John's Mom
Jambo Wildbunch Gang
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2004
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Berlin Wall. I found it very interesting.
Kathy
Kathy
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!
I thought the first picture was a swan and the second one reminded me of a snake!
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!!!
Thanks for your post on the Berlin Wall. Very interesting to hear your perspective. Thanks for sharing with us.
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
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.
I found it extremely educational and eye-opening, Magdalene... thanks!!
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.
Love the post. I remember that from I guess it had to be my first year or so of college.
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!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Berlin Wall. I found it very interesting.
Kathy
Floss,
That was a beautiful explanation and a moving video clip; thanks for sharing!
I remember all of the excitement on the news when that happened...
That was poignantly and honestly written...Thanks for sharing from a more personal perspective...
Hi there, I am back! Didn't want you to think I forgot about you!
First, I love your flashback pictures - so much fun!
Also, that picture of the real castle is GORGEOUS...when can I move in?!
Your post on the Berlin Wall brought tears to my eyes; very touching and moving, thank you for posting that.
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...
I absolutely understand what you mean!!
(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...)
It is actually intersting that things are changing here. The story about Katharina not smiling in pictures is from our trip to the USA in 1992. I would say that Germany used to be more similar to what your friend from France/Morocco told you. Still, there is a cetain level of friendliness. It might vary from region to region, in southern Germany and in western Germany people are more sociable than in some northern region. Especially Berlin is known for being extremely unfriendly. But I think the strong influence of American popular culture has increased the importance of smiles, especially in pictures.
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...
What is 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...
Wow, you managed to do an Ü!! I love art, but really prefer modern art. I always had trouble to really enjoy the old masters. I never thought that it would be more accessible to children, but I guess it might be. I personally started when I was a teenager with loving the Impressionists, moving on to Van Gogh, now my favourite artist by far is Mark Rothko. Katharina used to be a huge fan of Miro. So I guess in a way we both started with the more modern art. I am impressed that David learned about the Bauhaus! When I travel by car to Nuremberg (most of the time I take the train), I pass by Dessau where the Bauhaus was located and I am ashamed that I never managed to stop there yet. I think you are right, David just got the whole point of it! Personally I love modern architecture, one of the reasons why I enjoyed NYC so much and spent so much time, just walking through the streets in Manhattan!
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......
Yes, I can never see those castles and wonder how many people got exploited to build them. Actually that makes the Disney castles much more magical: the people you built them got a decent wage!
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...
Don't think that we Germans get a lot of music education!! I was once on a program with young lawyers from all over Europe. We were in Belfast in Northern Ireland at a dinner and the Irish hosts started to sing and then requested that the guests from every country that was represented should sing a song as well. We were two Germans and really could not find any song to sing. I was very ashamed.
I have heard of Goethe and Schiller... and Kant as well...I do remember hearing something about there being quite a few German philosophers......
Good to know!! Actually, I won't recommend reading Goethe and Schiller, I find them rather boring. I just did not want to assume that big household names in Germany were universally known, if I was asked about Italian or Spanish writers I wouldn't be able to name any...
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...
European history really is a rather complex thing... It is also very fascinating. One of the best books on that topic I read is Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century. It gives an excellent overview of modern European history and really lets you understand how everything is connected. I found it to be very well written and great to read.
ON an entirely different level the Silly Symphony Cartoons had lovely soft animation and made a lot of music very accessible...cute...
Ok, I need to try to see some of those then!!
I can't wait to read an update on the Wall Anniversary...
You wrote once that your parents used to live in Germany? I guess they must have been part of the American Army in Germany? I can imagine that if you actually were involved in protecting the western world against the east in the cold war, seeing the iron curtain coming down must have been such great moment! In the speeches during the event the mayor of Berlin as well as the German chancellor both mentioned their gratitude to the allied powers. And Mrs Clinton and the video message from President Obama also got the most cheers from the audience, the USA are still very popular here in Berlin, thanks to the air-lift during the Berlin blockade in 1949.
Yep, they did - shortly after they were married my Dad was off to Germany. My Mom flew over a few months later and joined him. They lived there for a few years I believe. My Dad was stationed there during Vietnam, unfortunately, he doesn't ever talk about it-so I don't know exactly what he was doing there....I should ask my Mom and pry details from her!
You're so organized!
Only 74 days? Wow - that'll be here in no time!
I'm leaving tomorrow for a quick trip to WDW. Packed my summer clothes since it's in the high 70's/low 80's in Orlando. (it's almost that warm here in Georgia today! )
See ya real soon!!
Looks like your plans are coming along great. I'm debating myself over the photopass. I never received the e-mail and $149 is just way too much. Even $99 is quite a bit for me. Last time I went with my BFF we split our CD with my parents who traveled to Disney 2 weeks later. Since I'm hopelessly behind on my scrapbooking, I'm thinking of just using the photopass pics to make one of their scrapbooks. I know they are pricey, but I think the price should still be less than what I would spend on the disk and then all the scrapbooking supplies. Plus all the photopass photographers will take a picture using your camera as well. The borders and stuff are nice, but you can still get all the same shots using just your camera.
YAY for to-do lists!!! I bet these next 70 days or so are going to fly by before you know it!!
I always enjoy your pictures of your country...so beautiful I would love to come visit some day!!!!
Nice camera...you will definitely have some great pictures to show all of us on your return!!!
Wow! Your account of the Berlin Wall was great! It was so interesting to hear from someone who is actually German. My dad was station in German for quite awhile in his army days. I wonder what his accounts are of the wall and the division. I'll have to ask him!!
You list looks great! Your very organized!
One thing, I read that you can no longer pre-order the photopass CD. Not sure if this is true. I was able to for our trip a few weeks ago with no problem. But apparently they stopped within days of my order. I have to try to find out because I was planning on ordering one for Jan as well.
Thanks for the nice comment on the Berlin Wall update. I think you should definitely ask your dad. I think our parents lived through times which are history by now and it is great to get a personal account of that.
on the photopass CD they have changed the process. I would recommend checking out their facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Disneys-PhotoPass-Service/148371108324 ), also because they offer great codes on there as well.
They have explained it there like that:
"We haven't taken the pre-arrival CD away, but we did make a change to ensure that guests are truly buying it before their trip. To do so an email is sent about 45 days prior to your vacation. However, since we just made the change, some guests who are arriving fairly soon will get their email closer to their actual arrival date.
The link to the pre-arrival offer is included in a newsletter-style email, note that the link to the offer is just one of many links in the message. The email is called "Magical Musts for your Disney Vacation" and is sent out by our partners in Walt Disney World Marketing. We are currently working closely with our partners to find a way to get this email and/or a link to the offer to all eligible guests including those who book through Travel Agents and to Disney Vacation Club members. If you fall into one of those two groups AND you have an upcoming trip (within 45 days or so) please contact our Guest Support team using the Contact Us information on the site and they will assist you.
We thank all of our guests and fans for their patience and understanding as we work through this new way of providing the pre-arrival offer.
Disney's PhotoPass team"