Two Sisters finally get to go to WDW together! - TR has started!

[PNO4TE]

I always got the impression that B&B's are rather beautified places in the US. But they are larger than the B&B's in the UK, where it is ofteh just three rooms rented out in someone's private house. The place nodnol stayed at is more simple, but rather like a B&B. I guess the German concept is rather unique to central Europe...



Love your armchair psychology: actually, I am the sunnier person of the two of us! When we were on our trip in the USA in 1992, Katharina always got told off for not smiling when someone was taking her picture.

I agree that the beach in winter is romantic in its way, have you ever heard of the painter Caspar David Friedrich? He was a German romantic landscape painter and a lot of his paintings are of the sea in rough weather. If you are intersted, check out his wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich

Ok, and since that started us on the tpoic of fine art - let's continue there. After I left an essay about German holidays on your TR, you set me another essay topic here!

I am not sure why there are so many German composers in that time frame. I think part of it might be that Germany at that time was not one country, but it was seperated into mayn different kingdoms, principalities, free cities, etc. All those kings and princes each had their own court and employed musicians. Maybe that made it easier for people to pursue a career in music and therefore more people with extraordinary talents could follow their vocation?

Really, the Germans rather see themselves as the people of writers and philosophers. We had some extraordinary writers: Goethe and Schiller are the two biggest names and then quite a few philosophers starting with Kant. But German engineering is something we are particular proud of as well and in the 15th/16th and early 20th century German painters like Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Dürer and then Kandinsky or Max Ernst are quite big names.

I think to a certain extent if a nation is prosperous, they will excell in many areas. And until Europe was so stupid to get itself into the first world war, it was probably the most affluent region in the world.

I have seen bits of the Silly Symphony cartoons. I guess I need to check them out one day properly!

We have stayed at B&Bs in the US that were simply a few rooms in a private home and also stayed in some that were mansions converted to palatial suites. I think the concept is kind of universal no matter what it is called!

Your description of the unique government structure in Germany (and other European countries in the 1700 and 1800's) is probably the very reason that composers were "bred" to succeed. Every king or lord would have his own personal musician and they were paid well to do well. Mozart made a lot of his money this way! Beethoven did lots of commission work too. Musicians could be paid very well in governments like that.

I also have a personal belief that many of the brilliant minds who are busy inventing and enhancing computers and space travel and things of that ilk would have been magnificent composers in a different age.

 

[nodnol]

So many interesting postings!!! But I don!t have time This weekend I will be volunteering for "our" youht exchange organization, which means about 12 hours of work on saturday and sunday. So I have to get a lot of other things done today... But of course, I have to react to this one:

Love your armchair psychology: actually, I am the sunnier person of the two of us! When we were on our trip in the USA in 1992, Katharina always got told off for not smiling when someone was taking her picture.

I don't think smiling on pictures has ANYTHING to do with the nature of a person!!! And I very firmly believe, that I am the sunnier person of the two of us , because I can always think of the good side of a bad thing (okay, I have to admit, our mother taught me that, because I was a very pessimistic child, you know, the one which ist either very cheerful or very sad, but nothing in between and therefore always getting on everybode nerves - but I matured!!!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm so jealous you were able to see Merlin! How fun is that!?!

You don't sound too negative, you are just giving your opinions!

 

[If U Had Wings]

I think a lot of times our impressions of rides are very dependant on how old we were when we rode them the first time. I remember riding Snow White and Mr. Toad for the first time when I was about 8/9 years old. I don't remember being overly enthused about it. They both grew on me over the years though, but at that age when I was almost a teenager it wasn't particulary interesting to me.

 

[LMO429]

just found your tr! its awesome subscribing

 

[Flossbolna]

I don't think smiling on pictures has ANYTHING to do with the nature of a person!!! And I very firmly believe, that I am the sunnier person of the two of us , because I can always think of the good side of a bad thing (okay, I have to admit, our mother taught me that, because I was a very pessimistic child, you know, the one which ist either very cheerful or very sad, but nothing in between and therefore always getting on everybode nerves - but I matured!!!!

It's interesting that we both think we are the sunnier person of the two of us! I guess it shows how much our mother taught us that this is something to acchieve! I agree - smiling does not really say anything about character. But I guess the truth is that we both have our dark sides, but they are different, so perhaps that's why we notice it more in the other person!

I'm so jealous you were able to see Merlin! How fun is that!?!

You don't sound too negative, you are just giving your opinions!

Merlin was a lot of fun! It was such a cute ceremony. It's sad that they no longer have it at the parks...

I think a lot of times our impressions of rides are very dependant on how old we were when we rode them the first time. I remember riding Snow White and Mr. Toad for the first time when I was about 8/9 years old. I don't remember being overly enthused about it. They both grew on me over the years though, but at that age when I was almost a teenager it wasn't particulary interesting to me.

I agree that age makes a uge difference on how you see attractions and the ones you really loved at one point in your life will always have a special place. I think for nodnol and me the Matterhorn, which in reality is a bit of a slow coaster and is actually not themed all that well if you compare it to Expedition Everest, will allways be one of the best rides at DL!

just found your tr! its awesome subscribing

Good to have you along! I hope to get another DL update done this weekend. And then there are some minor planning issues as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

We have stayed at B&Bs in the US that were simply a few rooms in a private home and also stayed in some that were mansions converted to palatial suites. I think the concept is kind of universal no matter what it is called!

Your description of the unique government structure in Germany (and other European countries in the 1700 and 1800's) is probably the very reason that composers were "bred" to succeed. Every king or lord would have his own personal musician and they were paid well to do well. Mozart made a lot of his money this way! Beethoven did lots of commission work too. Musicians could be paid very well in governments like that.

I also have a personal belief that many of the brilliant minds who are busy inventing and enhancing computers and space travel and things of that ilk would have been magnificent composers in a different age.

I was certain that I posted a reply to your post, but there isn't any! Sorry, I did not mean to forget you!

Yes, I was thinking about just that kings had their court musician which was generally a well paid job - think also of Händel at the English court. I am glad that someone with a thorough knowledge in music agrees with my theory! I agree that brilliant people in modern society tend to find other fields to excell in than music. To a certain degree I think that it is much more democratic if they use their talent in scientific research if it leads to improve the everyone's life than a king exploiting its people to pay for the pleasure of wonderful music. This feudal system created some spectacular pieces of art (think all the European castles), but at what cost!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I somehow got behind even before we left on our trip!

Congrats on your ADR's! They look great!!

I definitely think the towel animals are swans! But I can definitely see why one would think the one in the sink is a snake

I don't think your accounts of DL are too negative! I think there very interesting and I'm very glad you wheren't put off by all the strange experiences!

 

[Flossbolna]

Today 20 years ago the Berlin Wall "fell". All of Germany is in a very festive mood today since this marks the end of the seperation of our country into East and West with a deadly border - the iron curtain - between the two parts.

Even Google is clebrating it: http://www.google.de/

I will post more on that tonight!

 

[TyRy]

I thought the first picture was a swan and the second one reminded me of a snake!

Today 20 years ago the Berlin Wall "fell". All of Germany is in a very festive mood today since this marks the end of the seperation of our country into East and West with a deadly border - the iron curtain - between the two parts.

Even Google is clebrating it: http://www.google.de/

I will post more on that tonight!

Can't wait for that!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Love your armchair psychology: actually, I am the sunnier person of the two of us! When we were on our trip in the USA in 1992, Katharina always got told off for not smiling when someone was taking her picture.

I agree that the beach in winter is romantic in its way, have you ever heard of the painter Caspar David Friedrich? He was a German romantic landscape painter and a lot of his paintings are of the sea in rough weather. If you are intersted, check out his wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich

Ok, and since that started us on the tpoic of fine art - let's continue there. After I left an essay about German holidays on your TR, you set me another essay topic here!

I am not sure why there are so many German composers in that time frame. I think part of it might be that Germany at that time was not one country, but it was seperated into mayn different kingdoms, principalities, free cities, etc. All those kings and princes each had their own court and employed musicians. Maybe that made it easier for people to pursue a career in music and therefore more people with extraordinary talents could follow their vocation?

Really, the Germans rather see themselves as the people of writers and philosophers. We had some extraordinary writers: Goethe and Schiller are the two biggest names and then quite a few philosophers starting with Kant. But German engineering is something we are particular proud of as well and in the 15th/16th and early 20th century German painters like Lucas Cranach, Albrecht Dürer and then Kandinsky or Max Ernst are quite big names.

I think to a certain extent if a nation is prosperous, they will excell in many areas. And until Europe was so stupid to get itself into the first world war, it was probably the most affluent region in the world.

I have seen bits of the Silly Symphony cartoons. I guess I need to check them out one day properly!

Hey Floss...I saw this on Thursday but since I didn't have time to probably reply (I'm not know for the brevity of my writing -I thought I'd respond to this when I had the time...

(sorry for Katharina getting in trouble for not smiling in her photos...I can empathize with that-I did't always smile in all my photos either...still don't...

I didn't know that was a big German thing too...my friend who grow up in France/Morocco told me that in France if you walk down the street smiling at people you don't know-like in the US-people might think you're insane...Americans tend to be chummy-it's cultural...but some cultures might see it as fake/superficial...)

I am generally optimistic although I can be cynical and slightly sarcastic at times...I think that it's good to understand the world/history so you can be conscious of what is going on in the world without going around wearing a hair shirt...

I will check out the work of Caspar David Friedrich-...I am very interested in art...I used to love the PreRaphaelites when I was younger... then more artists like Delacroix and Goya ...I hadn't heard of Lucas Cranach but Albrecht Dürer was brillant , Kandinsky clever and Max Ernst a little disturbing...

...we were just at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this weekend...I have found as I get older I enjoy modern art more than I used to...I think it is more accessible to children as well...David thinks that cubism is really interesting...that you can take apart a face and but it back together the way you want to...(no set rules...)so he loves Picasso...he also thinks that Pop Art is a hoot and this week learned a little about Bauhaus-they were doing an exhibit on it...and has decided that is much "cooler" than fussy "older" Victorian stuff...which I guess was the whole point...

I remember going to Versailles and the French Revolution made sense to me in a very visual way...looking at all of that richness and realizing what your average person's life must have been like at that time...versus the lifestyle of the court......

That makes a lot of sense about the musicians and the patronage system...I have very eclectic musical tastes and like classical, jazz and rock...I think Americans don't always get as much music education as we should...Jazz is really America's musical contribution to the world and yet a lot of people today see it as kind of "elite" and it was never meant to be anything like that...

I have heard of Goethe and Schiller... and Kant as well...I do remember hearing something about there being quite a few German philosophers......

I agree that a nation can be creative and produce art when its prosperous... ...the Renaissance would have been impossible without the Medici money...when there is little or no money-all you can do is think about surviving...

Yes WWI was terrible on so many levels...I think that it is difficult for many Americans to understand how hundreds of years of European history and being so close next door to other counties played into that...we have so much space and two big oceans on either side...

ON an entirely different level the Silly Symphony Cartoons had lovely soft animation and made a lot of music very accessible...cute...

I can't wait to read an update on the Wall Anniversary...

 

[jenjolt]

Thank you for the flashbacks to Disneyland! I'm so going to make it there someday and maybe even to DLP of course I'm going to have to get over that pesky aversion to flying LOL!!!

Happy 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!!!! What a great day it must be for all Germans!!!! Enjoy!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I really don't know where to start. I just came back from the huge "festival of freedom" which was held in central Berlin - it was cold, it was raining steadily and you couldn't really see anything, but for some stupid reason it felt great being there. So after a hot shower (and the kettle is boiling for a cup of tea) I am ready to write some more. Oh, and by the way - the Berlin Wall is one of the trendy topics on Twitter, who would have guessed?

Looking back to 1989 I am always amazed how much the world has changed since then. When I was born in 1971 the Berlin Wall had been standing for ten years already, Germany had been seperated into two different states for 22 years. I still remember that my parents talked about a time when people in West Germany would not call East Germany by its real name: DDR which was short for Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic). They used to call it Sowjet Occupation Zone still in the 60's to make clear that the only state established rightfully in Germany was the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany). My family did not have any relatives living in East Germany, so I never really had anything to do with it. Katharina and my parents actually went on a trip to Poland in 85, when I was visting my aunt in the US for the first time. They had to travel through East Germany, it wasn't a very welcoming place.

In the spring of 1989 I was getting ready for my exchange year in Denmark which was going to start in July 1989. My exchange organization had a one week orientation course for all future exchange students. Part of this orientation is about identity: who are you, what are you representing in a foreign country. In Germany this is always a difficulty question since you will always be associated with the terror Germans brought to the world between 1933 to 1945. But one question which we debated strongly was: do we represent West Germany or Germany as a whole. I still remember that the consensus was: East Germans may still speak the same language as we do, but we fellt like we had more in common with Austrians than East Germans. I remember vividly that we were kind of guessing when the Berlin Wall might come down - I think the big question was, would we still be alive when this would happen?

That was May 1989. In July I left for Denmark. On November 9 I was staying overnight at a class mate because we were invited to a birthday breakfast at one of our class before scholl the next day. We had fun eating breakfast and drove to school. When we arrived there one group of people arrived who obviously had turned on the radio in the car and they came running to me shouting "the Berlin Wall is open". I thought it was a bad joke, but my English teacher in the first lesson of the day convinced me that it was really true. I got home and luckily my Danish host family could receive German TV and I was watching that for the rest of the day...

I came home to Germany in July 1990. By that time the East German currency had been abolished and they had adopted the German Mark. On October 3, 1990 both Germanies were reunified. For me it meant coming back into a country that was hugely different from the one I left.

Reunification also came at a price, but unfortunately most people did not want to believe that at that time. West Germany was such a rich country in 1989 that it was assumed that East Germany would pick up as easily and recover economically within no time. Today, we still have big differences between East and West in living standards. The East still doesn't have many jobs, so especially young people move to the West. Lot's of towns in the East have lost so much of their population. We still have a far way to go.

But the most important thing I feel we always need to remember is that all of this only happened because so many brave people actually went out on the streets in East Germany and showed their dissapproval with the regime, actually at a high personal risk. It was feared until the end that East German leaders would employ force to strike down these protests. They had done so in 1953 in East Germany, it had been done in 1956 in Hungary, in 1968 in Czechoslovakia and just in the spring of 1989 on Tianamen Square in China. But luckily the Soviet Union and especially Mr Gorbatchev refused to support the East German government.

And what those people who went out on the streets, especially in Leipzig, were demanding were two things: freedom and democracy. I think freedom is something that can only be appreciated if there is a lack for it and I am greatful that I never had to experience that. I think it is a great success that Europe is no longer split into East and West and that nearly all of it is free and growing closer together.

So, this was my random Berlin Wall babble, I hope you found some of it interesting!

And to end on a more entertaining note: This is was youtube has to offer of the fun part of tonight's event. Along about one mile through the city they followed the former line of the Wall with huge styrofoam blocks, painted by children and teenagers from all over Europe, which were used like dominos. It stops at a certain point to commemorate the fact that there still is a country which is split in two parts: Korea. There is a block which does not move and it was desgned by a Korean artist.

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMoxKJ5Xj-E

 

[Lady Lallie]

Thanks for your post on the Berlin Wall. Very interesting to hear your perspective. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Aww...so nice to hear your thoughts on the Wall and your experiences! I was living in Germany during this time and I remember I was at a concert and everyone was buzzing around and talking about it. I'll never forget it and luckily when I was younger while living in Germany, we took a trip to Berlin and so I was able to experience it before it really came down. So amazing and glad I got to live through it first hand albeit it was quite different for me being an American. There is so much history in Germany and this was ONLY 20 years ago! Oh how ich liebe Deutschland!

Thanks for sharing!

Heather

 

[thewesterberg]

Thank you for sharing your story... It's very interesting to hear first hand your experiences. And also thank you for sharing the video. My DS6 woke up this morning and found me watching it. He snuggled up next to me on the couch and was asking me lots of questions and was very intrigued. We had a great conversation on what the Wall was and what this video is celebrating.

 

[PNO4TE]

So, this was my random Berlin Wall babble, I hope you found some of it interesting!

I found it extremely educational and eye-opening, Magdalene... thanks!!

 

[tarak]

Floss - thank you so much for posting your experience re: the Berlin Wall coming down. I can't believe it's been 20 years - which makes me feel old, actually, since I've now been alive longer with it down than I was when it was in place. Although not by much.

I was in college when it came down and remember watching the footage of the wall coming down and the reactions of the crowds. It still makes me cry to watch it.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Love the post. I remember that from I guess it had to be my first year or so of college.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wow...love hearing your firsthand experience on the Berlin Wall coming down. I very much remember when it happened, my Mom was in the kitchen and we were watching it on TV, she was cheering and dancing. I didn't quite fully understand the reason she was celebrating at the time, but I do now!!

The memorial to it with the blocks, and the one block that doesn't move representing Korea brings tears to my eyes.



And on the PTR note - well, kinda, I think they look like swans! The one in the sink does look a tad like a snake though...but I'm sure it was meant to be a swan....!

Still loving the old DL memories. I don't think you are negative at all! It's neat to read a first reaction of someone's trip, and how things change over time!