Cold weather and travels

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Charlottetown, Festivals, Franconia, Germany, lobster, Moncton, Moose, NB, PEI, Petitcodiac, Reykjavik, Travel, wines

I am constantly amazed at the amount of people who simply do not believe anything is wrong with the climate. Winter started in PEI in early November, it was not a snowy Winter, it was mostly ice rain and high winds. April was rain and more rain, May not much better so far with one warm day. The Weather is so out of wack that farmers cannot plant anything the fields are mud, big sticky red mud. Tourists are staying away given the cold around the freezing point and rain weather. Of course the joke is that PEI only has 2 Seasons, Winter and Summer, in Quebec its Winter and Construction.

So last week I decided to travel off Island to Moncton, New Brunswick which is all of 2 hours away by car and across the Sea bridge of 12 Km. Going was not bad in terms of driving but coming back 2 days later the wind was high so crossing the Sea bridge, you are 350 feet above the Sea, I had both hands gripping the steering wheel and all the big transport trucks 18 wheelers were in convoys. It is a 2 lane bridge and you cannot go any faster than 80km  per hour, but with high winds around 60 miles per hour you do not want to go fast.

Moncton is poorly planned or not planned at all, shopping malls everywhere, a new COSTCO by the highway, a very beautiful river crosses the city with lots of marshland all around, because of the muddy banks it is called the Chocolate river or by its real name Petitcodiac river and it has a very powerful tidal wave coming all the way from Shepody Bay (Bay of Fundy) some 52 Km away. Moncton also has 2 Universities so lots of academic stuff and students. I stayed in Dieppe a suburb of Moncton but you could confuse the two since only a street separates the two cities. Also a large airport serves the area which is handy if you want to fly to other large Canadian cities and cannot do so from Charlottetown PEI.

I saw friends in Moncton and went for lunch to a very nice Café called Tony’s, tonysbistro.ca the food was excellent and they have the most wonderful French pastry shop. I really do not know anymore if COSTCO is all that worth it, I cannot say I saved much money. The real bargain is cheese, for the quantity and price it is unbeatable. Cheese in Canada in general is so expensive that I wonder why they do not have armed guards in supermarkets. After 30 minutes of shopping I had to get out, I was feeling tired by the place.

Chocolate river or Petitcodiac river.

Since I was staying with friends, I brought them Lobsters, now of course you will think don’t they have lobster in New Brunswick, of course they do BUT it is coastal lobster fished in the Strait whereas my lobster is fished in the Gulf on the open sea side of PEI. The taste fishermen tell me is different because of the salt water content. I am not a big lobster eater and will have one per year. However I bought mine at the Water Prince restaurant across the street from my home and Shane and his son Cody sell wonderful seafood. The lobsters were each 2 pounders, the meat was rich and creamy, very good and at $11. per pound well worth it. Now I bought them cooked because I do not know how to cook them in Salt Water and you have to know how to do it. Salt Water in the cooking is very important, many people make the mistake of cooking lobster in unsalted water, big mistake as it changes the taste and the quality of the meat. The best way is to take the water straight from the Sea.

This was my lobster, please note the long antennas which indicates that this lobster was well fed and very fresh. If the antennas are damaged or missing, that is a bad sign, lobster if they are hungry and have no food, will eat their antennas.

Going to Moncton was fun and seeing my friends was a nice brake from the Island. We will be travelling again in June but this time to Ottawa for a week. A first return trip since we left 3 years ago. We are driving 14 hours, but we will need the car in town anyways. I also visited Memramcook (Micmac language meaning Crooked river) which is the birthplace of the first French Language University in the Maritime Provinces, U de Moncton. The Eudistes Fathers opened the university in 1864, the village of Memramcook is ancient, the Micmac indians have lived there since the beginning of time and the French speaking Acadians arrived in 1700. They were deported by British colonial troops coming mostly from the Boston area in 1755. However those who survived the ethnic cleansing returned after 1765. It remains an important historical and cultural site for the Acadians.

Whenever you travel on the highways in N.B. you have to be mindful that the vast forests all around you are full of Moose, you do not want an encounter with one of them, they are very large animals weighing often for a full grown male around one ton or a little more. There is a special number to call if you see one near the road and it is important to remember to stop if the Moose is on the road and stay well away from it. They can charge your car and will injure or kill you in the process if it is mating season.

Monument Lefebvre, first French speaking University in the Maritimes, now known as the Université de Moncton. These buildings are part of the National historical park now, the University moved to Moncton some years ago.

Coming back to Charlottetown, we had tickets to go to the Wine Festival held at this time each year. This year was featuring German Wines, we bought a few bottles mostly of dry Rieslings and met with the owner of a winery in the Franconia region of Germany, Regina ZenZen (from the German word for Licence collector) a very nice lady and in her presentation she paired her wines, in this case a wonderful Silvaner with raw Tuna in a light acidic vinaigrette, the chef was Mitchell from Claddagh Oyster House in Charlottetown, one of my favourite restaurant. Mitchell is a great guy only 28 but talented.

We are also now booking a 7 day cruise with Holland America from Amsterdam to Norway, we will spend some time in Holland, I want to re-visit the Rijks Museum now that the renovations are completed. We will also fly first to Iceland for a few days, there are direct flights from Montreal to Reykjavik on our way to join the cruise in September. Other than that we lead a dull life.

Reykjavik, Iceland

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Progress

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City Palace, Germany, Hohenzollern, Humboldt Forum, museum

For the last 20 years I have been following the progress of the re-building of the old Royal Palace in Berlin. It stood in the centre of the City on the Island Museum from 1445 to 1944 when heavy fire bombing over the city at the end of the Second World War did great damage to it. After 1946 the Palace was in the Soviet Occupied Zone of Berlin it came under the puppet East German Regime and like so many buildings deem ideologically unacceptable it was demolished in the 1950’s, the ground became a parking lot and stage for military parade the Communist loved so much. There was opposition in Berlin and in Germany to the demolition of the Palace and its ruins, the palace was so well built that it took months to demolish and 19 tons of explosives. It was and had been a symbol of the city and much history was attached to it.

In 1989 with re-unification of Germany a fellow by the name of Wilhelm von Boddien proposed that the Palace be re-built as it was before the war with its Baroque facade, he further proposed that the palace be renamed Humboldt Forum for the famous German scientists and academics, the interior space would be modern and house a museum of civilizations, conference centre, 2 restaurants, a theatre and be used as a gathering place for all Germans. The financing of 750 Million Euros to be divided between the City of Berlin, the Federal Government of Germany and the public as donors.

In December 2018 here is the almost complete Palace now called Humboldt Forum, it will  re-open in the Summer of 2019.

The Western Facade of the Palace as of December 16, 2018.

The Eastern facade, modern as designed by the Italian Architect with its entrance of the Spree river. It was designed this way to symbolize that it is a reconstruction and a view on the future. The Palace sits next to the Lutheran Cathedral of Berlin on Island Museum.

For the opening of the Humboldt Forum it is likely that the current head of the Imperial Hohenzollern Family of Germany, Prince Georg Frederich of Prussia will be attending. He is the cousin of Prince Harry and Prince William of Great Britain. His great grand father Kaiser Wilhelm II was the favourite grandson of Queen Victoria.

 

 

Berlin City Palace tour

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Capital, City Palace, Germany, Hohenzollern

This past weekend in Berlin a special opening tour of the City Palace for curious Berliners. This project is nearing completion after 18 years of preparation and work. The former City Palace of the Kings of Prussia and Emperors of Germany was very badly damaged in 1944. After the war the old Palace was now in Communist East Berlin, like most of all the great buildings of the German Capital. The Communist leadership decided in the 1950’s to destroy what was left, despite the fact the could have restored it. Since there had been a palace on the site for 500 years, the population was not happy with this decision. For decades the area the size of 3 football fields was a parking lot and parade ground for East German troops.

After German re-unification in 1989, the idea of re-building the City Palace was put forward and the plan was approved by the Federal Government of Germany, the City of Berlin and the State of Brandenburg. The financing budgeted at 800 million Euros is shared amongst levels of government and the public donations of 105 million Euros to re-build the South, North and Western facade in the Baroque style of the 18th century. The Eastern facade is modern as will be the interior. The old rooms of the palace will not be re-built as they are now dedicated to show the collections of diverse cultures, there will be a restaurant on the roof, lecture halls, a library and concert hall.

By re-building the City Palace it completes the architectural ensemble of the heart of the City as envisioned by Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786). Because they are Baroque facades on three sides, every element had to be carved by hand and in some cases gilded. The gilded balcony railings and many roof statues still have to be installed and the great dome and lantern need to be completed as is the landscaping.

The opening of the Humboldt Forum as the City Palace is now called is scheduled for Summer 2019. Situated next to the Lutheran Cathedral of Berlin and Imperial Mausoleum to the Hohenzollern Family and all the museums containing the wonderful collections, Unter den Linden avenue, and all the other palaces and university of the city is will certainly be a magnet.

 

Looking at my readers

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2017, 2018, Australia, blog, Canada., followers, France, Germany, Holy See, Italy, life, mexico, Netherlands, PEI, readers, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA, Vatican

I am looking at the stats for my blog and who is coming to read and maybe comment on my blog. Interesting stats, about 18,000 readers a year from around the planet, in some cases I wonder how they got attracted to my blog and why they would come back and comment or read again and again. I also noticed that those countries who do not appear at all on my list of readers are countries where either they have highly controlled internet (police state) like Belarus, Iran or are countries where the internet does not exist because of poor infrastructure and lack of reliable electric supply, like the Congo or Afghanistan. What intrigues me is readers from the Holy See (Vatican) which has a population of 921 people and is the smallest European Country totally surrounded by the City of Rome, must be some Cardinal no doubt. Then there readers from tiny places in the world like the Seychelles Islands, a group of 115 islands forming one republic in the North West corner of the Indian Ocean.

The largest group of readers are from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, France, India, Turkey, Brazil. I also have 225 followers of my blog.

I always find it interesting to see how many diverse followers I have to my blog. People like to read what goes on elsewhere in the world and try to imagine maybe how life is in parts of the world they have not visited.  I am happy for their readership and who knows maybe they will want to visit or read more about Canada’s smallest Province Prince Edward Island and its small population of 150,000 persons.

For the readers, you all know that I write mostly about my home and life in general, maybe some observation about something that strikes me as odd or of our time.

Now to the last few days of 2017 and onwards then to 2018 with all of its many surprises.

 

Traditions

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Canada., Christmas tree, Germany, traditions

Some great Christmas traditions we enjoyed through the years, not to forget the Xmas markets during Advent on our visits to Munich.

The first Christmas tree in Canada was lit at Sorel, Québec, in 1781, by Baroness Frederika von Riedesel, wife of the commander of the Brunswick and Hessian troops who fought alongside the British against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.

Major General Friedrich Adolf von Riedesel, was born at Lauterbach, Hesse, Germany, in 1738. In 1776 he landed in Canada in charge of a large contingent of soldiers sent by the Duke of Brunswick to defend Canada and help General John Burgoyne put down the American Revolution. The Baroness, known as “Lady Fritz”, followed in 1777, even though she had two small children and was expecting another.

In October of that year, the Americans captured the von Riedesel family at the Battle of Saratoga. They spent two years in captivity and two further years paroled in the U.S., before they were allowed to return to Quebec. In September of 1781, Governor Lord Haldimand posted the General to Fort Sorel where the Richelieu River flows into the St. Lawrence River. The couple, and their four daughters Augusta, Frederika, Caroline, and America, first lived in a private home, but a few days before Christmas Eve, they moved into a new stone house on the site of the present Maison des Gouverneurs in the town.

On Christmas Eve, Lady Fritz hosted a party of officers, with a traditional Christmas plum pudding for the English, and a small candle-lit Christmas fir tree, its branches decorated with fruits and candies, for the Germans. On Christmas day, her four girls had their “Weihnachtsbaum” and their little gifts under the tree.

 

A new President in Germany

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Bellevue, Berlin, Bundestag, Germany, President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier was born in 1956 in the small town of Detmold in North Rhine-Westphalia. His father was a carpenter and it is said that some within Germany’s political elite look down on Steinmeier for his lowly background. On the flip-side, he is often praised for having risen to such heights within the political system.

He has a doctorate of law which he was awarded in 1991 by the University of Giessen, and did his dissertation on state prevention of homelessness.

Soon after leaving university he went to work for the state Chancellery of Lower Saxony as an advisor, and in 1993 became director of the personal office for the Minister-President of the state, and later Chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder.

While serving as head of the office of the Chancellor from 1999 following Schröder’s election victory, he earned himself the nickname “The Grey Efficiency” because of his ability to manage teams behind the political spotlight. Steinmeier was made responsible for Germany’s intelligence services and he helped Schröder forge a coalition with Russia and France against the US’s invasion of Iraq.

In the grand coalition of 2005, Merkel appointed him Foreign Minister, from where he was shifted up to Vice-Chancellor in 2007. But come the elections of 2009 his party was rejected in favour of Angela Merkel’s, and he became leader of the opposition until he was given the position of Foreign Secretary again in 2013 following another election.

The Election process

The process by which a new President is chosen is not a simple one. It’s not a direct vote by the German people, but rather the Federal parliament calls in so-called “Electors” to vote on behalf of the nation.

The 630 members of the Federal parliament or Bundestag are joined by 630 “Electors” in the house.

Each different state is given a different number of Electors to send to the Federal parliament depending on their population size, and the regional governments can vote for anybody to become an Elector. This led to the surreal situation on Sunday where politicians were mixing with film stars, the national football coach, and the nation’s best known drag queen to vote for the next head of state.

Different parties can put forward their candidate, but in reality the government chooses who it wants to be President and then the vote is purely a formality. Steinmeier received 74% of the ballots with 931 votes out of 1,260.

The role of the German President

The official role of the President is as the head of state of Germany. The President often has a lot of freedom in their job, but they tend to leave the actual running of the country to the Chancellor.

The President cannot create laws or policies, but can give direction as to what the political debate should be. The President must also sign off on laws. He also has the power to veto a law.

In general however the President represents the State of Germany itself, and has a role in upholding the law and constitution. The President is obliged not to comment on current political affairs, and should stay politically neutral, staying above party politics.

Probably the most important role of the President is to represent Germany at home and abroad, and having been Foreign Minister, Steinmeier is very qualified to do this. He will now spend the next four years fulfilling his duties at home and abroad. He has promised to focus on visiting “left-behind” communities around Germany.

He takes Office in March and will replace the current President Joachim Gauck who is 77. The Official Residence of the President is a former Royal Palace Schloss Bellevue in central Berlin, built as a summer residence for the brother of King Frederick II the Great of Prussia in 1786. The German President actually lives in a Villa in Dahlem a suburb of Berlin, the palace is only used for Official functions.

Sapphire Jubilee, EIIR

Tags

Canada., EIIR, Germany, Hohenzollern, Prussia, Sapphire Jubilee

On this 6 February in 1952 King George VI died in his sleep at the age of 56 of complications from cancer. His daughter Princess Elizabeth was proclaimed Queen and acceded the throne of Canada, Great Britain and the Dominions of the Commonwealth.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrate 65 years (1952-2017) on the throne today, but the Canadian monarch will not be spending it with parades and confetti. Instead, Queen Elizabeth II will spend her Sapphire Jubilee quietly and somberly in commemoration of the death of her father, King George VI.

The Queen is the first Sovereign to reach a Sapphire Jubilee. Queen Victoria reached her Diamond Jubilee and was the longest-reigning monarch until H.M. Elizabeth II surpassed her in 2015. While Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee was well-celebrated in 2012, this one will be more solemn.

Today she will remain at the Sandringham estate (where her father spent his last days) to contemplate on her long reign.

Queen Elizabeth II, nicknamed Lilibet was only 25 years old when her father died. She was then after a mourning period crowned in 1953 in Westminster Abbey. When she married Prince Philip in 1954, her father gave her a necklace and a pair of sapphire earrings. A decade after her coronation, she had a matching tiara and bracelet made.

The 90-year-old queen is one of the longest-ruling monarchs in history. The Sun King Louis XIV of France ruled for 72 years.

Picture taken last month at Buckingham Palace, from left to right, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge. The men in this photo are wearing the Order of the Garter on their left leg with the blue sash of the Order.

What is interesting about this photo are the large portrait paintings framing this picture, on the left H.I.M  Emperor Frederick III of Germany and King of Prussia and on the right his wife Empress Victoria, who was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. The link to the Imperial Family of Germany who are first cousins of the Royal Family has been quietly emphasized lately. The current head of the German Imperial Family is 40 yr old H.I.R.H Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, their cousin, in the photo below with his wife Princess Sophie of Prussia.

Sun and snow

Tags

Birds, Cardinals, Charlottetown, Dresden, Germany, PEI, XMAS

As much as Friday and Saturday we got misty rain and some wind, always wind on this Island. Today we have roving clouds with small flurries of snow and blue sky with Sun. We are doing the Christmas tree and decorations today.

Here are some pictures which I find beautiful on this day.

The Via Appia built more than 2000 years ago. We walked this road which crosses Italy with its ancient pavement. What I discovered is that as you near the City Walls you have all these ruins, some elaborate, they are Mausoleums to the wealthy Patricians of Rome. So it was a famous road but also a cemetery in a beautiful setting. Misty Sunday morning in Rome.

This weekend is the Christmas Market on Richmond Street in Old Charlottetown and here is the bronze statue on a park bench of our First Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald dressed up as the tradition wants for the occasion. #discovercharlottetown

 

 

 

An evening view of a street in old Dresden in Saxony, Germany. The Xmas Market is on this weekend, I remembered it, like the one in Munich, so much fun and so many things to see. To think that Dresden just 25 years ago was still pretty much a ruin from February 1945 devastating bombings. Lovingly restored and in the background the dome of the Frauenkirchen rebuilt with public donations.

The Old Kirk of St-James in Charlottetown on Fitzroy Street. This presbyterian parish church was built in 1878 in its present form though the parish exist since 1770.

 

Ethics and where we stand

Tags

Ethics, film, Germany, Goebbels, history, morality, Nazi, office politics, Pomsel

I came across the name of Brunhilde Pomsel and the award winning film A German Life which is to be released in North America today 24 July 2016. http://www.a-german-life.com/trailer/

Although Brunhilde Pomsel always described herself as just being a side-line figure and not at all interested in politics, she nevertheless got closer to one of the worst criminals in world history than anyone else presently alive. Today aged 105, Pomsel used to work as secretary, stenographer and typist for the Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Brunhilde Pomsel’s life mirrors the major historical ruptures of the 20th century and German life thereafter. Nowadays, many people presume that the dangers of war and fascism have long been overcome. Brunhilde Pomsel makes it clear that this is certainly not the case. “A German Life” forces viewers to ask themselves what they would have done and whether they would have sacrificed any possible moral principles in order to advance their own careers. Her extraordinary biography and unique personal journey into the past lead to disturbing and timeless questions:

Have we moved on or are we still unclear about our own morals and humanity and more importantly:
Where do I stand on these issues today?

Evil is never far from us and it is important that we ask ourselves questions, privately, no need to stand on a public square,  as an exercise in reflection on who we are and on where we stand on important moral and ethical issues. I am not talking here about liking this or that or making mundane crowd choices where we know that we are unlikely to be challenged because we reflect the majority view.

Is advancing your own career or making money and getting that promotion more important to you than taking a moral stand, even quietly, refusing to go along because you know it is morally wrong. It is easy, even today to blame Germany and the Germans for the 12 years of the Nazi dictatorship, they lost the war and the losers are always wrong. So it is easy to blame them even 75 years after the fact and knowing that the those who lived then are now dead. Only survivors like Brunhilde Pomsel can remind us that the monopoly of evil does not lie with one group but is something all of us, individually or in a group are quite capable of, it is human nature after all, but we are imbued with the capacity to reason and make choices, moral choices and ethical ones and take a different course of action.

Since 1945 there have been other conflicts in the world, other genocides to numerous to name and there are horrible conflicts now. We are quick nowadays with the internet to take position on a question, thanks to the Media who fans obsessively news items making us fearful of those who are different or by misrepresenting facts to get a reaction.

At 105 Pomsel is at the end of her life and beyond what we may think of her. She speaks as someone who will be leaving soon and has nothing to gain or loose. In her life testimony she forces us to see that as humans we do whatever will benefit us and maybe this is why the Nazi were at first, successful. But they are not the only ones to have been successful with ideology and mass communication and manipulation. We are so willing to believe what ever our leaders say. It is also important to remember that it does not have to be a stark choice like the ones of the Nazi dictatorship period. It can be questions on immigration, social justice, minority groups, etc or simply something in society that is unjust.

What I found frightening about her testimony is how willing she was to look away simply to get ahead, she does say I was not interested in the politics or the speeches, I was young and I wanted to get ahead, everyone was doing it. On hearing that I thought, I know quite a few people like that, I worked with people like that.

I hope that those who will see this movie will not simply nod their heads and think like donkeys, but make the effort to ask themselves, how would I act in such circumstances or how do I act now when confronted with a situation.

Pomsel says she believes people would have done the same as her and would still do today. I believe her, many would.

 

photo not PEI

Tags

Alexanderplatz, Berlin, BRD, FRG, GDR, Germany, Spree river

This photo of central Berlin, the Capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, re-united and once again the Capital since 1990. It had lost that title in 1946 with the division of Germany by the Allies when the Capital moved to Bonn for the Western part of the Country and the Eastern part kept Berlin, half demolished, bombed out as their capital.

The photo below is East Berlin now known as Mitte or central Berlin. The Princes and Kings of Prussia lived on the island on the Spree River as of the 15th century until 1918. The buildings on the left side of the photo, you have the great dome of the Lutheran Cathedral it was connected to the Imperial Palace across the street, heavily damaged in 1944 it was lovingly restored to what it was like in 1918, the crypt is full of coffins of the Royal Prussian family members. The cathedral is surrounded by several museums all fully restored since 1989 at great expense. The collections are breathtaking, varied and shows the knowledge and quality of the curators who worked for the Hohenzollern family. The long gray facade building on the Spree river is the old stables of the Palace, housing hundred of horses and carriages at one time. The empty space between the cathedral and the stables is occupied today by the reconstruction site of the great City Palace of the German Emperors. On the middle of the photo is St-Nicholas neighbourhood also heavily damaged by aerial allied bombardments in 1942-1944, the churches have been restored and so has the red brick tower and building of Berlin’s City Hall. The modern towers you see in the background is Alexander Platz built to celebrate the visit to Berlin of Russian Tsar Alexander I in 1805, it was re-imagined by the Communists East German government and turned into a typical soulless ugly brutalist architectural monstrosity for army parades, think Red Square or Tien An Men Square in Beijing.

 

Same area another shot taken around 2007