Thursday, June 20, 2013

After the party....

Hansa Days have come and gone, and I'm still culling fotos!! The first one is a view of Steinstrasse during the grand finale parade shot from the front porch of 1A, 4. OG.

The next two are an overview and detail of one of the Street Art stops, the side wall of the Stadtbiliothek (City Library) which is a collage of photos made by a young Englishman, Ben Stewart.  Aside from the ubiquitous Stadtfuhrer Mathias Polster (lower right) there is a friend of mine in the lower left!


....and here he is, the world famous Schneckenbuddha!!  Denizen of Steinstrasse and my rucksack when we take leave of our abode for parts known, unknown, and who cares.


Friday, June 14, 2013

The Fest's in Full Swing!!

I made three rounds of the city today, stopping at the booths of the Hansa Cities that grabbed my eye, got to babble a little in Polish and Russian and enjoyed the sights and sounds of music and food and people of all sorts, and just a minute ago, a new first-two mounted policemen clopping along the flagstones of the Deichtorwall behind my building!!  The scared the heck out of the little band of young people occupying the bench along the moat who were quietly downing a few beers before gravitating to the disco!!

Some of my favorite sights today:







This last group was great!  The were singing 'No Satisfaction' when I took this shot...

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Hoeker, Hansa, and hey! it's raining...

The 40 th Hoeker Fest in Herford kicked off yesterday. It's been joined today by the International Hansa Days. You may remember the Hanseatic League from your history classes. Herford is a member. Numerous German cities are represented here this week, as well as the Member cities from Latvia, Iceland, Lithuania, Holland, Belgium, Poland,  Russia, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden.  The streets are filling up with revelers and reenacters, vendors, buyers, and people who just like to look.  The weather is beautiful, preparations for concerts, parades, and pageants are underway and or course, the heavens open and drown them all.  Very biblical, with the exception that no one dies.  All in all, it's starting to look cool and I'm looking forward to learning some new people and getting some clues to the next stop on the magical mystery tour....

Here's a list of cities represented here this week, along with the links to their websites (courtesy of our friendly city) to help you plan your next Hansiatic vacation!

Stadt (Organisation) Land Webseite
Brügge Belgien www.brugge.be
Ahlen Deutschland www.ahlen.de  
Alfeld Deutschland www.alfeld.de 
Anklam Deutschland www.anklam.de 
Attendorn Deutschland www.attendorn.de 
Bad Iburg Deutschland www.badiburg.de 
Beckum Deutschland www.beckum.de
Bockenem Deutschland www.bockenem.de 
Borgentreich Deutschland www.borgentreich.de
Brakel Deutschland www.brakel.de 
Brandenburg an der Havel Deutschland www.stadt-brandenburg.de 
Breckerfeld Deutschland www.breckerfeld.de
Brilon Deutschland www.brilon.de 
Buxtehude Deutschland www.buxtehude.de 
Demmin Deutschland www.demmin.de 
Dorsten Deutschland www.dorsten.de 
Dortmund Deutschland www.dortmund.de 
Einbeck Deutschland www.einbeck.de 
Emmerich Deutschland www.emmerich.de 
Frankfurt (Oder) Deutschland http://www.frankfurt-oder.de 
Gardelegen Deutschland www.gardelegen.info 
Greifswald Deutschland www.greifswald.de 
Gronau (Leine) Deutschland www.gronau-leine.de 
Halle (Saale) Deutschland www.halle.de 
Haltern am See Deutschland www.haltern.de 
Hamburg Deutschland http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/ 
Hameln Deutschland www.hameln.de 
Hamm Deutschland www.hamm.de 
Hansestadt Stralsund Deutschland www.stralsund.de 
Hansestadt Wipperfürth Deutschland www.wipperfuerth.de 
Haselünne Deutschland www.haseluenne.de 
Hattingen Deutschland www.hattingen.de 
Helmstedt Deutschland http://www.stadt-helmstedt.de/ 
Herford Deutschland www.herford.de 
Höxter Deutschland www.hoexter.de
Kalkar/Grieth Deutschland www.kalkar.de 
Kamen Deutschland www.stadt-kamen.de   
Korbach Deutschland www.korbach.de 
Kyritz Deutschland www.kyritz.de
Lemgo Deutschland www.lemgo.de
Lippstadt Deutschland www.lippstadt.de
Lübeck Deutschland www.luebeck.de 
Lüneburg Deutschland www.lueneburg.de 
Lünen Deutschland www.luenen.de 
Magdeburg Deutschland www.magdeburg-tourist.de 
Medebach Deutschland www.medebach-touristik.de
Meppen Deutschland www.meppen-tourismus.de
Merseburg Deutschland www.merseburg.de
Minden Deutschland www.minden.de
Mühlhausen Deutschland www.muehlhausen.de
Münster Deutschland www.tourismus.muenster.de
Naumburg (Saale) Deutschland www.naumburg.de
Neuss Deutschland www.neuss.de
Nieheim Deutschland www.nieheim.de
Olpe Deutschland www.olpe.de
Osnabrück Deutschland www.osnabrueck.de
Osterburg Deutschland www.osterburg.de
Paderborn Deutschland www.paderborn.de
Quedlinburg Deutschland www.quedlinburg.de
Rheda-Wiedenbrück Deutschland www.rheda-wiedenbrueck.de 
Rheine Deutschland www.rheine.de
Rostock Deutschland www.hansesail.com
Rüthen Deutschland www.ruethen.de
Salzwedel Deutschland www.salzwedel.de
Schwerte Deutschland www.schwerte.de
Soest Deutschland www.soest.de
Stade Deutschland www.stade.de
Stendal Deutschland www.stendal.de
Tangermünde Deutschland www.tangermuende.de
Telgte Deutschland www.telgte.de
Uelzen Deutschland www.uelzen.de
Unna Deutschland www.hansetourist.de
Warburg Deutschland www.warburg.de
Warendorf Deutschland www.warendorf.de
Werne Deutschland www.werne.de
Wesel Deutschland www.weselmarketing.de
Wismar Deutschland www.wismar.de
King's Lynn England www.west-norfolk.gov.uk
Kingston upon Hull England www.hullcc.gov.uk
Hansestadt Tallinn Estland http://www.tallinn.ee/
Narva Estland www.narva.ee
Pärnu Estland www.parnu.ee
Tartu  Estland www.tartu.ee
Viljandi Estland www.viljandi.ee
Turku Finnland www.turku.fi
La Rochelle Frankreich www.larochelle.fr
Hafnarfjörður Island www.hafnarfjordur.is
Cesis Lettland www.cesis.lv
Kuldiga Lettland www.kuldiga.lv
Limbazi Lettland www.limbazi.lv
Riga Lettland www.riga.lv
Straupe Lettland www.pargaujasnovads.lv
Valmiera Lettland www.valmiera.lv
Kaunas Litauen www.kaunas.lt
Deventer Niederlande www.deventer.nl
Doesburg Niederlande www.doesburg.nl
Elburg Niederlande www.elburg.nl
Groningen Niederlande www.groningen.nl/ondernemer
Harderwijk Niederlande www.harderwijk.nl
Hasselt Niederlande www.zwartewaterland.nl
Hattem Niederlande www.hattem.nl
Kampen Niederlande www.kampen.nl
Ommen Niederlande www.ommen.nl
Zutphen Niederlande www.zutphen.nl
Zwolle Niederlande www.zwolle.nl
Bergen Norwegen www.bergen.kommune.no
Gdansk/Danzig Polen www.gdansk.pl
Goleniow Polen www.goleniow.pl
Kolobrzeg/Kolberg Polen www.kolobrzeg.eu
Krakow/Krakau Polen www.krakow.pl
Lebork Polen www.lebork.pl
Slubice Polen www.slubice.pl
Slupsk Polen www.slupsk.pl
Torun Polen www.torun.pl
Belozersk Russland www.gorodbelozersk.ru
Kaliningrad Russland http://www.klgd.ru/
Kingisepp Russland www.kingisepp-mo.ru
Pskow Russland www.pskovgorod.ru
Smolensk Russland www.smol-tourism.ru
Tikhvin Russland www.tikhvin.org
Totma Russland http://old.totma-vologda.ru/doc/doc.php
Twer Russland www.tver.ru
Velikij Ustjug Russland www.vumr.ru
Welikij Nowgorod Russland http://visitnovgorod.ru/
Wologda Russland http://vologda-oblast.ru/en/
Aberdeen Schottland http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/home/home.asp
Kalmar Schweden www.kalmar.se
Visby Schweden www.gotland.se

Saturday, June 8, 2013

and death shall have no dominion

A beautiful piece by Dylan Thomas,  a favorite line, and a good excuse to ruminate.

" Though lovers be lost, love shall not" strikes a chord.

I've been asked a few questions of late, questioning aspects of being most often alone, which I am. One was on homesickness, the other on loneliness.  I don't feel either.  I do sometimes miss the presence of others I've enjoyed and I do sometimes miss a trout stream I used to fish, or an alpine meadow I used to camp in, but missing something I once experienced is something I do joyfully.  Missing means having fond memories and I enjoy many of those.  For many, though, it implies a sadness at not being able to connect with that experience.  That is not my way.  It's taken a long time to work it through, but I've broken my attachments to my experiences.  That doesn't mean I've forgotten or suppressed them. It means that I live in the here and now and when you do this mindfully, when you work everyday at being aware of your body and your mind and your connections to the world you know and the world you haven't experienced yet, you realize that present, past, and future are the same thing and "though lovers be lost, love shall not; and death shall have no dominion." For a Buddhist, death has no dominion and love is never lost and sitting quietly on a Saturday night is a lot more important than anything else I can think of.