My Sisters and I

[Charlotte]

While I think of something I never heard of to write about, a few words on my recent trip to the land of my birth.

Here is a picture of Schloss Reichertshausen, aka "Wasserschloss", it is surrounded by water, which I mentioned several times before because the Minnesänger Wolfram and Walther lodged there during their wanderings.

"O look, the gate is open, let's drive in", I said to my Sister, for I have been wanting to see what it looks like since my childhood. Being it is private property, she hesitated to appear unannounced, but I pleaded and she drove on. We got out of the car and looked about when a little dog ran toward us, barking and jumping while wagging his tale. Presently a youg man came around the corner to say hello. We asked him whom we might be speaking to, he replied he is the nephew of the owner.

Pleased to meet you, we said, and to pardon our intrusion, to which added that I used to walk by here many times in my childhood, curious to know what the castle looked like, who might live there and, being a dreamer, inventing an enchanted story, that later on I learned of Minnesäger's lodging there some 1000 years ago, and if there might be an archive to learn more. I didn't say all of this to the Gentleman. He explained that to his regret he didn't know about this and he knew of no archives.

I said no more, rather we talked about this and the other, thanked him for the friendly encounter and left.

The article is in German but has the only good photo of the castle I found.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Reichertshausen

[Charlotte]

My other Sister lives in Bamberg, so, of course, the three of us had to go to the Cathedral to see den "Bamberger Reiter", the mysterious Horseman of Bamberg.

The identity of the famous Rider is uncertain as is the medieval sculptor, but most investigators assume him to be the sainted King Stephen, first King of Hungary, c. 970-1038, a sculptor found at Hero Square in Budapest.

A German site states that the figure rides a white horse, however residues of a redish colour can be detected, that a white horse and a purple mantel adorned with gold and silver stars and symbols denote kingly attributes.

"Hannes Möhring of the University of Beyreuth, holds that the figure represents the Messiah according to Revelation (19:11-16)." The Rider's name being "Faithful and True" as he wages a rightious war, and the Bamberger Reider is unarmed. His hair was dark-brown to black, not as the Nazi liked to have it, blond. In the 19th century, King Ludwig I, grandfather of our beloved mad Ludwig II, ordered a "purification" of the entire Cathedral, and the sculptur was scrubbed clean.

"Beneath the front hooves is ine of the many representations of the Green Man. Kathleen Basford, in her study of these figures, calls the Green Man the "dark counterpart" of the horseman." Usually, the Green Man symbolizes rebirth in Nature and Man, Osiris comes to mind.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamberg_Horseman

[Charlotte]

We visited my Cousin H. in Dachau, a good stones throw north of Munich, to have lunch at the Dachau Castle. Dachau is best known for the Concentration Camp, now the Holocaust Museum, along which rather long stone wall we drove silently, hounded by our collective shame, on the way back to my hometown. We visited the site during my school years.

The Dachau Castle was the Summer Residence of the Wittelsbacher, now a Restaurant on which terrace, shown in the link, we had lunch in view of a spectacular panorama of the Alps. I wrote some on the House of Wittelsbach on the General Board, "Our History", p 2, which suggests that we were pretty good people before Hitler stigmatized our Name.

Besides a branch of the House of Wittelsbach being closely allied to the House of Stuart via marriage of Princess Elisabeth, daughter of James I to Frederick V, I like best the old "avenue" of lime trees.

"The Dachau Palace garden which spreads out on a terrace from the palace hall to the edge of the hilltop above the Amper River was originally a walled Renaissance garden of geometric flower and herb beds, but later replaced with a garden parterre is now a more casual English garden style and orchard, though a 280 year old pergola of Linden trees remains."

www.bargaintraveleurope.com/10/Germany_Dachau_Palace_Bavaria.htm

[Charlotte]

Though we went every Sunday, after my Sister M. and I washed the dishes, to the Fussball game, my interest in Fussball or any other sport is next to null, but watched part of the World Cup contest yesterday, was happy for Germany and felt sad with the Brazilians.



Hope we stay true to our Ideals

[Charlotte]

My Mother loved dragonflies

[Charlotte]

Hallo,

My sister I. surprised me with a visit for my birthday, how about that? So next week we'll be we traveling again.

Regards to everyone

Charlotte

[Charlotte]

Thank you, Don, for your good wishes and the beautiful cake.

My Sister and I visited Santa Catalina Island, saw a pod of dolphins on the way, had lunch, window shoped, strolled about the place, and were happy to be home again.

Love

Charlotte

[Charlotte]

On Tuesday, my Sister and I will travel along the coast to northern California.

Good Sunday to Don and Guests

[Don Barone]

Jul 11, 2014 9:00:39 GMT -5 Charlotte said:

While I think of something I never heard of to write about, a few words on my recent trip to the land of my birth.

Here is a picture of Schloss Reichertshausen, aka "Wasserschloss", it is surrounded by water, which I mentioned several times before because the Minnesänger Wolfram and Walther lodged there during their wanderings.

"O look, the gate is open, let's drive in", I said to my Sister, for I have been wanting to see what it looks like since my childhood. Being it is private property, she hesitated to appear unannounced, but I pleaded and she drove on. We got out of the car and looked about when a little dog ran toward us, barking and jumping while wagging his tale. Presently a youg man came around the corner to say hello. We asked him whom we might be speaking to, he replied he is the nephew of the owner.

Pleased to meet you, we said, and to pardon our intrusion, to which added that I used to walk by here many times in my childhood, curious to know what the castle looked like, who might live there and, being a dreamer, inventing an enchanted story, that later on I learned of Minnesäger's lodging there some 1000 years ago, and if there might be an archive to learn more. I didn't say all of this to the Gentleman. He explained that to his regret he didn't know about this and he knew of no archives.

I said no more, rather we talked about this and the other, thanked him for the friendly encounter and left.

The article is in German but has the only good photo of the castle I found.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Reichertshausen

A little late ... but oh well not sure how I missed this first time round ...

link to more images

Cheers

[Don Barone]

Oct 16, 2016 8:56:40 GMT -5 Charlotte said:

On Tuesday, my Sister and I will travel along the coast to northern California.

Good Sunday to Don and Guests

Hey Charlotte thanks for giving me a chance to take the drive along with you. What an awesome highway but I do hope you will be driving a little slower that that lunatic Freeway Jim. Anyway I enjoyed the video very much and watched the entire thing but Freeway Jim made me awful nervous at times ... Try to take some pictures along the way and post them.

Cheers and Happy Motoring !

[Charlotte]

Hi Don, and thank you so much for the additional pictures, basically my stomping grounds growing up.

"To tell you the truth", you know the old axiom , I haven't looked at the entire video, but we will drive carefully, my Sister can drive as well with a German licence. We'll be leaving in a few hours and return in a good week.

Greetings to you and Guests

Charlotte

[Charlotte]

We're back!

Began our tour via Santa Monica, Malibu on route 1, got lost in Oxnard, how does one get lost in Oxnard on a straight road? Was nice however, we found ourselves in agriculture country, asked how to get back to route 1 by the ocean, "what ocean" asked the gentleman, the next man didn't speak English and so on.

Finding our way back we stopped at Moro Bay which we didn't like, drove on and lodged in quaint little Cambria Town.



We forged on to Aptos, the San Ramon to visit with my Daughter and Family. Next day we drove up to beautiful Nappa Valley, picnicked and tasted wine. Though not a wine connoisseur, it tasted very good.



Drove back on I 5 and here we are at home again, thank God.

[Don Barone]

WELCOME HOME !

[Charlotte]

Thanks Don,

Lodging near the Nit Wit Ridge in Cambria, I'm attempting to regain my life's rhythm while my Sister is still sleeping.

nitwitridge.com/m.php?qrcode=4YA6B&qr4biz=1

Can't think of a better way than Poetry, for "there is wisdom too combined with the wit" Of Cervantes, whose "wonderful visions electrified Europe".

Translated by the erudite James Y. Gibson, one "has hardly breathing-space" even reading the preface.

Journey to Parnassus

Tranlateder's Preface

There is enough of native vitality in it to interest and
even to fascinate all readers of the right sort. Though
one of the children of Cervates' old age, produced
in his sixty-seventh year, it has a sprightliness and
vigour worthy of his prime. It is instinct with that
peculiar humour which sparkles in his Novels, and
overflows in his "Don Quixote," and which, though
at times it seems to run riot, is redeemed from the
charge of utter extravagance by its intensely human
heartiness. And there is wisdom too combined with
the wit; for as M. Guardia truly says: "The reader,
who would make this journey of Parnassus in
company with Cervantes, will find in him not only
an unequaled guide, who will not allow him to sleep
by the way, but also a critic of the grand school, of
rare sagacity, of exquisite taste, unrivalled in that
most difficult art the art of teaching truth with a
smile and of making wisdom lovable."

For the combined reigns of the Second and Third Philips'
during which Cervantes lived, form undoubtedly the Augustan age
of Spanish literature. It is adorned with a role of
names as brilliant as were ever concentrated in any
one age, in any country. There is Herrera, with his
sublime odes; Louis de Leon, with his heaven-inspired
lyrics; Gongora, with his clear, trenchant satires,
ringing romances, and new, turgig, superfine,
aesthetic jargon; Lope de Vega, with his eternal flow
of comedies, like the sands on the sea-shore innumerable;
Quevedo, with his wonderful visions that
electrified Europe, and his political satires that gave
him the fame of a Spanish Junius; lastly, there
is Calderon de la Barca, who, born in the middle of
this wonderful age, winds it up with his incomparable dramas,
which soar to the utmost height that
Spanish dramatic genius ever reached. If we
add to these some of the minor deities, the Argensolas,
Borjas, Villegas', Rebolledos, Riojas, Molinas,
De Castros, and Artiedas, we have an array of multifarious
talent such as the world has seldom seen in
such close conjunction.

In the midst of this brilliant conclave of poets
Cervants occupies a peculiar position. He has
affinity with each, but stands apart from all.


Such an array of talented Poets included Shakespeare, are deemed "Group Lives", elevating Humanity when the "time falls true". Currently, it is not yet, meantime we have all we need as recorded by enlightened and great Minds.

Methinks I wrote this before, all the better, and the door I had to close temporarely is opening again.

[Charlotte]

Took my Sister to the airport yesterday evening, 'twas so great spending time with her. Yesterday, she cleaned each leaf on the plants on my balcony with a paper towel while listening to Wagner for a while, but later her favorite was 'Going to California' even though she didn't understand all the words, she loved the melody and gentle voice. She took a 1000 pictures during our trips, we had a wonderful time and I miss her.



Sitting here, I'm dazed, all is so quiet without her. The good news is that we had rain and it's raining as I write, so the 'Rain Song' also comes to mind.



Thinking about how we spoke in German, how certain words and expressions I had long forgotten, surfaced from my memory, 'came to me' quietly, I can parallel this phenomenon with a long-term memory of things forgotten of a former life, which I usually call a 'soul-response' or a bell ringing. Why else would it ring upon something we were not aware of before? Even so the collective memory of Humanity. As Marie would say: "In each life-time we have to recollect and reaccept our mission."

In the Orthodox Church we have "The Three Kneeling Prayers", partly: "Cast us not away in the time of our old age; and our strenght diminishes, forsake us not,; and before we return to the earth, grant that we return onto You".

Back to learning some more about the Ararat Peoples.

[Charlotte]

We only ger basic information of what's happening in America, my Sister said and joked that America TV consists of advertisements with little programming in between, attempting to grasp the political scene left her baffled. What do I think? I think that Russel Wilson is a very good quarterback.

[Charlotte]

Been thinking of how to translate a joke my sister told me, if possible, perhaps a dud, laugh anyway

First I have to explain that in Germany, when you considered of not having all your marbles, or say something crazy such as I made reservations on the first flight to Mars, you are said to have a "Vogel", a bird fluttering in your head so you can't think straight.

A man went to the doctor and complained that he cannot hear.
The doctor put a worm in one ear who came out the other.
Hearing perfectly, the happy man told his friend with the same problem.
His friend went to the doctor who again put a worm in one ear and it came out the other.
A third man with the same problem overheard the two talking about this uncommon method and sought help.
Again, the doctor put a worm in his one ear but it didn't come out the other.
After waiting a few minutes, the doctor asked: "Hast du vieleicht einen Vogel der den wurm gefressen hat?"

O well!

[Charlotte]

Spoke with my Sister who just returned from skiing, driving home through the Alps, she said, was like passing through a wonderland no words can describe.

They have a new cable car up to the Zugspitze, here 2 gentlemen test if it works properly, huh..............

[Charlotte]

Had to watch a few more to see this enormous undertaking. Don't have a clue about the work, but I so proud to be Bavarian, smiled and thought: let the Prussians cringe, then read two comments: 'my home' and 'a new wise-crack to mock the Prussians, glorious'.

First they have to construct the towers of 420 tons of steel and 9.500 bolts. In total, 157 tons of cable are used.

Hanging in there, working while flying the white and blue Bavarian Flag up high.



The new destination

[Charlotte]

Not that it matters much to anyone, but it is springtime in Bavaria and my Sister's Birthday, so my favorite happy tune.

[Charlotte]

All good things come from Bavaria



Had to post this because I knew the Stanglmair's back in the day, looks like they're still doing it. Hops grown in this little place of ground called "die Hallertau" is fruity and floral, just like me. Have to taste it.

[Charlotte]

My Sister and her Husband are visiting Helgoland, a small island in the North Sea close to Germany. Years ago, my family and I went camping there, it was freezing and I mean freezing, the wind blowing 100 km an hour and my daughter stepped into a greasy frying pan on the floor. Adjacent to Schleswig Holstein, we lived in Hamburg for several years but never made it to Helgoland.

"During the period of British possession, the lyrics to "Deutschlandlied", which became the national anthem of Germany, were written on one of the islands by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben in 1841, while he was vacationing there.

"In addition to German, the local population, who are ethnic Frisians, speak the Heligolandic dialect of the North Frisian language called Halunder. Heligoland used to be calle Heyligeland, or "holy land", possibly due to the island's long association with the god Forseti."

Music to dem Deutschlandlied is the same as 'God save the Queen', probably meant for Queen Victoria as the Matriarch of European Royalty, but I don't yet know.



bilder3.n-tv.de/img/incoming/origs15376026/0892537018-w1280-h960/hiesinger.jpg

[Charlotte]

Some people walk to Helgoland when the tide is out.

Adviser to Charlemagne, Alcuin, English scholar, clegyman, poet and teacher, writes that St. Willebrord "visited the Island between Frisia and Denmark that was sacred to Forsite and was called Forsitesland after the god worshipped there".

Glitnir

"Glitnir (glit, nitor, splendor, OHG, kliz, E, shining) is the hall of Forseti, the Norse god of law and justice, and the seat of justice amongst gods and men. It is also noted to have been a place for dwelling for Balder, Forseti's father in Norse and Germanic mythologies. Glitnir is symbolic of the importance of discussion rather than violence as a means of resolution of conflict within the Norse tradition. It has a pillar of gold and is roofed with silver".

Law and Justice will make any Hall shine.

[Charlotte]

"There is also a late-medieval legend of the origins of written Frisian laws. Wishing to assemble written lowcodes for all his subject peoples, Charlemagne summoned twelve representatives of the Frisian people, the Asegas 'law-speakers'), and demanded they recite their peoples's laws. When they could not do so after several days, he let them choose between death, slavery, or being set adrift in a rudderless boat. They chose the last and prayed for help, whereupon a thirteenth man appeared, with a golden axe on his shoulder. He steered the boat to land with the axe, then drew it ashore; a spring appeared where it landed. He taught them laws and then disappeared. The stranger and the spring have traditionally been identified with Forsite and the sacred spring of Forsitesland.

"In 1826, Heligoland became a seaside spa and soon turned into a popular tourist resort for the European upper class. The island attracted artists and writers, especially from Germany and Austria who apparently enjoyed the comparatively liberal atmosphere, including Heinrich Heine and August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben. More vitally it was a refuge for revolutionaries of the 1830s and the 1848 German revolution."

The inspirational Island

"As related in the Leisure Hour, it was "a land where there are no bankers, no lawyers, and no crime; where all gratuities are strictly forbidden, the landladies are all honest and the boatsmen take no tips", while the English Illustrated Magazine provided a description (in) the most glowing terms: "no one should go there who cannot be content with the charms of brilliant light, of everchanging atmospheric effects, of a land free from the countless discomforts of a large and busy population, and of an air that tastes like draughts of life itself".

Not only were the lyrics von dem Deutschlandlied inspired in Helgoland, the music the same as "God save the Queen", Victoria, but looke here:

"Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1975) first formulated the equation underlaying his picture of quantum mechanics while on Heligoland in the 1920s. While a student of Arnold Sommerfeld at Munich in the early 1920s, Heisenberg first met the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. He and Bohr went for long hikes in the mountains and discussed the failure of existing theories to account for the new experimental results on the quantum structure of matter. Folloing these discussions, Heisenberg plunged into several months of intensive theoretical research, but with continual frustration. Finally, suffering from a severe attack of hey fever, he retreated to the treeless (and pollenless) island of Heligoland in the summer of 1925. There he conceived the basis of the quantum theory."

[Charlotte]

Hallo good People,

As might have imagined, it was more than being under the weather, alas. I will be with my daughter for a few weeks for 2 more tests and return with a report. Meantime all is good, and I agree with Hesiod:

"What is the mark of wisdom among men?"

Homer:

"To read aright the present, and march with the occacion!"

Love

Charlotte

[Charlotte]

Hallo from North California, great and good days ahead for all people.

It is beautiful up here.

Love

Charlotte