New Year's concert

The New Year’s concert of Vienna Philharmonic usually takes place at 1.Jan every year. Although the concert of this year was ended a few days ago, I can still remember the wonderful melody, as if I just heard it. It left endless aftertaste in the audiences. 

The first New Year’s concert in Vienna was held in the Sylvester night in 1847, which was conducted by the famous composer Johann Strauss, Sr. As the New Year’s bell rang, the orchestral played a piece by Josef Haydn as the best wishes for the coming year. And then they played a song by John Georg Scherzer, which supposed to become a folk song later. Next I can imagine that they began to play something really joyful, like waltzes, Polka, Gallops, etc. The concert turned completely into a dancing party. The audiences rose and danced in a happy mood, whirling around the dance floor. Some pieces were asked to give an encore and the party lasted until dawn… 

Yes, this concert, which was held 155 years ago, was the origin of the New Year’s concert of Vienna Philharmonic. Thanks to the scientific and technological progress and innovation since the 80s, people from the whole world can be able to enjoy the concert and share the happiness coming along with it. Most of the pieces performed in the New Year’s concert were composed by the Strauss family and they are usually very popular. And today he can still touch souls with a kind of music that seems to live forever. The concert is always wonderful, sunny, elegant, colorful, meaningful, influencing… 

It’s a kind of beauty, which shows the wonder of the nature through music.

It’s a kind of beauty, which shows a harmonious ensemble from the special style of every different instrument.

It’s a kind of beauty, which shows so many astounding, heart-shaking music pieces, from the notes to intervals, from the intervals to the whole, and at last makes an electric effect on the audiences.

It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the heart and the musical understanding of the conductor and every musician there.

It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the fantastic paintings of the Schönbrunn palace, an inspired world woven by light and beauty, seeming to come to life along with the music.

It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the melody, the dances, the ballet-dancers, the life, the philosophy and the culture. 

And the concert in 2012 was something really special. The conductor was Mariss Jansons, who also conducted the orchestral in 2006. The beginning was quite fresh. If you’re also a fan of the New Year’s concerts, you’ll surely discover that there were three new pieces — “Vaterländischer Marsch”, “Rathaus-Ball-Tänze” and “Entweder – oder!; Polka schnell”. It was quite funny to hear some familiar melody. “Vaterländischer Marsch” began with the enthusiastic melody like the “Radetzky-Marsch”. Then there followed some marches from different periods, just like the soldiers being inspected. In the “Rathaus-Ball-Tänze” there was also some similar melody as “an die schöne blaue Donau”. 

After the pause, “Copenhagen Steam Railway Gallop” was also something new. It made me somewhat think about the other two gallops written by the Strauss family. But it sounded different. At first the cello stroke a tender and soft note and made the atmosphere like parting… Then there came different sounds, bells, whistling, buzzer… But the composer made a complete journey by train with different instruments. If you hear it carefully, you’ll feel as if you would experience the  train, from the start, acceleration to moving ahead in full speed. The music turned faster and faster, which changed the color too, it just became brighter and brighter. The horizon seemed to be broadened chiefly, too. I’ve never heard that piece before but I think I really like it. 

Another thing I’d like to mention is the sleeping beauty suite from Tchaikovsky. I guess I never heard a piece by Tchaikovsky in a New Year’s concert. The two pieces from the suite suited the concert quite well. The Panorama sounded mellow and blur, the waltz was gorgeous… Maybe the best pieces from the suite. 

Victor Hugo said that the architecture is frozen music. (“Notre Dame de Paris”) In the New Year, the soul of the wonderful concert seemed to be frozen in the house of Musikverein and created really consummate artwork. 

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, and so was the concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.

The place I was standing was an old street from the old town square to the famous Charles Bridge. The long ancient road went cranking into the distance, with all kinds of small stores, bars, tiny restaurants, hotels… I said they were “tiny”, ‘cause they were really small, maybe only 5 or 6 quarter meters. But despite they were very small; you can find a variety of specialties in Prague, like marionettes (I also bought one), characters made of grass, hand-made cloth, glass decorations… And don’t look down at it; here may be the most popular place in the whole city. Yes, Dvořák, Kafka went through the road before, Kundera and Goethe too. Goethe said once, “Prague is the most beautiful city in the world.” I wouldn’t judge whether he was right, but at least now I enjoyed the landscape here, just as he did before. 

Prague looks somewhat like Rome, the whole city is distributed on 7 small hills. If you take a look from the palace on the hill or somewhere high enough, you’ll easily discover another specialty of Prague, namely most of the roofs have the same color — vermillion. This special kind of vermillion was made from garnets, looking placid, fresh and bright. And the walls often have a kind of yellow or white like ivory. In the period of Habsburg, well, maybe in the 17 century, vermillion was considered to be a gentle, honorable and noble color, so the royal family and the government encouraged the usage of the color among the masses. This made me think about the Chinese royal family. The emperors always liked the yellow color, so this color was not allowed to be used by any one else. Because of this reason, the yellow roofs and red walls become something special and can only be seen in the classical Chinese palaces. But Prague is different. The royal family and the ordinary people shared the same color. Now you can see houses in vermillion and yellow everywhere, with green trees and a conglomeration of churches of different sizes and styles among them. It’s unique here and may not be seen anywhere else in the world. It doesn’t only show a spirit of democracy, but also a magnificent form of opening up and modernization of the country. This kind of beauty of the city is different, not only because of its imposing, overwhelming architecture or painting-like landscape, but also because it came after the repeated deliberation by the history of thousands of years.

 Walk along the ancient roads in Prague, you’ll feel at ease. Every our footprint lies on the footprints of people in the past hundreds of years. A famous Chinese writer wrote in one of his books: “There was no road in the world at the beginning. After many people went by, it becomes a road.” Since the middle age, you’ll also find architecture in nearly every period, Romantic, Gothic, Barock, etc. It is said that Franz Kafka knew the story of every unknown house here. Some of the houses are also quite small, but with a nice courtyard and corridors in Roman style. At noon, if the weather is good, the sunshine flows though the trees down in the courtyard, making several tiny soft spots. So these are the so-called “spittoon of the sunshine” by Kafka. (“The Metamorphosis”) 

The people in Prague like drinking beer very much, just like the French love the wine. It is said that everyone in Prague would drink 150L beer a year in average. And the Prague citizens like music, just like the Vienna people do. I’ve heard that even in the period of the war, they used to go to the concerts. No wonder you’ll see flyers about classical concerts everywhere. And the black light theater there is also quite famous and is quite an entertainment if you just have a little spare time.

 Besides there’re some special places of interest that I’d like to show you:

 Prague castle

For a long time the Prague castle has always been the residence of the royal family, nowadays it’s an important place of the government and the president. The St. Vitus Cathedral is also there, containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and holy Roman emperors. It’s the most important Gothic church in the whole country. There you’ll see many wonderful paintings of Mucha, a famous Czech artist. But because of lack of time and a long queue around the church, I haven’t got a chance to get inside and take a look.

Prague castle

The Golden Lane

The golden lane is NOT made of gold. It was only a street for the alchemists who worked for the royal family before. The houses there are tiny and lovely, just like in a cartoon film. Besides there was a house where Kafka used to live. But you can come by and take a look at the golden lane but you’re not allowed to enter any more.

The Golden Lane

The Charles Bridge

The bridge was built in 1357 and one of the bridges with the most artistic value in the 14 century. You can buy many hand-made artworks, paintings or even portraits. There’re some statues on the bridge. Of course they’re only copies here, for the original ones were taken into the museums. Many tourists go there and touch them. It is said that if you touch them by heart, they’ll bring you the happiness and good luck for a life. So some of them look totally shiny.

The Charles Bridge

The astronomical clock

The clock mechanism itself is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures—notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. The clock was burned in the second world war but reconstructed in 1948 and 1979. The Prague citizens believe, if they wouldn’t fix it, it would bring disaster to the city.

The Astronomical Clock

I went to Prague twice last year and added a little bit to my souvenir collections: a marionette and a hand-made clown made of colorful glass. Every time I see them, I’ll remember the wonderful time I spent in this golden city.

Why is Paris so beautiful? In my opinion, it lies in the fantastic architecture, which combines the history with the art; it lies in many poets, writers, who melt their mind and feeling into their marvelous works; it lies in the fashion power, which leads you to a dazzling special world… The sunshine, the night, the dream and the idleness of Paris build a harmonious ensemble, which attracts many tourists every year. It is a city, which has all but exhausted the superlatives that can reasonably be applied to any city. 

Seine in the evening

The river Seine is an important waterway in Paris. It played an important role in the birth of Paris, Seine and Paris is a whole, just like the heart and its arteries. It’s like a belt, softly holding the city in its arms. The French used to say, there would be no France without Paris, but the Parisians say, there would be no Paris without the Seine. If you’re just walking through the city, please just take a little time, sitting by the Seine, enjoying the beautiful landscape around, you would feel that you were so close to the heart of Paris. (If you like, you can also take a round trip on the river.)

And there’re about 30 bridges across the river, many of them were rebuilt a few times, but their names remind people of the history in different epochs. The most beautiful one is Alexander III, decorated with flowers, angels and goddesses of the ocean. It was a symbol of the peace between France and Russia.

Seine

Notre Dame de Paris

At the Seine you’ll see the famous Notre Dame de Paris. Maybe you’ve already read the story by Victor Hugo about Esmeralda, Frollo, Pheobus and Quasimodo. Yes, it happened right here. It’s such a grand beauty and magnificent monument that it’s considered to be one of the world’s greatest cathedrals. The entire cathedral was first finished in 1351 but it suffered quite a lot of damages in the next 300 years. It is designed in gothic style and consists of three parts, the gallery of Kings, the great western rose and the dual towers. In the sunshine, the cathedral looks lustrous, serene, solemn, mysterious and peaceful. In front of it there’s a big square and it’s a world of artists, painting, making music or selling their works.

Notre Dame de Paris

Louvré

I’ve been to many museums in different countries, but the Louvré is really something special, so that I usually spent a whole day in it. That’s a master work at Seine, like a graceful noble lady, watching her admirers with the kind of Mona-Lisa smile. She is also a goddness of intelligence, bringing the artists inspiration; or maybe it’s even a school, from the dawn to the evening, welcoming thousands of students from everywhere. It’s hard to describe the museum in details because it’s too wonderful that men’s words can express. It’s also very huge, so that because of my poor direction feeling I always got lost in it…

Louvré

Musée de l’Armée

On the way from Notre Dame de Paris to the museum of Rodin you’ll come across the museum of the army. It was built in 1670 and used to be a hospital for army in the period of Louis XIV. Here you’ll find the grave of the famous hero — Napoleon.

Versailles

People usually say, if you don’t visit Versailles, then you can’t say you’ve been in Paris.Versailles is one of the most luxurious palaces I’ve ever seen and absolutely a shooting star in France. It’s an incredible example of classical French gardens and baroque architecture. Outside the whole palace is surrounded by splendid gardens, adorned with statues and fountains and inside the rooms are all covered with complex ornaments, gold and jewels. To show off his wealth, King Louis XIV hired many great architects to build the palace. It becomes then a symbol to embody majesty and power of the French monarchy. The most wonderful highlight in the palace should be in my opinion the hall of mirrors. The great hall was an exception and designed in Rococo style. There’re 483 mirrors in total, which reflect the wonderful paintings and the sunshine from the garden. Then I understood why King Louis XIV was called the King of the sun… It suited his taste very well. :-) It makes me somewhat think of the French opera “Le roi danse”.

Here you can also see the bedroom of Marie Antoinette. I can remember the film “Marie Antoinette” I watched a few years ago. She came to Paris to marry King Louis XVI. In her short life she was always an innocent girl who didn’t care about any other but only herself, which lead to her tragedy at the end.

Mirrors hall in Versailles

Fontainebleau

That’s also an important palace I’d like to mention. Although it’s not as beautiful as Versailles, it’s famous for its beautiful landscape. The palace was used as a hunting place for the Kings. The interior design is a fine example of Renaissance. By the way, if you have a little time, don’t forget to go to Barbizon near the Fontainebleau forest. It was the origin of the famous École de Barbizon in 19 century. There’s still a small bar, where some great painters used to visit.

Fontainebleau

Of course Paris has still other places of interest, e.g. Eiffel tower, Triumphal Arch, the museum of Rodin, Cézanne, The Orsay museum, etc. Well informed, eloquent and oh-so-romantic, Paris is truly a philosopher, a poet, a crooner. Suddenly I thought about an essay by Ernest Miller Hemingway: “if you’re lucky enough, so that you’ve been in Paris as you’re young, then Paris will follow you forever, because it’s like a flowing dinner.”

In the western countries, Santa Claus is a beautiful legend and symbolizes the hope, dream and love. Every year he brings the kids the presents to spread this spirit. I think everyone will experience three parts of his life — at first, to believe in Santa, then not believe in Santa and at last to become a Santa himself. Does Santa really exist? It’s a question many kids may ask their parents. I still can remember the famous editorial published in 1897,America. It was a reply to a child, whose friends didn’t believe in Santa. The newspaper editor said, it was wrong, Santa did “exist” and he would never die. 

Actually Santa is at the beginning not a fiction character. He carried the kindness from people’s hearts and spread it around. Especially nowadays he’s more a job than a character from the tales. In some countries there are still organizations of Santa Claus. The people there are busy replying to children’s letters from different cities and getting Christmas well prepared. It’s an occupation to be admired. The “Santas” are popular everywhere and bring happiness to the children but I’m just thinking about the part-time “Santas”. Actually very few of us can ever say “I’m totally and 100% satisfied with my job.” Sometimes you earn well with a job but it’s quite boring. Sometimes a job may let you feel your existence and personal value but you don’t get enough money to afford a living. Sometimes a job seems a great challenge but the lasting overtime and never-ending study may make you very tired.   

If you don’t feel happy in your job, or your work isn’t recognized, or even you feel boring, let’s see how those Santas do. Beyond their own occupation they choose it as the second job. The moment that they’re wearing a red hat, glued with white beard and sending the gifts, they’re happy. We can ask ourselves, what about me? What about my dreams? Learning a musical instrument? — No time; traveling around the world? — No enough money; Doing something good to the environment — just let it delay… It’s too normal, so normal that you are too tired to dream and you don’t want your childhood dreams to torture yourself any more… 

I read an essay before. A man was CEO of an international company and earned very well. Some day he suddenly couldn’t find the meaning of his life, so he took a vacation for half a year and left the city he used to live in and traveled to a very poor place. He taught the children there and changed their lives. In the moment he deeply felt the true worth of his life. Yes, our job is only a job, if it can’t give us all we want, it’s very normal, but why can’t we search for what we desire in our spare time? 

Another example from another book: a young man worked as an officer in a government, but he liked making music very much. After he got to understand the difficulty as a music producer, he gave up his original idea of the resignation and went to a pub instead to play as a keyboardist after work or in his vacation. If you really like something, even you can’t make money from it, it doesn’t matter at all. The most important thing is, it makes you happy and that’s all. 

Some people say, if a dream meets the reality, there’s nothing we can do. Actually I think it’s not true. A dream would never exist without the reality base. If you have a dream, do you think about it, how can you get closer to your dream? A dream doesn’t change the reality; it comes true from the reality. At the very beginning, a dream is a baby, little and weak, but it lies in your own hand whether you want it grow up.  

If you see “Santa Claus” next time, can you imagine that he doesn’t only spread the hope, the love, but also a wish that a true “Christmas present” is to be competed for? Today is Christmas, despite the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Rush, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. So what is your “Christmas present” for yourself?

Picture from the film

Maybe this film is supposed to be the best I’ve seen recently. Many special effects came into use but it just made the audiences feel very real.

Humans are the conquers of the planet, so they can take any animal to make their experiments. But it finally caused the punishment from the nature. The female chimpanzee, which took the medicine was very smart. But there was still mistrust between her and the scientists. She was killed at last although she just wanted to protect her baby. The little chimpanzee baby was very cute and Will adopted him and took after him. But as Caesar (the chimpanzee) grew up, the neighbors began to fear with him. He was forced to be sent to an animal sanctuary. The most moving scene was that Caesar drew a window on the wall of the sanctuary.  You can deeply feel how strong his willing was to go home again. But after he cleared his drawing later, he was already totally disappointed with the humans, so the war began.

Caesar was always a chimpanzee with a kind and brave heart. He didn’t mean to hurt anyone even though he had to escape or to fight, because he only wanted to go home. In the film the chimpanzees performance were really amazing and real. Especially Caesar’s facial expressions and gesture were just incredible and it surely took the heart of every audience away. He was a revolutionist that was just awakened.

The war between humans and chimpanzees was tremendous. It was misunderstanding again. People took the guns, the helicopters, chasing after the chimpanzees. During the fight the friendship among the chimpanzees was also very moving. Their intelligence caught up with the human but there was still something emotional in it. Finally the chimpanzees arrived at the forest, their home. Caesar refused Will’s protection because he was home, his real home. He stood at the top of the highest tree, watching his beautiful new world…

The film was made with many visual effects but much more than it, it questioned people’s heart. Only a film, which shows the real emotion is a good film, otherwise it may draw large audiences and earn a nice box office but it’s not valuable at all and will soon be forgotten.

Pamukkale

I guess it’s the most beautiful highlight in Turkey, which attracts a large number of tourists from different countries every year. Pamukkale has a wonderful legend, which comes from the Greek mythology. The handsome Aeolian shepherd Endymion fell in love with the Titan goddess of moon Selene. He was thinking about a date with her all the time so that he totally forgot to milk his goats. The milk flew over the mountain, which made the mountain pure white, white as cotton.

Edymion and Selene (Victor Florence Pollet 1811-1882)

In Pamukkale, you can see water comes from all kinds of mineral springs flowing here. The water is very clear and contains calcium which precipitates forming mountains. As time went by, it made ditches in the ground. You have to take your shoes off to enter the mountain. There are unbelievably white rocks everywhere, walking on them makes your feet a little bit uncomfortable, but just think; you just get a free foot massage. Hundreds of pools are gathered here with different temperature. The ones above are warmer than at the foot of the mountain, perhaps because the warm water flow loses its temperature while flowing down.

Besides the calcium warm pools there’s something you shouldn’t miss, namely the legendry pool of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. It’s not very big, but nicely decorated with isles, ancient Greek columns and exotic palm trees. It is said that a woman, who once swims in Cleopatra’s pool, would get ten years younger, because its mineral water was as helpful for the skin and looked as donkey milk which the famous queen used to swim in. The entrance fee was 25 TL each (about 11€).

The ancient pool (From kusadasitravel.info)

If you have time, walking around Hierapolis is also a nice experience. It was an ancient Greco-Roman city located on the top of the hot springs. In the past, the Greek and Roman nobles discovered Pamukkale and were totally impressed by its beauty and natural warm water. Year by year many spa locations, libraries, gymnasiums, etc were built. Unfortunately the city was destroyed by an earthquake and abandoned in the 14. Century. But through the main street, the old theater, the Domitian gate, the temple of Apollo, you will still deeply feel the prosperity and flourish in the past time.

Hierapolis main street

Bringing the art and culture from Greek, Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman Istanbul is as stunningly wonderful as it is unique.  It’s popular and attractive for thousands of tourists from the whole world. With its both historical and religious sites, a wide range of architecture, museums, galleries and music, its creative spirit and energy is just palpable.

Istanbul is also a city surrounded by the water, so a trip along the Golden Horn and Bosphorus is really a good chance to help you get a wonderful overview. There are many famous places of interest for you to discover:

The Hagia Sophia:

Maybe the Hagia Sophia is one of the most important Byzantine architectures. It used to be a Christian church until in 1453 Constantinople (the old name of Istanbul) was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II, who reordered the church and converted into a mosque. It’s really a great pity that the ornaments, beautiful mosaic pictures were destroyed. Nowadays it’s a museum. There’s something I’d like to mention here — “the crying column” or “the sweating column”. It reminds me somewhat of the mouth of truth in Rome. It is believed that if you insert your thumb in the hole on the column a little bit damp inside and make a complete circle, your wish will turn into reality.

The blue mosque

I guess the blue mosque is the unique mosque with 6 minarets. (As you may know, a usual mosque has only max. 4 minarets.)  It’s huge and its design shows a nice combination of an Ottoman mosque and Byzantine church. All the ladies have to wear headscarves if they want to enter it. The interior of the mosque is fabulous and incredibly harmonic. More than 20000 handmade Iznik blue ceramic tiles with hundreds of drop lights show you a dreamy fantastic world.

 (inside the mosque)

Topkapı Palace and Dolmabahçe Palace

Both of the palaces were residence of several Sultans. They look very extravagant and luxurious, just like most of the European palaces.  I’ve never been to an Islamic country before so I really found the design some kind of different. Sparkling jewels were from every corner. Only the Lavish costumes looked a little bit funny, because they were very big and almost without difficult decorations.
But overall it’s not allowed to make any video or photos inside.

The topkapi Palace

Dolmabahce Palace

Basilica Cistern

The whole cistern is now under water, looking dark and mysterious because of the columns with atmospheric lighting. The water was clear with many fishes. Some of them were quite fat.  But don’t miss the two columns in the corner supported by blocks carved into Medusa heads. 

Above all the places of interest for tourists you have to make yourself enter the city’s tumultuous life, the small shops in the Egyptian Bazaar and the street markets around Yeni Camii. (Camii = Mosque in Turkish). Here you can also buy typical Turkish ice-cream. The way the ice-cream was made was just like a performance, which was very impressive for me. At the river bank, loudspeakers blared traditional Turkish songs. Small boats floated on the water, where fish sandwiches were sold for 4 TL. They were cheap, but quite delicious.

By the way, if you visit the city region Boyoglu, just go into a café shop and order a cup of Turkish tea. Often the Oracle there would read according to your tea rest your future. Interesting, isn’t it?

Bazaar with typical Turkish blue eyes (Luck bringer)

We’ve only stayed in Istanbul for three days. It was a short time but the city will remain in my memory forever. Suddenly I remembered what the French traveler Petrus Gyllius wrote before: “It seems to me that while other cities are mortal, this one will endure as long as there are men on Earth.”

Poetry and Painting sublime and purify thought, by grasping the past, the present, and the future… They give the human mind a foretaste of its immortality and prepare it for performing an exalted part amid the realities of life. But our nature is full of the same quickening spirit too, from which the poets and painters get inspirations to create wondrous works.  So that might be the first thought that we decided to have some kind of different vacation as common cultural trip and reveal the veil of the beauty of Mother Nature.

(Left: The Alp lake; Right: The swan lake)

I’ve never been to Allgäu before, the very southern part of Germany. Well, although I work in the same region, I still got a feeling as if a bird would just fly out of the cage as I travelled there.  There are only small towns full of small houses in typical Allgäu-Swabian and Franconian-Style. We took the train to Füssen, a small historical town at quite a high altitude above the sea level. Here if you take a view far away, you can see a series of high mountain peaks, some still covered with snow and some hiding in the fog, with their shadow in the idyllic lakes. The Alp Lake and Swan Lake there may be the clearest in the region. They are shallow, blue and so clean that you can easily look through the water to the base. If you’re lucky enough, you may see some wild ducks, swans… It totally meets the vision you gained from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake. But above all they remain to add charm and picturesqueness to the world famous royal castles – Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein – the former summer residence of the Bavaria King Maximillian I and his son Ludwig II.

Different historical epochs meet here in a harmonious ensemble, whose unique flair is an invitation to go on journeys of discovery into the past. We were lucky to find an English guide; with her we went through the old corridors and luxury suites and took a deep glance at the life of the royal family. Hohenschwangau is the parent house of the fairy tale king Ludwig II. It remained ruins for almost 300 years before King Maximillian I discovered it by accident on one of his excursions. It was rebuilt according to the painter and designer Domenico Quaglio, maybe after Wagner’s well-known swan knight story (Lohengrin).

But what I really find fantastic is the Neuschwanstein Castle. It’s truly a fine mixture of medieval glorification and Wagner’s operas, filled with romantic murals depicting German fairy tales, sagas and the omnipresent swan images. Art is in the eye of every beholder. I’ve visited many palaces and castles in different countries but this one is the most special one with the creakiest drawbridges, the most precipitous walls, the most soaring turrets and the gloomiest gables and so on.

No wonder it’s a fairy tale castle. Besides a large amount of swan decorations the room design is marvelous. Although the King’s ministers considered him to be mad, I really didn’t think so. He had a great fantasy and broad knowledge. Every single room tells a story. After the long gorgeous Romanesque corridor you’ll reach the throne hall at first. It reminded me of the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It is rare to see a room of a German castle designed in such an elaborate ancient Byzantine style.  It’s the grail hall of Parsifal. The big painting of 12 Apostles are positioned in the middle, one of them is the French King Ludwig with the same name as the Bavarian King.  The throne platform is approached with white marble stairs but the throne itself was never made.

Opposite to it was the King’s bedroom. It was in neo-Gothic style and decorated with the paintings about the love story of Tristan and Isolde and the bed was made with an incredible carving consisted from the top of all the Bavarian churches. Our guide told us it took ten years to finish this room. It was a pity that the poor King has stayed here only a few days before he was taken away. To be honest, I didn’t quite like such a luxury. The carvings are amazing but as there isn’t any window I did feel a little too pressurized there.

The dining room was in a similar style but with the scenes from the paintings from Wartburg. The only one I’d like to mention is the sculpture in the middle, Siegfried fighting the dragon. I think it was a present from a French King too and it made me somewhat think about “the ring of nebelung”.

The living room was my favorite and it was all about the story of Lohengrin – Le Chevalier au Cygne. You can see the arrival of Lohengrin with a swan, the miracle of the grail, etc. You can deeply feel how adorable the young King found Lohengrin so that he just imagined himself to be him. But both of them had a tragedy. Lohengrin ended with eternal loneliness and the King never got married and was found dead near a lake after everything he had was taken away…

At last you’ll find yourself in the singer’s hall. Besides Parsifal with the sacred cup you’ll meet another hero, namely Tannhäuser. Many paintings in the room illustrate the life of this master singer, from his guilty to the final forgiveness of the god. Every year in September a concert will be held here.

OK actually I wonna write an essay about the landscape. Before I realized it I wrote so much about the castles…  But they were really wonderful and it was totally an unforgettable excursion.

P.S. It was not allowed to take photos in the castles, or I would like to show them to you all. You can surely find many photos of the rooms in Wikipedia or with google.

C’est une chanson extrêmement belle et bougeante avec la délicatesse exceptionnelle, en remplissant l’accompagnement du triplé roulant arpreggios pour symboliser l’eau. Le texte était à l’origine un poème de Paul Bourget. La douce mélodie de Debussy était juste parfaitement calme qu’elle a clairement exprimé les sentiments du poème.  Je crois même que tu ne comprends pas la langue, tu comprends encore la chanson. Cette pièce est écrite en mi majeur, mais est contredite par le relatif mineur de la dominante sol mineur à la fin. La fin est très émotionnelle et accentue le sentiment tant de ‘la joie dans être vivant’ que ‘le cœur troublé’.  Il laisse beaucoup de place pour un artiste pour exprimer ce qu’il pense. Les lignes de piano vont avec cela très bien aussi et ils aident le fait de réaccentuer l’image d’eau -car nous décéder de même que l’eau part.

Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses
Et qu’un tiède frisson court sur les champs de blé,
Un conseil d’être heureux semble sortir des choses
Et monter vers le coeur troublé.

Un conseil de goûter le charme d’être au monde
Cependant qu’on est jeune et que le soir est beau,
Car nous nous en allons, comme s’en va cette onde:
Elle à la mer, nous au tombeau.

Après le fait d’entendre la chanson pour la première fois j’ai peint une peinture. Ce n’était pas bon du tout mais je crois que je le téléverse juste pour vous montrer. Ainsi ne riez pas s’il te plaît …

Today I joined a concert and played Bach’s concerto in a chamber music hall. It was a nice hall decorated in a Baroque style, well, that suited the piece quite well.  The
first movement begins with a fugue in tutti and introduces the theme with the first voice. It’s the key in D minor at first. People usually say that minor scales imply melancholic tunes but Bach used it really in a serious, majestic and humanistic way. After four intervals there’s another solo voice, replying with the same melody, but somewhat higher, well, in A minor. In the whole movement you can hear the two voices chasing after each other, taking the leading part alternately.  The second movement is lovely, graceful and peaceful and it returns in the F major. It has a style quite similar to siciliana, in a slow 12/8 time with lilting rhythms making it somewhat like the whispering between lovers. The last movement makes the dramatic high tide. It’s in a canon style in D minor and reminds me of the composition work by Vivaldi. The musical communication is totally fascinating. After the dramatic flush of sixteenth notes it ends with a simple and conventional way.

Well, I can only say, a master piece. No wonder many people say that Bach’s
music has reached such a high level that none of the musicians in his time has
ever achieved.

But it’s a pity that I didn’t do a good job. I was so nervous that I think I made some minor mistakes. Sometimes in a high speed I didn’t play the appregios very clearly. I suppose I have to work harder to get better…