Fall in Strasbourg

Here are a few pictures of fall in the park in Strasbourg. No matter where you are in the world, some things look a lot like home. : )

Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle and Concentration Camp Struthof

Above are some views of and from Haut Koenigsbourg Castle, the only restored castle in the Alsace region. The first historical reference to this castle dates back to 1147, it was "modernized" several times the most extensive renovation was in the 15th century. The Thirty Years war ravaged Europe and the countryside surrounding Haut Koenigsbourg and it was left in ruins until 1899 when it was restored under the direction of Kaiser Wilhelm in the early 20th century. Our tour guide - whom several students referred to as "Prince Valiant" told us that many criticized the castle as a means to criticize Wilhelm. The restoration, however, was undertaken with historical care and other than one room dedicated to the Glory of the Kaiser is very well done! It was a fun tour but the day was cold and cloudy, thus we ate our lunch outside quickly and upset our very grumpy French bus driver.

After the levity of the castle we proceed through the quaint countryside of eastern France to an area that was occupied by the Germans during WWII. Concentration Camp Struthof was nearly invisible from the road (not by chance) and after driving through an eerily foggy forest we came upon the serious part of our adventures for the day.

The words Silence and Respect were posted around the concentration camp. Those two words ruled the visit. Everyone in our group seemed to grasp the seriousness of the atrocities that were committed on these grounds. When another group emerged from one of the structures and did not respect the somberness that this place evoked, our group stared them down. They quieted and moved on...

We proceeded to the bottom of the hill and one of our students read the informational packet we were provided in English.

We looked over the pit (above on the left with a memorial cross) where ashes and who knows what else was thrown.

We looked up the hill at the empty spaces where other buildings stood and housed the prisoners who were treated with unfathomable cruelty.

We went in the building that was used for medical experimentation, torture, hangings, executions, and we saw the oven that burned the remains in to ashes.

We walked up the hill past the barbed wire fences, past the guard towers, past the cemetery, toward the monument to the souls taken before their time.

It was a powerful place and the two museums on site that had educational displays and artifacts from this and other concentration camps were also exceptionally poignant. Silence and Respect.

London England

• Well, we had a Wonderful time in London! I have been late to Blog about it because in addition to all the fun, I came home with a sinus infection. Working non-stop for 30 days is tiring and it takes its toll on you! It was disappointing to not be at "full capacity" in London of all places.
• First, everyone spoke English - and that was a great comfort to us. Although, there were times where I would have asked a question and it took a minute to realize I could do it in English and be understood!
  
• The herd boarded the bus in Strasbourg, we went to the Baden Baden airport, and flew into London. We had a healthy meal of snack food purchased at the one and only store that offered edibles in the little airport at 8 pm.


• We met Michi, our guide, and hopped on our bus and took about an hour ride to the Hotel which was situated on the west side of London. After a quick drive past Big Ben, Parliment, and other attractions we checked into the hotel. The royals were our neighbors - so to speak - but they did not invite us over for tea : ( We were not far from Kensington Gardens, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Harrods, and Royal Albert Hall.
  
• Friday was a bus tour of the city with our lovely, proper, and conservative British guide. She informed us that Diana was a tramp, Camilla is lovely, just lovely, and that the whole lot of Parliment should be flushed! She was incredibly knowledgable and let us off the bus for pictures of a few things such as London Bridge.
  
• We had free time to wander around town (many of us took in the Victoria and Albert's Museum) we all met back at a restaurant near Trafalgar square and ate a wonderful dinner before heading off to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theatre. What an amazing show. I definately want to read the book. Amazing production and incredible actors/singers. The Stage set is in the center.

• Saturday was a tour of the Tate Modern. WOW! An amazing collection and an interesting building to house it. The building is a power plant, much of its space is now musuem but I believe it still produces some power as well. We all posed for a group picture under Louise Bourgeois famous spider entitled Maman (below). There was a show dedicated to her but since it took $2.02 to equal 1 pound. No one paid the $24. US to see it. London is very expensive because it is a big and amazing city but the fact that the dollar is in the crapper is NOT helpful!

We were on our own for the afternoon and met up again at 6:15 or so to board the London Eye. The "London Eye" is the closest Ferris wheel in size to the original which debuted at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago known as the "White City." The ferris wheel was meant to illustrate America's engineering prowess after Gustave Eiffel wowed the crowds in Paris with his Eiffel Tower. We will visit Eiffel's masterpiece in Paris in a few weeks.

Sunday, our guide Michi took a lot of students to Cambden town. It is a marketplace for anything and everything that you would like to find! There are massive "markets" with hundreds of booths with everything you can imagine - touristy junk, gothic clothing, handmaid goods and more and more.

We hopped back on the tube and made our way to the British Museum.

I was totally sick at this point, and thus did not enjoy the tour as much as I normally would but it was an incredible musuem! Inside one finds: the Rosetta stone, the marbles from the Parthenon, Mummies and other interesting objects from ancient Egypt, and even, much to my surprise and delight, Albrecht Durer's Triumphal Arch!

After several hours of looking, and a quick and uneventful trip to the store, I took the tube back to Trafalgar Square. I went to St. Martin of the Field's Crypt area where the Brass Rubbing center just opened two weeks ago. I sat down with the special crayon and did several rubbings of pictures on brass plates from old churches around Europe.

Finally, on Monday we all hopped on the super busy, rush hour tubes and made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral by Christopher Wren. We had an audio tour and a good hour to walk around and see the entire cathedral. After a few final hours of freedom in London we met at the Hotel and took the bus to the EXTREMELY busy London Stanstead airport and flew back to Baden Baden where our fabulous Chateau staff was there to meet us and bring us "home."

To LONDON

Hello all,
If anyone is reading this religously, the group is about to leave for a visit to London. We have an action packed trip planned and will arrive home (to the Chateau) late on Monday night. I will more than likely NOT be posting while in London but will have a lot to say when I return!
It is good we are not scheduled for Paris this weekend because it is the Rugby World Cup and the transportation union has gone on strike, no trains, busses, or metro! London, here we come!!!
Kelly : )

Pictures as promised - Unterlinden Museum

These are the promised pics of the Unterlinden museum (former convent) and the Altarpiece in situ...

The students who came on this trip to study and learn were really blown away. Our knowledgable guide Vivian really gave an excellent tour, with 40 people in a small museum that is really saying something. The students who came on this trip to do other things were anxious to leave the museum ASAP and go buy a postcard or a coffee, it is sad : (

It seems I will be teaching my Afterlife in Art class when I return in the winter, thus this altarpiece and other art from here will be featured.

I also learned of a cathedral not far from here (a train ride away) that will be of great interest as well. We have reworked the schedule here so that all of my classes meet on 2 days. So I will now have 2 days a week to "catch up," prep my classes, and take an occasional train to somewhere close and interesting. YEAH!!!

I went for a 2+ hour walk in the park on Sunday and came across a substantial stump with the largest confligration of mushrooms I have ever seen in one place. WOW! - this picture is just a small section of the mushroom mania I found. I doubt they are edible but I am going to ask... regardless they are quite attractive.

Walking in the park is one of the best aspects of living at the Chateau. I don't have to drive to get to the "woods" I can just walk out the door and I am "there." Everybody in France is always outside enjoying the park! You see families strolling, the old, the young, joggers, bicyclers, dogs, it is really amazing! The culture is very healthy!

Today is Tuesday so I "practiced" Yoga. I want to find a class in Pittsburgh. It is really very cool! The PM of England is going to suggest Yoga classes be held in schools because they are having an obesity issue there as well. It is relaxing and good for you!

More later, we leave for London on Thursday... not sure what I will have to report before we go - unless I climb up the cathedral steps tomorrow morning before class - I will see what the weather looks like!

It is really strange to post things into the "nether regions" of the internet. Feel free to add comments or ask me questions so I know that someone is out there : )

Route de Vin (Route of Wine) & the Issenheim Altarpiece

Well, Saturday was an incredible day with wondrous weather! We have had nice stretch of foggy mornings leading to sunny afternoons and generally excellent weather around 65 degrees!

• The bus arrived and our tour leader for the day Vivian boarded with us and we were starting to pull away from the Chateau when our favorite chronically late student dashed toward the bus and made an excellent "sad puppy dog face" and boarded among jeers from his peers. He, once again, failed to read the information papers provided. : (



• Off we went into the beautiful countryside and incredibly vast "fields" of grapevines on the Route de Vin. The Alsace region is known for 7 varieties of grapes and thus 7 types of wine: Sylvaner, riesling, pinot gris, pinot blanc, pinot noir, muscat, & gewurztraminer.
  
  
• We arrived in the little town of Barr and visited the cellar and did a tasting at Domaine Klipfel. They offered us a leisurely and informative tasting with 4 wines from their collection, a Riesling, a Pinot Gris, a Muscat, and a Gewurtraminer.





• We finished our tasting and hopped on the bus to go to eat our picnic lunch in the lovely little town of Ribeauville. Walking around town for an hour we could see the ruins of a castle above on the foothills, half-timbered homes and businesses, and the charm of this part of the country.

Well, I am experiencing technical difficulties with uploading more pictures... more will come later when things are better...

• We then proceeded to the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar in which resides the masterpeice known as the Issenheim Altar painted by Matthias Grunewald. Vivian guided us through the amazing building which was a former convent and the incredible collection. The Unterlinden boasts that it is the most visited museum in the Provinces (outside Paris) with an average annual visitation of 350,000. Having visited once with the herd (we are a herd of 40) I plan on returning before returning to the US in December. WOW!
• I bought the catalogue of the museum and a little pamphlet about the altarpiece specifically. My photographs would never do the altarpiece justice. It was truly a unique and special museum experience.
• After the museum we went to Riquewir to do another wine tasting and have dinner. It was another cute little town with lots of half-timbered shops and surrounded by foothills of grapevines.
• We returned to the Chateau after our magical day and SIU Travel was celebrating their 10th anniversary with a party. Alan and I were invited to join in the festivities but exhausted after another 12+ hour day travelling and herding our cherubs we just smiled, shook a lot of hands, ate some desert, and then went outside for Fireworks!
• I didn't have a chance to grab the camera, I have taken pictures of fireworks before and I know they all look essentially the same. I would not regret my decision except that before they started shooting off the actual fireworks they lit little paper lanterns with candles in the bottom and they took off like little hot air balloons. About 10 or so quiet, peaceful, paper lanterns lifted vertically and then flew away in the wind one by one.
• Many of us were so taken with it that we hope to recreate the paper lantern launch at the end of our stay at the Chateau. Alan, who is of Chinese heritage, said in China they do it for New Years and you write your wish on the lantern and send it into the sky.

We leave for London on Thursday evening, England beat France in the World Cup of Rugby so we will be in London for the "Superbowl" of Rugby and if they win it will be a madhouse on Saturday night!!!

more later : )

Pictures from Vitra, Basel, & Freiburg

Freiburg Cathedral, sculpture, & students
Tinguely sculpture with another Basel Cathedral in back
Town Hall - Basel, Switzerland
cute building in Freiburg
busy city street in Freiburg with clock tower

Frank Gehry building @ Vitra
Claes Oldenburg sculpture
Basel Cathedral
hallway corridor @ Basel Cathedral
interior Basel Cathedral

Hello all, here are the pictures promised... I don't know why things were weird earlier but I couldn't add them when I posted earlier.

More soon : )

Vitra Museum, Basel, Switzerland, & Freiburg, Germany

Well, a lot to report but NO TIME TO DO IT...
I have classes EVERYDAY, I think Sunday will be my first whole, complete, day off since we arrived in France. I am teaching 3 classes (12 credits) and at least one of them meets every class day. If we don't have class we have an activity or two. It is exhausting!!! The evil German kiddos were with us for 3 days and more importantly 3 horrible NIGHTS. They really enjoyed staying up all night, banging doors, screaming, yelling, and then to be polite - on occasion they made the shush noise at the top of their lungs... Their chaperones were MIA!

I was up all night Tuesday-Wednesday got out of bed at 6:45 or so and got ready - almost everyone was ready to get on the bus at 8:00 am and off we went to the Vitra Design Museum. We had a guided tour of several of the architecturally interesting buildings and got to sit in many of the very famous chairs they build. I personally liked the puzzle-chair which offered 3 different spots for sitting on three different levels. We were not allowed to photograph that section of the musuem so I will have to do a little sketch or something.

Basel Switzerland was amazing but we only got a tiny taste of it. We were there for maybe 2 hours. I definately want to go back and I hope to figure out a way via bus/train to take a group to see a Roman city that they have excavated. The Cathedral in Basel was wonderful!

Freiburg Germany was a place to shop and see a few typical German sites. The Cathedral was interesting but something was going on inside and thus it was mainly the exterior that we "took in" briefly. We boarded the bus and went to a wonderful dinner at the Golfhotel Schloss Reinach. They were super sweet to us, they packed us several boxes of hor d'oevres that they had prepared but hadn't needed for another group. The students who forgot to sign up for the box lunch the next day were thankful.

For whatever reason, I don't have the opportunity to add pictures today but I will add them when I get the right controls back on the blog page. Tomorrow we do the "Route de Vin" (wine tasting) and visit Colmar and the Eisenheim Altarpiece by Matthais Grunewald.

Pictures from the Park

Here are a couple pictures from my walks in the park.

At first I thought I found a family of beavers but they are muskrats, I am not sure which creature is less glamorous but it was interesting nonetheless. The large one - maybe mommy - seemed to have a large flat tail like a beaver but the babies had "rat" tales. I am anxious to see the storks that are plentiful in the area in our upcoming travels.

I love this local flower, it reminds me of the Ladyslipper Orchids that I enjoy looking for in the mountains and those that are always available at Phipps Conservatory. If you look close, I caught a bee visiting one of the flowers.

Finally, the rivers and canals are everywhere here and it makes for wonderful reflection shots and I think I now will have a whole show ready to go when I get home of reflections from Strasbourg both of nature and the city. This one is not the best but it does show the leaves changing.

The Chateau hosts many groups, some are dignified leaders such as those who are members of the European Union, and other "less dignified persons" such as the rowdy group of German teenagers that are currently "sharing" the facilities. Petra, our French professor, who by the way is EXCELLENT!, taught me a phrase that will keep the cherubs quiet tonight if they are unlucky enough to wake me up again! They understand English, but this phrase is essentially "Quiet down" in German and it is not the politest version! European students have a lot more respect and decorum when addressing "Professors" and thus this should work quite well and they wouldn't dream of "giving me any lip..."

More after we get back from Basel : )

24/7 but still a lot of FUN!

Hello there folks,

This morning we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts which is lovely! Also in the building is the museum of Decorative arts and the Archeology museum. All three were a big hit!

I know a lot of people think that any trip like this is all fun and little to no work. I want to assure you all that this a 24/7 position and teaching is only part of it. Today we had a student who is allergic to seafood eat something that contained - you guessed it, seafood. So our French Culture & Civilization and French language Professor - Petra, facilitated the student and a Dr. visit to the Chateau, translating all the way. Alan and I, took the other 38 students to the Modern and Contemporary Museum of Art.

All is well and many of the students came back to the Chateau raving about the art in our local museums. Wednesday we go to the Vitra Museum in Basel, Switerland designed by Frank Gehry, and Saturday we have the "Route de Vin" where we will taste wine and top the day off with a visit Colmar to view the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthais Gruewald.
talk to you soon, after a very long day I am going to bed! : )

Concert D'Orgue Grand

• On my way up to my room I ran into a student and she said that I was "glowing!" I visited three museums today - and was admitted free everywhere because I am a "Professor" from the United States. They said ALL museums in Strasbourg are free for me at all times : ) WOW!


• and if that wasn't enough - I, of course, popped into the cathedral (since I was downtown) and saw a flyer for Concert D'Orgue Grand. For those of you who don't read ANY french - that means I attended a Concert in the Cathedral with a renown organist playing the BIGGEST, most ornate organ I have ever seen! They had a live video camera to show the complexity and multi-facetedness of his playing. Three keyboards, a full compliment of foot pedals, and rows of knobs on either side of him.


• He played 7 pieces united by the theme of "Fantasie", 2 were by BACH and finished the evening with Franz Liszt (I am teaching in the Franz Liszt room at the Chateau) at times the vibrations from the organ made it feel like the music was eminating from inside of me. Franz Liszt's piece was so complex and diverse I think that it used every note, knob, key, and what ever else organs have. To say that it was INCREDIBLE does not do it justice.


• The Engelberg group is here in the Chateau for a couple of days so we will get to meet our Culinary counterparts who are studying in Switzerland.


• More pictures and "interesting tidbits" soon!

More pictures of activities!

This is the famous BBQ and then Campfire, we have EXTREMELY talented students and they entertained us with guitars and songs around the fires.


When walking through the park you encounter some interesting sculpture including a section where the trees have ears!
Bonding day we had to do a variety of exercises to get to know names and other good information about our 40 new friends.
We played games and the students got to show off their creativity with a project to build a transportation device. Look out smart cars here we come!

This is my favorite - I didn't play on Sunday but I will be playing as soon as the opportunity arises - this is a human "foosball" court. I have no idea how to spell the name of the game but you all know what I mean : )

I got to go on a little walk today in the park and it is GORGEOUS - there will be MANY photos from the park. It is HUGE and I was only out for a couple hours today. I will be spending a lot of free time in the massive national park that surrounds the Chateau and surrounding area.

Our field trip to Struthof Concentration Camp & Haute Koenigsbourg Castle has been postponed until October 26th which should allow a little time for people to comprehend the magnitude of the history of the area before viewing its horrific past. The WWII History class started tonight and I have NEVER heard students more excited about a history class in my life! We are all happy to be here and anxious to be less "American-centric" in our perspective.

More later : )