Category Travel
More Signs of Spring
Walking through the vineyards yesterday and came across these trees in bloom. I should know what they are (crab-apple perhaps?) but my brain seems to be turning to mush these days. I hear it is still unseasonably cold in Canada. I’d feel guilty about enjoying the German sunshine if I was the sort of person […]
Buyukada Orphanage
I was reading a news report about the possible re-opening of Halki Seminary in Istanbul, which was shuttered by the Turkish government almost 40 years ago, leaving Turkey’s Orthodox church without a seminary to train its priests, when I remembered this post I did four years ago about another Orthodox institution on a neighboring island. […]
Freiburg Farmers’ Market
If you ever plan to visit Freiburg, Germany, please let me know in advance. I promise not to be there. It is not that I don’t like your company. Or the city. However, as far as Freiburg is concerned, I seem to be a rain magnet. If I stay away your visit will be much […]
More Visions of Fastnacht
I could hear the noise coming from the main street, which is only a block away, but I avoided it completely. Mind you, I broke some rules to do so. It was raining all Sunday morning, and the weather app on my phone said it would continue throughout the afternoon. That made a trip to […]
Visions of Fastnacht
Today is the annual Fastnacht parade in Sulzburg. I won’t be watching. Whether I am even in town will depend on the weather forecast. My thought had been to avoid the festivities completely and take the train to Freiburg after church. There’s nothing open in Freiburg on Sundays, but I can at least wander through […]
Fastnacht Begins
When you appropriate the symbols of evil, do you have power over them, or are you unwittingly giving them power over you? I was asking myself that as I watched a group of people in animal costumes and witches’ hats taking public transit in Freiburg. They were jumping the gun on Fastnacht, a pagan festival […]
Temple of the Shoe Goddess
When I was in university, one of my classmates had a party that established her reputation for the rest of the year. In the hallway of her apartment, on display for all to see, were her shoes. Forty-five pairs of them. It was only a few months after Imelda Marcos, wife of the Philippine president, […]
Forty Degrees of Separation
I turned on Ottawa radio yesterday (online of course), looking for Canadian news. What struck me most though was the weather. In Ottawa it is still winter. Morning temperature was minus 21 Celsius – and that isn’t taking the wind chill into account. It felt a lot colder than that to those leaving for their […]
Kaysersberg Castle – II
To followup on yesterday’s post, a series of pictures taken of the ruins of this 13th century castle in Alsace.
Kaysersberg Castle – I
I suppose you could look up how many castles there are in Europe. My guess is several thousand, with most of those in ruins, good only as tourist attractions. What is it that draws us to castles? Or is it just me? I grew up on the legends of King Arthur, the courage of the […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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