#24 Boston - Nothing Works! November 19, 2006

Nothing works - least of all my brain - I am jetlagged, tired, hungry, and have six million things to do. That's why my update is horrendously late this week, and that is why it will be horrendously short, too.

I just spend quite some time tonight loading the pictures from my Prague/Germany trip from my new digital camera (getting to know you......) onto my computer at home, but as with every program one has to learn things, how to upload this, that and the other, and how to resize the pictures, and I just don't have my wits about me to even consider it. I promise I will send a selection of photos tomorrow and then will post the whole lot of them (I think there were around 300 originally, but I promise to weed them out and get the online feast down to a digestible size) on one of those websites such as Shutterfly or O-Photo. As soon as I can find someone with a brain to help me.

You got the Prague update, so I am moving on to my time in Germany. As mentioned, I arrived just in time for the official commencement of Fastnacht, the Karneval /Mardi Gras season that officially started on 11/11 at 11:11 AM. While the main celebrations of Karneval, parades, general merriment and such take place during the two weeks preceding lent, the official start is somewhat earlier to allow all the different Karneval guilds to get ready and prepare. The whole hoopla ends on Ash Wednesday - with a couple of exceptions such as the Morgenstreich in nearby Basel/ Switzerland, where on the Monday and Wednesday of the following week at 4 AM all hell brakes loose. Apparently conceived by Protestants to annoy the Catholics, this strange custom starts with a blackout in the old center of Basel at that ungodly hour, and the Karnveal cliques armed with mostly piccolos and tambourines wake up pretty much everyone in the tri-state area. There is lots of drinking, raunchy poetry is being recited and on occasion unprepared tourists are kidnapped and forced to hop along for a while. (http://www.vtour.ch/fasnacht/morgens/morgens1.html)












That day in my little home town of Neuenburg http://www.neuenburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1121136/index.html), there was a congregation of all sorts of Karneval guilds at the main town square, assembling at the "fool's fountain" for the official kick-off; the "Guggemusik" was playing their music somewhat off-key (which is the intent here) and everyone was having a grand old time, despite the crappy weather. I'll refer to my photos when it comes to a description of the garb the different guilds such as the "Rhiischnogge" don for the occasion, the costumes are handmade, the masks hand carved and needless to say with lots of love and crafty skills.

Aside from Fastnacht, the week in Germany went buy in a jiffy, had to see tons of people, celebrate birthdays, walk in the woods a couple of times, and get lots of sleep. A highlight was a trip to the "Schauinsland" (literally translated "look into the land"), with its claim to fame as being the 11th highest peak in the Black Forest (yippee) - it tops out at an elevation of 1,284 m (3281 ft). It has spectacular views to the Swiss Alps and also toward the Black Forests sister mountains in France, the Vosges. It has tons of hiking trails, one can walk up, drive up or, as yours truly, take the gondola to the top (2.25 miles of gondola fun!). It is known to be quite windy on occasion up there, and one of its most striking features are the "Windbuchen", beeches that have been bent by the wind into bizarre forms. We hiked a solid 11 kms on a most gorgeous day, sunshine, not too windy, and not enough benches to sit on despite a sign that promised them.

There was a visit to Freiburg, of course, my old college town (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Freiburg&btnG=Search+Images). It started out as a settlement in the 11th century, was founded by Duke Konrad of Zaehringen (yeah, remember, Konrad??), and thanks to its close association with the Habsburg Dynasty received its freedom in the 13th century. It is a city packed with history, and as the entry gate to the Blackforest, it is tourist central. Its population is a tad above 200K, with a substantial chunk of that going toward the student category. Thus, lots of culture, and things to do. Its most distinctive feature are the "Baechle", a gutter system that once used to be source of the citizen's water supply and now simply contributes to the city's charm. Local legend says that if you do step into a "Baechle" (which does happen quite frequently to the unsuspecting visitor), that you are destined to marry a local boy or girl, aka a "Freiburger Bobbele". Freiburg's main square features a gothic cathedral - the Freiburger Muenster, the Historical Kaufhaus (which happened to be the financial center of the region in the early 16th century) and a farmer's market every day of the week except for Sunday, of course. Amazingly enough I can still go there and find the same market vendors I said goodbye to 18 years ago.... nice to see that some things have not changed...

My friends, it is time to go to bed - you may look forward to the pictorial supplement tomorrow.

pet:)