Schloss Schwetzingen

The other day we all headed off to explore the Schloss Schwetzingen which is a palace from at least the 17th century.  The grounds have been renovated in the past 30 years to bring it back to the way it was.  My pictures do not do justice to the overwhelming beauty of place nor do they give a true grasp of the palace.

The above picture shows the entrance to the palace but there is more to the wings on either side. 

There is a guard who checks everyone’s ticket. Behind me is the town, complete with restaurants, hotels and sculptures. The day we chose to go, was the night of the Germany - Mexico soccer which 

Mexico won 1 to 0.

Once through the entrance, you head down this wide gravel boulevard to the fountain half way down. There are beautifully landscaped beds on both sides of the walkway.  The edges of the beds have been  planted with flowers and miniature trees.

This is a shot of the central fountain. At this point you are about halfway down to the lake. The 

designer of the gardens designed pseudomazes on each side of this area.  There are lots of statues scattered throughout the palace gardens.  

This is found at the end of the section of the garden near the walkway surrounding the center fountain. When I took this picture, I faced the entrance to the palace while the fountain is to my left.

This is a photo of the water flowing downhill from one of the buildings filled with stars and sunny faces, passages going under and through the building, even a way to peek at the world through the two sculptures at the bottom of the picture.  My niece said that one of the counts inherited the property when his father died early before he had a chance to tour the world so he created several buildings based on his ideas of how things should be.  To the right of this building is the bath house.  We were asked to refrain from taking photos, so I do not have any to share.

At one point, after reaching the lake, instead of veering towards one of the wings, we headed into the opposite direction to find the Mosque. I do no believe it is a real Mosque because my niece referred to it as a ‘folly’.  No matter, it was a beautiful building with extroidinary artwork.

This is a photo of the inside of one wing. The floor is not particularly exciting but you can see from the photo the walls are beautifully done. 

This map appears in several places in palace grounds. I hope you enjoyed the photos. This is not as well known as other places.  Tomorrow, I will share photos of a castle in Heidelberg.

Let me know what you think.  I’d love to hear.

Ermatage and the church.

As promised, I am sharing pictures from the two places involved in my niece’s wedding.  They started at a place called the Ermatage. It is a set of historical buildings owned by the city of Waghausel Germany. The brief history I received via the translator from the official is vague but here goes.

Sometime in the past, a bishop lived in the place but it was haunted. Later on in the last century or so, a company came in and built two extremely tall silo’s for molasses.  The company took over the building for its offices.  When the company went out of business, the city took it over and is currently renovating it.

View of the building from the parking lot. The entrance is directly on the other side.

This is another shot of the building.

This is room where the city performs civil weddings in this building only one month a year.  The bride and groom are in the center with the witnesses to your left and the translator to the right.  The civil servant is hidden by the happy couple.

It is set up so one couple after another is married.  The room is absolutely beautiful and the ceremony has character.

The second or religious ceremony was held at the Catholic Church just a couple of blocks from their house.  The church is so much more ornate than most Catholic Churches in Alaska.

The above is a photo of the church they married in.

The service wa held mostly in German but with some English.  Tomorrow I will have some sightseeing pictures. Let me know what you think, I would live to hear.

Weddings in Germany

I am in Germany because my niece found a lovely young man to marry. She came to Germany to work for a company translating German into American English. Along the way, she met him, got to know him before they decided to get married.

I arrived in Germany just in time to check into a hotel before heading off to a family dinner. The family dinner was actually in place of the “rehearsal dinner”because that is not done in Germany. The groom took time to explain the reason behind it, the next morning while waiting to head off.

In Germany, the only way to be considered legally wed is to have a civil ceremony. Ministers in this country have not been granted this ability. Couples are usually married by a government official before they undergo the religious ceremony later in the day, the next week, or even a year or two down the line.

Since many family members came over from the states, the couple arranged to have both the civil and religious ceremonies on the same day.  Their local town has a historical building and grounds they open one Saturday a month for weddings in addition to the usual Monday to Friday during working hours.

So the couple took advantage of it and by 9:30 we were off to the civil ceremony.  Once the couple in front of us were finished the official came out to let us know expectations before taking us into the room. The bride and groom arranged for someone to translate everything said into English because most of the bride’s family spoke little to no German.

The official spoke about marriage having its ups and downs, of being a journey, etc.  She asked a couple of questions before acknowledging they were now legally married.  The groom had to initial a box giving the bride to take his last name.  We all laughed when the translation of that part came up.

When it was done, we headed out to get pictures of the couple, the families, etc while the next couple headed in for their turn. Outside, our group had to avoid the “bride and her ‘babes’’ bachelorette party, and a third group doing something there.  When the photographer finished taking photos, it was back to the house for a light lunch, a bit of down time, before walking over to the local Catholic Church for the wedding.

My mouth dropped.  Most of the Catholic Churches I have been in were no where as ornate as this one.  The religious service began at 3 pm.  The service was mostly conducted in German with some English in it.  The priest did a great job of translating the important sections into English.  Before long, this was over and everyone stepped out for more photos.

The photographer managed to communicate exactly what he wanted done with little to no English. He made us laugh a lot.  When we returned to the house, dinner was ready to go and we partied till well after 9 pm.

The groom said, that cousins used to ‘kidnap’ the bride so the groom had to find here but they decided not to include this custom because much of the bride’s family being American would not understand the custom.  One of the guests read a tribute using as many slang words for money as possible while giving them green paper for ‘green’ or play dough for ‘dough’. At the end of this speech, they were given a small box of sand to dig through for coins to start their married life with.

It was different but lots of fun. Tomorrow, I hope to share a few pictures of the two places.  Let me know what you think. I would love to hear.

Greenland

In Transit

Just arrived in Germany.  More tomorrow.

International Market Place Stage.

  This past Friday, I went to the International Marketplace to check out the entertainment.  Each group had about 20 minutes to share their work.   I didn't get there till around 2 PM because I try to take some time to myself.  The entertainment ran from 1 to 4 PM.  I hope the video works.  It is of some Japanese drummers who shared their music with the audience.  The group ranged in age from about 5 on up and the leader was enthusiastic.  The festival provided a MC who spoke both Japanese and English.

This trio played some wonderful music both western and Taiwanese.  The female member is from Taiwan and played a traditional Chinese stringed instrument that produced some beautiful music.

One of the guys sang the song about flying to the moon while he and the female sang a traditional Taiwanese song about the moon, love, and the heart.  She sang it in Chinese while he sang the verses in English.

A lady who sat next to me, explained it is a very famous Taiwanese song.  It was so beautiful.

 The group that followed came from a university in Japan.  The group has only been together 5 years but did such a wonderful job.  The great thing about these drum groups is the way they play while moving as a well choreographed unit.

They bring excitement to the performance.  You can see some of the moves in the video of the first group.  Many of the rhythms are the same but they are put together to produce the number.

 To the right, you see a group of local Japanese dancers who use a small hand clapper to dance to a modern tune.  The first dance was simple with moves repeated several times through the dance but the second one was much faster and more energetic.

The group invited members of the audience to come and join them in learning the first dance.  It is traditional to share the dance or the drums with visitors so they can learn more about it.

Of course, there are always hula dancers.  The ones to the left are from Japan.  They come here every year to perform either at the International Market Place or the stage at the Ala Moana Shopping Center.    The hulas are beautiful and well done.  Even if they only speak Japanese, most hula dancers know the words to the hulas in Hawaiian. 

At night they have dancing at the hula mound at Kuhio Beach.  Three nights of dance to see the wonderful dancers from Japan.  The group below is from Japan.  The picture was taken at night by the Kuhio Hula mound.

As you read this, I'm just arriving in Germany.  I'll be busy this weekend attending a family member's wedding.  On Monday, I'll have my last blog entry on Hawaii with a few pictures of the Pan Pacific Parade, including one of the cheerleaders.  Don't worry, these are not what you are expecting. 

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.

Block Party

 The first night of the Pan Pacific, they always hold a street fare combined with a block party. There are multiple stages arranged down the road, each hosting a different act and named after the hotel it's in front of.

In addition, there is always something going on on the Waikiki Beach Walk down by Trump Towers.  I don't usually get that far down as I prefer staying on the main road.

Leonard's bakery truck is usually located at the farthest end from me.  I spent about 20 minutes in line waiting for my half dozen creme filled Malasadas.  The choices are more limited than going to the store and the product a bit more yeasty but they are still good.

I took my first photo looking down the street while I stood in line, waiting to order my Malasadas.  They are best when still nicely warmed and great.

The first stage had some Japanese drummers performing for the audience.  Tomorrow I'll have a short clip available for you to watch.  Japanese drumming is wonderfully energetic and syncopated. 

The next stage had Japanese drummers playing Caribbean style music with the steel drums and traditional instruments found with that type of music.

It was awesome

In between the stages you could find a great choice of meals from Thai, to local, to BBQ but each with nice long lines of people waiting to enjoy the food.

I stood in line at a Thai place because they had Mango Sticky Rice which is rice cooked with coconut milk.  When its finished, its like a thick rice pudding with more rice than pudding.  Its covered with a sweetened coconut milk and topped with sliced mango.  It is a very traditional desert.

 Of course, the Saltwater Taffy folks are there with their uniquely Hawaiian flavors such as Mango, Pineapple, Guava, etc.   I didn't stop but that place has a long line of people, always.

A couple tables down is the local lemonade place with locally flavored ice teas.  I prefer my teas, even ice teas, to be plain with no added flavors.

 As I said earlier, every stage has a different act going.  this stage has traditional Japanese dancers who share their type of dancing with everyone.

The music is traditional and quite lovely.  Another stage I passed had a very modern show with hip hop or rap.  I'm not sure which but I know the singer bounced a lot.

I hurried on because it was starting to get a bit thick with people.

 This artist created beautiful shining stars. The pictures do not do justice to the stars.  They are three dimensional, carved with lights inside.  Absolutely beautiful.

There were all sorts of crafts scattered throughout the area.  The street fair covers 4 maybe 5 blocks.

I saw someone offering golf stuff, others offering wooden pens, honey, jams, clothing, just about everything you'd find at a farmer's market except the fruits and veggies.

 The last stage parked itself in the middle of the street and hosted some sort of traditional Japanese street dancing.  It was fun watching. 

This stage began the Japanese tables where they advertised local shows or cities. Sort of local visitor bureaus for several places in Japan.

One had cotton banners of Kabuki characters.  They even had a couple of hats so you could become one of the characters.  This booth also allowed women to try out Japanese Kimonos. 

A huge gust of wind hit and started to tear some of the materials off the tables.

This is one of the characters from Japan but I don't know who. I took the picture because the character is cute and lots of people were taking photos with it.

I enjoyed my time at the fair but by the time I left at 8 PM, it was getting so filled with people I almost couldn't walk easily.

There was a police presence throughout the whole area.  Some on bikes, some on foot but they were all interacting with the crowd to build good relationships.  I even caught a few enjoying some of the tasty treats from various vendors.

This always happens the first night of Pan Pacific. The Pan-Pacific celebration has been around for the last 39 years.  It's mission is to promote understanding and friendship through an exchange of culture.

I've been coming for several years and enjoy it each year.  Tomorrow, I'll have a couple video clips showing some of what was presented at one stage.

Let me know what you think.