Preparing for Home

In preparing to return to the States I realize that there

are just a few details we have not shared with you over

the last month or so. We ventured to Scotland and England

and now are riding out the last couple of days in Zurich revisiting

some of our favorite sites.

From Scotland: The Chimneys of Edinburgh

The Queen's Castle, Holyrood, in Edinburgh -- a summer residence

The seacoast town of Dunbar, Scotland, birthplace of

American conservationist John Muir

From England: The remains of a medieval fortress in York

The Castle in Newark, England, where King John

(of Magna Carta fame) died.

A statue honoring women's contributions

during World War II, Westminster, England

And, finally, from Zurich -- specifically the

woods beside the River Sihl -- comes

the photograph of grandson Luke and a tadpole.

I titled the photo: "Catch, Wonder, and Release"

Thank you for sharing our yearlong sojourn with us!

Thinking of Isak Dinesen

A Hiking Trail in Zurich last Saturday

Karen von Blixen, aka Isak Dinesen, wrote

Out of Africa after returning to her native Denmark.

There, far to the north of Africa, she fondly recalled

sun-filled days and the play of light on the savanna

landscape. Recently, Dinesen has been in my thoughts,

not because I am writing a grand memoir,

but because I am recalling sunlight in southern places....

* * *

In a spice market in Agadir, Morocco

* * *

At a botanical garden in the Canary Islands

* * *

In the Alhambra in southern Spain

* * *

And, again, back to this week in Zurich...

No Sightings of Bogart or Bergman

This is the Hassam II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Begun in 1986, it was finished in 1993. Six architects, five Moroccan and one French, designed the impressive structure built upon the sea according to an inspiration received by Hassam II in his study of the Koran. The granite came from Sweden and the marbles from Italy, Morocco and the Sahara. The tower is 200 meters (600 feet) high, and hydropower opens and closes a movable roof. Only the mosques at Mecca and Medina are larger.

20,000 workers labored 24 hours (three 8-hr. shifts) to create this mosque. Artisans numbered more than 4,000. All of the plaster- and cedar-work were hand-done; the doors are titanium and bronze; and natural dyes provide the color. 120,000 people can pray here at one time.

The baths in this mosque reflect a Turkish influence. There are three pools of different temperatures and one begins with the warmest.

In a downtown market you can find horsemeat,

Rabbit and ?,

 A vast array of olives,

Or produce.

The selection, while different from home, is varied and flavorful.

Bon appetit.

Barcelona

While Roger traveled to the States my friend Anne

visited me here. Together we went exploring. 

Our first stop: Barcelona.

This is architect Antoni Gaudi's 

Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), a church

he worked on from 1883 - 1926. Unfinished still,

construction is expected to be completed in 50 years.

Gaudi intended the Park Guell to be a housing project

but the 30-acre park reflects the architect's attention to

detail and his flights of fancy.

Mosaics adorn a bench that wraps around a terrace. 

Another of Gaudi's works is the

 Casa Batllo where the balconies

resemble skulls and, according to Rick Steve,

the "roof suggests a cresting dragon's back." 

Gaudi drew his inspiration from the legend

of St. George and the dragon.

Along the pedestrian thoroughfare in this city's

Old Town, the produce market offers produce,

an eggs-only booth (including emu eggs),

fish (you can touch an eel), nuts, dried fruits, and candy.

In the harbor Christopher Columbus points West.

Next: Think of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

Prague -- The Sixth Series

Once upon a time, Art-Deco Style was popular in Prague.

Every economist will love this mural and

mathematicians will appreciate the use of the Mobius strip.

I think it raises the question each national economy faces:

Guns or Butter? Any thoughts on this?

This image required a double-take. Fortunately it's a statue.

Dvorak hailed from Prague. Apparently before being a composer,

he was an artist. Here, beside the banks of the Vltava River,

old and new statues offer contrasting styles and subject matter.

Prague -- The Fifth Series

Imagine that you are the 16th century astronomer

Tycho Brahe and have fallen out of favor with the

powers-that-be in your native Denmark. Emperor Rudolf II

invites you to relocate your equipment, and yourself, to Prague

where he sets you up in his castle, the Belvedere. You take a 

new assistant, the young and promising Johannes Kepler,

who among his many accomplishments in astronomer is the discovery

that the planets travel in elliptical paths, not circular ones.

Emperor Rudolf often spent evenings with the

astronomers -- sometimes just sitting on the veranda of the castle

and discussing novas, planets, and orbital paths. 

Adjacent to the castle are the Royal Gardens

featuring plants from Italy, Spain, and Asia. 

In the plaza across from Prague's National Theatre

we came upon an exhibit featuring The Year of the Universe

2009. Photographs of earth, the planets, galaxies, and stars

greeted visitors and regaled the curious. Here is Roger

"standing" next to the Pleiades.

Poems accompanied the photographs. Here's one:

A school of frogs sat in the mud.

Their gaze fixed on the heavens.

Old teacher frog did all he could

To hammer home the lessons.

Prague -- The Fourth Series

This is the Metronome Sculpture that replaced a 

multi-ton granite statue of Stalin. Standing in front of

several workers, Stalin was described by the the locals, 

opposed to the repressive Communist regime, 

"as waiting in the front of the meat line."

 

This statue of Charles IV graces the eastern side 

of the Charles Bridge.  The Holy Roman Emperor is 

holding a contract that establishes the University of 

Prague. To quote Rick Steves: "This statue was erected 

in 1848 to celebrate the university's 500th birthday." 

The women around the base represent the four subjects 

taught at the university: law, medicine, the arts, and 

theology.

While the profile may remind one of Dr. Frankenstein's 

"creation," this is one of the Czech Republic's most 

acclaimed individuals. He is Frantisek Palacky 

(1798-1876), a Czech nationalist and historian. Among 

his many contributions, a comprehensive history 

of the country that took 46 years to complete.

The noted statue of a Gothic St. George atop a 

Renaissance horse. Exquisite, delicate, but surprisingly

small. The first time I went looking forward I walked 

past it.

Prague -- The Fifth Series will feature the photo of where 

the astronomer Kepler used to hang out when he visited

the king. 

Prague - The Third Series

Hourly the chimes of Prague's 15th century

astronomical clock draw crowds who watch

the skeleton swing his lantern in time with

the chimes as well as 

observe the Apostles marching around

inside those two small upper windows. The story is that the city rulers,

concerned that the clockmaker would make comparable clocks

for other cities in Europe, had him blinded (I will not elaborate).

The Vltava River is to Prague what the Willamette is to Portland.

The weather was bleak and cold. Please note the ice near the shore. 

We neither picnicked nor tarried.

The Charles Bridge is named for Charles IV,

14th century Holy Roman Emperor, who ruled his empire

from Prague. Among his numerous achievements is the chartering of Prague

University, the first university in Northern Europe.

Prague - The Second Series

In the Castle Quarter of Prague, St. Vitus Cathedral

is a testimony to perseverance. Begun in 1344, the church

was finished in 1929. It houses the relics and tombs of

saints and kings and features an astounding, and

astonishing, Art Nouveau window by Czech artist

Alfons Mucha.

A side door at St. Vitus's features Saints Peter and Paul.

This is the Church of St. Salvator where we attended an

evening concert. The weather was below 32-degrees F so

"heated seats" were part of the advertisement. Midway through

the concert Roger commented, "This is the first concert I've

attended where I could see my breath." Appropriately

the chamber ensemble played Vivaldi's "Winter."

According to the informal guidebook we had, titled

Prague, My Love, this spire at St. Katherine's is considered one of the most

beautiful Gothic spires in the Czech Republic.

Prague -- The Second Series

And now, Prague -- The Czech Republic

The mass transit system in Prague is exceptional. Here is Roger ascending one of the escalators in order to reach the street level. With all-day passes on all forms of public transportation, we could ride subways, trams, and buses to anyone of hundreds of sights in this city of 1.2 million people.

Established in the 1200s by the Order of Poor Clares, led by St. Francis, this 13th century monastery, now an art gallery, was our apartment's next-door-neighbor. 

Like Switzerland shoppers in the Czech Republic take bags to the grocery stores -- or buy them from the clerk. Here's one of our bags and one of the purchases is obvious.

To leave no room for doubt, the logo informs the consumer that the meat is "ground." At an exchange rate of approximately 20 crowns to the dollar, the meat cost us a little over $2.00.

A Contrast

From our bedroom 

this is the scene that provides a benediction to our day.

On this evening the large snowflakes 

soon covered street and churchyard.

On the other hand....

this somber stain glass illustration in

the St. Sebastian Chapel in Baden, Switzerland, 

serves to remind worshippers of how transitory this life is.

But....

in the Evangelical Reform Church in Bulach

this illustration of Bethlehem lifts one's spirits as

do the simple, but powerful, ornamented windows

featuring symbols of wheat, wine, fish, and crown.

"Theology often comes across as dull and abstract,

but the history of God has been passionate and intense."

Karen Armstrong, A History of God