pieces should be fairly uniform in size, even with crazy piecing.  Also, the grout gaps should be more uniform. The ones around and between the leaves are particularly oversized, which made it hard to grout.
• The leaves are higher in some spots; I think I used more thinset under them. DH will not be happy about this! But really, neither am I.
• I don't care for the dark tiles in the outermost border; they would stand out less if they were closer to a uniform value. I almost pried them off but then decided to finish the table instead.
• The pieces between the outer border and the leaf wreath were super fussy to cut, and are a bit wonky. They only work because they're close to the color of the grout, which hides a multitude of issues. I'm happy with the result but the implementation is in response to bad design choices.
• If probably could have mixed the background color (going from light to dark) a little better.
• The background should have ended in an uninterrupted grout against the wreath. It's not bad, but it's not right.

And what pleases me about the piece?

• I really love the flowers, more so than before they were grouted. The dark grout ("Espresso") really makes them pop.  They're happy, they read to me as my beloved poppies.
• The wreath makes me happy. It gives motion to the piece, and frames the flowers nicely. 
• The dark brown border looks nice while not competing with the anything else. Instead of being a lame attempt to fill an awkward space, I think it's a nice finish.
• It's a lovely counterpart to the other table in the vicinity; different size and style but much of the same glass, and the same grout. 

The other poppy table