#Roland out of Vienna

[sachermorte]

You, thinking: Should I move to Niederösterreich? NÖ

NÖÖÖÖÖ REPEATING

I honestly think I would live a deprived miserable life even five minutes outside the Stadtgrenze. I would cry. They'd have to put me on life support. No matter how miserable the MA35 is, I'm staying here.

Also they'll have me arrested for having a gender out there 😔

[germanpostwarmodern]

Born into a dynasty of artisans and artists Carl Auböck III was predestined to follow in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps: before studying architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna he apprenticed with his father Carl Auböck II to learn the family trade and took over his father’s workshop after the latter’s death in 1957. But in contrast to his father Carl Auböck soon developed an interest in the industrial dimensions of design and architecture, a concern triggered during his postgraduate studies at the MIT in 1952. In the decades following Auböck held numerous positions in international design institutions and was continuously involved in discourses surrounding prefabrication in architecture and the collaboration between industry and designers. Especially the latter liaison and the self-placement as an industrial designer occupied Auböck throughout his entire career while prefab architecture after a successful first collaboration with Roland Rainer faded out: until his death in 1993 Auböck designed a broad range of industrial objects ranging from wine bottles over cutlery to entire furniture programs. 

This rich life work has for the first time been discussed in „Carl Auböck Architekt (1924-1993): Design for Modern Living“, edited by Marion Kuzmany and published by Anton Pustet in 2008. It brings together numerous authors and essays and offers an insightful yet diverting overview of Auböck’s eclectic work that one anecdote formidably characterizes: while planning a house for the head of a metal ware company Auböck in passing developed a safety binding for skis that was then produced by his client. This talent to situational recognize problems, transfer them to a given need and solve them probably is the most striking characteristic of the architect/designer. As the book shows for him there were no boundaries between design and architecture since both challenged his design capabilities and this constant multitasking runs like a thread through this highly readable book.  

[pyrriax]

Puts down my c!Outsiders song suggestions (+playlists) (for the ones i've watched because i haven't watched every POV and i like to make playlist while i watch the POV and think of good songs):

c!Owen: Mars - Sleeping At Last Ceremonies - Roland Faunte In Dreams - Sierra Ferrell

c!Apo: Ramblings of a Lunatic - Bears in Trees Keverston Smithingway - Blue Foster Stray Italian Greyhound - Vienna Tang

(no playlist) c!Red: A Drink To Death - That Handsome Devil

c!Krow: Fading Kitten Syndrome - Roar Maggot - Slutever Hollfron - Mythrodak

(edit: changed link titles to the song titles thank you user mazeowen for pointing that out i posted this from my drafts and forgot to do that)

[stateofsport211]

📸 France TV Sport

After announcing the rest of this season (until Vienna) will be his last tournaments of his playing career, former World No. 3 and eleventh seed Dominic Thiem started his last dance in Roland Garros by facing Franco Agamenone in the first qualifying round. Knowing both players, there could be a possibility of the former being overpowered by the latter, but the necessary adjustments might have been the reason of this match's outcome.

After holding his serves to 1-0, F. Agamenone started his return game aggressively through his forehand pass, which set up his one-point lead before Thiem's double fault generated the former's earlier break point before it was converted to 2-0. A successful drop shot secured his consolidation to 3-0, and Thiem put his name on the board by holding his serves to 3-1.

Subsequently, Thiem continued through his backhand pass in response to F. Agamenone's drop shot to start the next point, where he had 2 break points, with the recent one being his final smash in an out-smashing contest. The eleventh seed then converted it to 3-2 thanks to a volley lob only to be broken back due to an unforced error to 4-2. F. Agamenone then followed this up by holding his serves to 5-2.

It took two more games before F. Agamenone had an opportunity to serve for the second set at 5-3. After the Italian's unforced error, Thiem fired a backhand pass to set himself 2 points ahead, but F. Agamenone found himself overcoming the said deficit to finally take the first set 6-3, putting himself one set ahead on what could potentially be an on-paper upset.

[explicus]

Lee Miller first entered the world of photography in New York as a model to the great photographers of the day such as Edward Steichen, Hoynngen-Huene, and Arnold Genthe.

In 1929, Miller went to Paris and worked with the well known Surrealist artist and photographer Man RAY, and succeeded in establishing her own studio. She became known as a portraitist and fashion photographer, but her most enduring body of work is that of her Surrealist images.

In 1932, Miller returned to New York, and again set up her own studio which ran for two years and was highly successful. It closed when she married a wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz Elou Bey  and went to live with him in Cairo, Egypt. She became fascinated by long range desert travel and photographed desert villages and ruins.

In 1937, during a visit to Paris, she met Roland Penrose, the Surrealist artist who was to become her second husband, and travelled with him to Greece and Romania.

In 1939, she left Egypt for London shortly before World War II broke out. She moved in with Roland Penrose, and defying orders from the US Embassy to return to America, she took a job as a freelance photographer at Vogue.

In 1944, Miller became a correspondent accredited to the US Army, and teamed up with TIME LIFE photographer David E. Scherman. She followed the US troops overseas on D Day + 20.

Lee Miller was probably the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the front line war in Europe and among her many exploits she witnessed the siege of St. Malo, the Liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, the Russian/American link up at Torgau, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau.

She billeted in both Hitler and Eva Brauns houses in Munich, and photographed Hitlers house Wachenfeld at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germanys surrender. Penetrating deep into Eastern Europe, she covered harrowing scenes of children dying in Vienna, peasant life in post war Hungary and finally the execution of Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy.

After the war, Miller continued to contribute to Vogue for more years, covering fashion and celebrities. In 1947, she married Sir Roland Penrose and contributed to his biographies of Picasso, Miro, Man Ray and Tapies. Some of her portraits of famous artists like Picasso are the most powerful portraits of the individuals ever produced, but it is mainly for the witty Surrealist images which permeate all her work that she is best remembered.

Antony Penrose, born on September 9th, 1947, is Lee Miller's son with Roland Penrose.

Lee Miller died at Farleys House in 1977.

War photographer Lee Miller standing with soldiers during the liberation of Rennes, France, in 1944.

Photograph: David E Scherman/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

[21secondsofchristoph]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPH!

The ARTE documentary aired yesterday in honor of Christoph's birthday and I translated the interview parts for everyone who doesn't speak German. I added the time stamps so you guys can match the translations to the documentary.

Robert Dornhelm  2:10

I've known Christoph for nearly half a century, that's no exaggeration. I've known him right when he finished the Reinhardt Seminar and Christoph hasn't changed at all, it's almost creepy. He has his clear convictions of what is right and what is wrong, while maintaining a sense of humor, which might be viewed as no sense of humor by people who have very exact world views. But he has a very good and dry sense of humor, which I very much appreciate

Robert Dornhelm 5:45

He is a man in the public eye and when it's about promoting his films or giving interviews he does it very well. But he does it for the project, as for himself, he prefers to stay anonymous and in the shadows.

Roland Geyer 6:35

[Talking about Fidelio and its villains]

My initial thought was he tell the story via its villains. But in our conversations, I discovered he was more interested in the love story of the 2 people and I liked that approach just as well.

Roland Geyer 7:20

He told me very clearly that he didn't want to take the spotlight he wanted the focus to be on the story and the work.

Reinhard Schwabenitzky 9:55

Christoph was still attending the Reinhardt Seminar when we filmed Der Einstand.  The problem was that the students weren't allowed to film anything while they were attending. But after seeing the audition tapes, Christoph was the best by far. So I asked him to take the role and he risked getting kicked out of school. Christoph was brilliant, especially in the little nuances. And he really showed what he had to offer.

Erni Mangold 15:38

He has always been a young gentleman, always dressed well in a suit and tie. I can't remember him ever wearing jeans but he was always orderly and very intelligent.

Erni Mangold 18:00

He was never loud or cheeky, he never rebelled, he was always someone who paid attention and listened, always a very precise boy.

Robert Dornhelm 18:35

Christoph guards his true self and he's wearing a mask. Why? That's his secret and it's his to reveal, although I doubt he ever will.  But I believe it's a mixture of not making himself too important and simple shyness.  But he has no reason to be shy. Why should he be shy as an actor who's always on stage? Maybe he's merely self critical, he thinks "who am I to make myself that important?"

Reinhard Schwabenitzky 20:40

He had a bit of an attitude for a brief time. While I was filming with him in Berlin, we were shooting 2 seasons, he went to Strasberg in New York in between filming. And when he came back he was different and it didn't do him any good. I even stopped talking to him after that because it became too complicated. And he probably behaved similarly around others. Then he had his big TV break with the role of Roy Black.

Peter Keglevic 23:30

I think his biggest strength is not announcing anything special and not always doing something special, or talking about how difficult and complicated it is to play his roles and how hard they are to prepare for.  He does none of those things. He more or less arrives on set, completely unwatched, and suddenly, the character is there. He effortlessly fabricates it and that's what makes working with him so comfortable.

Andreas Mailath-Pokorny 26:50

[Talking about Christoph's musicality and his stepfather, composer Alexander Steinbrecher. When Christoph visited the city library in Vienna, he studied the scores of his stepfather.]

To my surprise, something none of us had anticipated happened: He really immersed himself into it, not just the score of his stepfather but also into other valuable scores we have here, like 'Die Feldermaus' and other originals. And he let the staff explain everything to him far beyond the agreed upon time slot while listening curiously. It was a joy for us to see someone who is world famous and such a great talent as an actor to be moved and interested by what we told him. I gave him a copy of the score [holds it into the camera]  and he was very happy to accept it.

Elisabeth Urbancic-Waltz  28:55

He strictly separates the private from the professional and I'd say that's a good thing.

Reinhard Schwabenitzky 33:20

I'd argue that real comedy is always rooted in tragedy. You have to feel the tragedy to make it comical by overplaying the tragedy.

[ Talking about King Schultz, a character who is American through and through. Christoph had to put aside his German roots without abandoning them completely.]

Reinhard Schwabenitzky 38:30

When an actor has it in him, it's especially great. He embodied it well and I thought he was brilliant in Inglourious Basterds. I don't know anybody who could have played it like him.

Diane Kruger 39:10

Quentin wanted German actors for German roles, meaning he wanted to feel the German essence. The costumes, the makeup...it's all very German.

Robert Dornhelm  41:50

Basically, it's almost impossible to choose your roles, you are chosen for them. I don't believe it was his dream to play a Bond villain. It's clearly something where he knows it's going to be seen by the whole world, it's funny and it's paid very well.

[hotfuss]

hii dany 18, 30, 40, 56, and 57 (blue) <33

hi castaigne 👋

18 - A song or album from the 90s:

the first spice girls album lol

30 - Songs you love to sing along to:

i sing along to everything tbh, currently i love to sing along to planetary go and sing (man, those bridges are chef kiss) and choke on one another (putting all of my acting in that "bright eyes, heard you wanna try some death i have a knife with your motherfucking name on it" line

40 - Which was the best concert you’ve ever been to?

why are you asking me to pick my favorite child???

my fave concert is tk in rome in 2009: my first concert ever with 2 uni friends and the full line up was white lies, franz ferdinand and tk!

my fave concert is tk in villa franca di verona in 2012: my first concert alone, plagued by a fussy gps (no phone with internet lol) and rain but i heard their cover of romeo and juliet and heard miss atomic bomb before the album was out

my fave concert is tk in rome in 2013 with my concert bestie: we met on this anime/manga website and bonded over our similar taste in manga and the fact we were in the same place twice before knowing each other, at a comic event in lucca a couple of years prior and that tk concert in 2009. when a dustland fairytale played at some point we just looked at each other and hugged tightly

my fave concert is tk in rome in 2018 with my concert bestie: brandon was so smiley the whole time it was contagious and he was on fire and i made history with my sign telling bb was good enough

my fave concert is tk in milan in 2018: i befriended a stranger who tweeted about me the day before just not to be alone lol and we had a great time and i was in second row for the first time of my life (and brandon's hip swivel in front of my face just changed me as a person), and we sang him happy birthday multiple times and when i popped out my sign to play river live he must have remembered me from the day before and actually took it into consideration for half a minute, chatting with the bassist about it

my fave concert is tk in helsinki in 2018: we were in the nosebleeds but damn it was still amazing and i managed to witness them play i can't stay were everyone sang a line at one point, epic!

my fave concert is tk in belfast in 2019: after one of the worst days of my life with the mess with my flight i was blessed to see brandon in a brand new blue jacket and he fucking played this river is wild (also the first time of the cowboy hat shenanigans but we don't talk about that lol)

my fave concert is tk in dublin in 2022 (double date): experiencing the stunning visuals for this tour for the first time and hearing running towards a place and cody live

my fave concert is tk in milan in 2022 with my concert bestie: brandon ignored my sign to play my god live but they played this river is wild, the song we both died to hear together, we screamed like crazy and held hands the whole time

my fave concert is tears for fears in newcastle in 2022: absolutely amazing concert, roland's voice only got better with time it was incredible and i felt my soul ascend listening to everybody wants to rule the world live

my fave concert is tk in vienna in 2022: with lots of sleep deprivation i managed to squeeze a 4th tk date bc i physically NEEDED to see them again live and while they didn't exactly play my fave songs i was stoked to see they included a couple of deep cuts that spiced up the setlist!! (also either tff or tk got me covid but it was worth it lol)

my fave concert is placebo in milan in 2022: absolutely blown away by how good brian sounds live and i almost cried at hearing beautiful james and happy birthday in the sky live and hearing my faves sad white raggae and try better next time back to back and all their hits (especially the bitter end <3) and i can brag i heard shout live twice both from them and tff in the same year eheheh

you get all of my children, sorry not sorry

56 - A song/album/artist you wish you could forget so you could have the experience of hearing it for the first time again:

i'd love to listen to day and age and fall in love at first sight again

57 - [Send me a color and I’ll tell you the first song it reminded me of.] with blue

read my mind is the color of the iconic blue tie brandon had during st era

tyson vs douglas is a very similar shade

out of my mind is a darker blue

english summer rain is another light blue song

the ultimate music asks

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Emotionally, I need  to be completely absorbed in some work or in a man I  love.

- Lee Miller

Lee Miller first entered the world of photography in New York as a model to the great photographers of the day such as Edward Steichen, Hoynngen-Huene, and Arnold Genthe.

In 1929 she went to Paris and worked with the well known Surrealist artist and photographer Man RAY, and succeeded in establishing her own studio. She became known as a portraitist and fashion photographer, but her most enduring body of work is that of her Surrealist images. She returned to New York in 1932, and again set up her own studio which ran for 2 years and was highly successful. It closed when she married a wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz Elou Bey  and went to live with him in Cairo, Egypt. She became fascinated by long range desert travel and photographed desert villages and ruins. During a visit to Paris in 1937 she met Roland Penrose, the Surrealist artist who was to become her second husband, and travelled with him to Greece and Romania. In 1939 she left Egypt for London shortly before World War II broke out. She moved in with Roland PENROSE and defying orders from the US Embassy to return to America she took a job as a freelance photographer on Vogue.

In 1944 she became a correspondent accredited to the US Army, and teamed up with Time Life photographer David E. Scherman. She followed the US troops overseas on D Day + 20. She was probably the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the front line war in Europe and among her many exploits she witnessed the siege of St Malo, the Liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, the Russian/American link up at Torgau, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau. She billeted in both Hitler and Eva Brauns houses in Munich, and photographed Hitlers house Wachenfeld at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germanys surrender. Penetrating deep into Eastern Europe, she covered harrowing scenes of children dying in Vienna, peasant life in post war Hungary and finally the execution of Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy.

After the war she continued to contribute to Vogue for a further 2 years, covering fashion and celebrities. In 1947 she married Roland Penrose and contributed to his biographies of Picasso, Miro, Man Ray and Tapies. Some of her portraits of famous artists like Picasso are the most powerful portraits of the individuals ever produced, but it is mainly for the witty Surrealist images which permeate all her work that she is best remembered.

Lee Miller died at Farleys in 1977.

[petitmimosa]

This always happens to me I swear I'm a walking empath looking for disaster ALL.THE.TIME. Been a Rafa fan since twenty bloody five so 2022 was a dream and Jannik caught my eye at MC and I was too euphoric about Rafa to realize I was starting to slip yet there I was on a crappy stream while he was saving 11 match or break points on court 7 at roland garros because I'm a masochist.

AO 2024 is my pride and joy. Also Vienna 2023? Madness. I hope he figures out a way to stay on and maintain his level during 5 whole sets. The day he does, he's gonna destroy them a.l.l.

I need not to get attached to Sinner because I know how it feels to get depressed whenever your favourite loses and I DO NOT WANT TO LIVE THE NEXT 10 YEARS LIKE THAT

[sachermorte]

so the thing about english is that people think it's so divorced from other germanic languages based on like. words. I've even heard people try to insist that english is a romance language. because of that whole messy business in 1066 with out-of-wedlock willy and his band of naughty normans. and now a good chunk of the vocabulary is french or whatever and they're prestigious so not using them makes you sound like a rube and this and that and the other

and yes william the conqueror will never be safe from me. I will have my revenge on him. he fucked up a perfectly good germanic language is what he did. this will be me in hell

but the thing is that most words in, say, german do have a one to one english equivalent. not all hope is lost, for those who still dare to see it. it's just that you 1066pilled normancels aren't looking in the right place

dog (en) ≠ der Hund (de) but der Hund (de) -> hound (en)

look with your special eyes. that one was easier. not all of them are this intuitive because of semantic narrowing and broadening and waltzing and hokey-pokeying and whatever else. I'll give you a few more

animal (en) ≠ das Tier (de)

aha! you think. I've got him on the ropes now.

but then

das Tier (de) -> deer (en)

nooooo!! you whine and cry in gay baby jail. the consonants are different!!! listen to me. listen, I say, putting both my hands on your shoulder. /t/and /d/ are the same sound. you just put your voice behind one of them.

nooooooooo!! you wail. deer are animals but not all animals are deer!!! listen to me. LISTEN. they used to be. animals used to be deer. that's just what we called them. it was a long time ago. it was a weird time in all our lives. it's okay.

let's try for a verb this time

to die (en) ≠ sterben (de) but sterben (de) -> to starve

same principle with the consonants, we're just changing a stop (where we completely stop the airflow and then let it through) for a fricative (where we still let some air go through. idk where it's going. maybe to its job or something.)

to starve used to mean generally to die, not just to die of malnourishment. we do that a lot. we take one word for a lot of things and make it mean one thing. or take one word for one thing and make it mean a lot of things. this is common and normal.

"okay but roland," you say, suddenly coming up with an argument. "what about tree? trees are super common. I don't think we'd fuck around too much with that. the german word is baum! what about THAT?"

"when did you learn german?" I ask, but then decide it isn't relevant right at this very moment. but fine.

tree (en) ≠ der Baum (de) but der Baum (de) -> beam (en)

beam??? you ask incredulously. beam???? BEAM?????? you continue with the same tone and cadence of captain holt from brooklyn 99.

yes. beam. like the evil beams from my eye I'm going to hit you with if you don't stop shouting.

but the vowels!!! you howl.

listen. listen to me. the vowels mean nothing. absolutely nothing. they're fluid like water. it got raised in english.

"WHAT DOES RAISED MEAN"

it doesn't matter right now. they were raised better than you, at least. stop shouting. open your eyes and see what god has given you. they're the same word.

"they're NOT the same word. they mean different things!"

we've been over this. they didn't used to. a beam was (and is) a long solid piece of wood. much like the long solid piece of wood I showed your mother last night.

FAQ:

Q: could english be some kind of germanic-romance hybrid?

A: do you become a sexy thing from the black lagoon just because you dressed up as one for halloween? english may have gotten a lot of vocabulary from norman french, but its history and syntax are distinctly germanic. that's what we base these things on.

Q: okay but what does it matter? this doesn't actually affect my day to day life

A: you come into my house? you come into my house, the house of an autistic man living in vienna austria and studying english linguistics and you ask me what does it matter? sit back down. I was going to let you go but now I have powerpoints to show you

Q: you're stupid and wrong and gay and a bad person

A: I know it's you, Willy

[loadingserve453]

Munich Opera

Guests can enjoy drinks in the bright conservatory. Lehel Metro Station is just 650 ft from the Hotel Opera. Trains run to Munich Central Station in 5 minutes. Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall is a 10-minute walk away. Altstadt - Lehel is a great choice for travelers interested in Opera. Sightseeing in Munich. The “Bavarian State Opera” you can say that this is one of the world's leading opera houses who can look back on more than 350 years of opera and ballet history. With an amount that reaches around 600,000 guests, who visit more than 450 events a year. Within one season, over 40.

Munich Opera Festival 2021

Roland Schimmelpfennig

Peter Sloterdijk

Cached

Munich Opera 2022

Munich is perhaps the most attractive of Germany’s cities, and has always been a major centre for opera. The Nationaltheater is at the moment enjoying a reputation as one of the finest houses in Europe: ‘La Scala may be grander…, Vienna more stately, the Metropolitan more prestigious… but for all-round excellence in pretty well every department, Munich’s Nationaltheater has the edge, both in matters of creature comforts and sheer dedication to the art’.

Opera apart, Munich is widely considered to be the most agreeable city in Germany in which to live, and rivals Berlin for wealth of art and historic architecture. Munich is everyone’s favourite German city. The seat of the Wittelsbachs, who ruled Bavaria from 1255 until 1918 as Counts, Dukes, Electors and, from 1806, as Kings, Munich was a city which grew up around a court, not one spawned by trade or industry. Consequently, artistically and architecturally it is still one of the best-endowed centres in Europe.

Day 1

London to Munich. Fly at c. 12.45pm from London Heathrow to Munich. Tour the city by coach to see much of the best of Munich’s historic architecture: Neo-Classical Königsplatz, historicist Ludwigstrasse, Jugendstil houses and the modern Gasteig Arts Centre. The first of four nights in Munich.

Day 2

After the daily talk, set out on a walking tour which culminates in a visit to the Alte Pinakothek, one of the world’s greatest Old Master galleries. The afternoon is free, though a visit to the Residenz with its exquisite Rococo Theatre by Cuvillies is recommended. Early evening performance at the Nationaltheater: Tannhäuser (Wagner) with Simone Young (conductor), Romeo Castellucci (director), Georg Zeppenfeld (Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia), Klaus Florian Vogt (Tannhäuser), Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram von Eschenbach), Dean Power (Walther von der Vogelweide), Peter Lobert (Biterolf), Ulrich Reß (Heinrich der Schreiber), Martin Snell (Reinmar von Zweter), Lise Davidsen (Princess Elisabeth), Daniela Sindram (Venus), Sarah Gilford (A Young Shepherd)

Day 3

Drive out to Nymphenburg, summer retreat of the ruling Wittelsbachs. Set in an extensive park, there is a spreading Baroque palace and several delightful garden pavilions, the apogee of Rococo. Free time in the afternoon, opportunity to visit more of Munich’s many outstanding art collections. Evening performance at the Nationaltheater: Turandot (Puccini) with Jader Bignamini (conductor), Carlus Padrissa (director), Anna Netrebko (Princess Turandot), Ulrich Reß (The Emperor Altoum Timur), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Timur, the deposed King of Tartary), Yusif Eyvazov (The Unknown Prince, Calaf), Golda Schultz (Liù), Boris Prýgl (Ping), Kevin Conners (Pang), Andres Agudelo (Pong), Bálint Szabó (A Mandarin), Andres Agudelo (The Prince of Persia).

Day 4

Morning walk to see more of the city’s treasures, including the vast Gothic cathedral and the Asamkirche, a Baroque masterpiece. Free time in the afternoon. Early evening performance at the Nationaltheater: Tristan and Isolde (Wagner) with Kirill Petrenko (conductor), Krzysztof Warlikowski (director), Jonas Kaufmann (Tristan), Mika Kares (King Marke), Anja Harteros (Isolde), Wolfgang Koch (Kurwenal), Sean Michael Plumb (Melot), Okka von der Damerau (Brangäne), Dean Power (A shepherd), Christian Rieger (A steersman), Manuel Günther (A young sailor).

Day 5

Munich to London. Fly from Munich to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 1.45pm.

Patrick Bade

Historian, writer and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld and was senior lecturer at Christies Education for many years. He has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century painting and on historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.

Price, per person

Two sharing: £3,290 or £3,070 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,630 or £3,410 without flights.

Included

Air travel (Euro Traveller) with British Airways; accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 2 dinners and 1 lunch with wine; private coach for the excursions and transfers; admissions; tips for waiters, drivers and guides; all state and airport taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

Music

Tickets (top category) for 3 operas are included.

Accommodation

Platzl Hotel München: 4-star hotel located in the heart of the old city, a 5-minute walk from the opera house. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.

How strenuous?

The tour involves a lot of walking and standing in museums and churches and should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 11 miles.

Munich Opera Festival 2021

Group size

Between 10 and 22 participants.

Travel advice

Roland Schimmelpfennig

Before booking, please refer to theFCDO websiteto ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.

Peter Sloterdijk

'It promised to be a very fine tour and it lavishly fulfilled its promise.'

'The four operas were all very different with performers of the highest calibre – indeed, quite outstanding. The productions were in our opinion very thought provoking and innovative; we were greatly impressed.'

'Outstanding performers give outstanding performances. Your selection leaves nothing to be desired. To see both Kaufmann and DiDonato live in one week. Magic!'

Dates & prices

Cached

from £3,290

Book this tour

Munich Opera 2022

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[mysticalhearth]

Take Me Out - Broadway - March 26, 2003 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Daniel Sunjata (Darren Lemming), Neal Huff (Kippy Sunderstorm), Denis O'Hare (Mason Marzac), Frederick Weller (Shane Mungitt), Kevin T Carroll (Davey Battle), David Eigenberg (Toddy Koovitz) NOTES: Digital; excellent picture and sound, nice closeups Tanz der Vampire - Vienna - October 4, 1997 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Steve Barton (Graf von Krolock), Cornelia Zenz (Sarah Chagal), Aris Sas (Alfred), Gernot Kranner (Professor Abronsius), Eva Maria Marold (Magda), James Sbano (Yone Chagal), Anne Welte (Rebecca Chagal), Nik Breidenbach (Herbert von Krolock), Torsten Flach (Koukol) NOTES: There are English subtitles available for this video in .sub/idx format. Tarzan - Broadway - March 30, 2006 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Shuler Hensley (Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Filmed during previews, the show is a little dark at times, but a great Dvd. Crystal clear picture and sound. A Tarzan - Broadway - July 30, 2006 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Jenn Gambatese (Jane Porter), Merle Dandridge (Kala), Horace V Rogers (u/s Kerchak), Chester Gregory (Terk), Tim Jerome (Professor Porter), Donne Keshawarz (Mr. Clayton), Daniel Manche (Young Tarzan), Nick Sanchez (u/s Snipes) NOTES: Nice filming, not as dark as other Tarzan Dvd. A Tarzan - Oberhausen - November 21, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Anton Zetterholm (Tarzan), Tessa Sunniva van Tol (Jane Porter), Isabel Trinkaus (Kala), Andreas Lichtenberger (Kerchak), Matt Farci (Terk), Japheth Myers (Professor Porter), Rudi Reschke (Mr. Clayton), Simeon Pauls (Young Tarzan) NOTES: HD capture with great sound and no obstructions. The cast is amazing and the changes in the show, compared to Hamburg and Stuttgart, are suitable and refreshing. Tarzan - Scheveningen - June 23, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Ron Link (Tarzan), Chantal Janzen (Jane Porter), Chaira Borderslee (Kala), Jeroen Phaff (Kerchak) NOTES: No zoom due to directorstape, but soundboard Sound, also some footage from after the show (cleaning etc) Tarzan - Stuttgart - August 21, 2015 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Gian Marco Schiaretti (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Massimiliano Pironti (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Matthis Lernhardt (Young Tarzan) NOTES: Willemijn and Massimiliano's first show. Tarzan - Stuttgart - October 3, 2015 FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: John Vooijs (Tarzan), Merle Hoch (Jane Porter), Willemijn Verkaik (Kala), Jan Ammann (Kerchak), Alessio Impedovo (Terk), Maik Lohse (Professor Porter), Léon Roeven (Mr. Clayton), Miguel Strasser (Young Tarzan) Theory of Relativity - Workshop - April 13, 2013 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Josh Blackstock, Joanna Fraser, Curtis Brown, Jade Repeta, Jenny Weisz, Adrian Zeyl, Dana Jean Phoenix, Carter Easler, Trevor Patt, Beth Robertson, Andrew Perry, Charles Douglas, Natasha Kozak, Katie Kerr, Josh LeClair, Emma Pedersen  

They're Playing Our Song - Los Angeles - October 2, 2010 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Jason Alexander (Vernon Gersch), Stephanie J Block (Sonia Walsk) Thoroughly Modern Millie - Broadway - April 13, 2002 (Preview) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Sutton Foster (Millie Dillmount), Gavin Creel (Jimmy Smith), Marc Kudisch (Mr. Trevor Graydon), Harriet Harris (Mrs. Meers), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Muzzy Van Hossmere), Angela Christian (Miss Dorothy Brown), Ken Leung (Ching Ho), Francis Jue (Bun Foo), Anne L Nathan (Miss Flannery) NOTES: Shot from the second row with lots of close-ups. Very clear and steady video with very good sound. The Three Musketeers (Raby, Leigh, Stiles) - North Shore Music Theatre - August 20, 2007 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Aaron Tveit (D'Artagnan), Allison Blackwell (Landlady of the Inn), Anne Tolpegin (Dona Estefania), Heather Koren (Queen Anne), Holly Davis (Cecile), Jeff Edgerton (Bonacieux), Jimmy Smagula (Porthos), John Schiappa (Athos), Kevyn Morrow (Aramis), Kingsley Leggs (Treville), Mark Aldrich (King Louis), Matt Stokes (Cardinal Richelieu), Mick Bleyer (Rochefort), Nick Dalton (Duke of Buckingham), Steven Booth (Planchet), Kate Baldwin (Milady) NOTES: No audience, proshot from the dress rehearsal. Nicely filmed from the North Shore Music Theatre. tick, tick... BOOM! - Korea - 2002 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Joey McIntyre (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Natascia Diaz (Susan) NOTES: Features 20 minute Joey McIntyre concert after the show tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - May 31, 2001 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Off-Broadway - September 18, 2001 FORMAT:  MKV (HD) CAST: Raúl Esparza (Jon), Jerry Dixon (Michael), Amy Spanger (Susan) tick, tick... BOOM! - Workshop/Concert - November 25, 1991 (Highlights) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD)  CAST: Jonathan Larson (Jon) NOTES: 4 songs. The original Tick Tick Boom before it was adapted into a 3 person show. Tina - The Tina Turner Musical - West End - September, 2019 (hitmewithyourbethshot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Aisha Jawando (alt Tina Turner), Ashley Zhangazha (Ike Turner), Angela Marie Hurst (u/s Zelma Bullock), Edward Bourne (Erwin Bach), Oscar Batterham (Roger Davies), Irene Myrtle Forrester (Gran Georgeanna), Jammy Kasongo (Richard Bullock/Raymond Hill), Cameron Bernard Jones (Craig Hill) Titanic - Australia - November 30, 2006 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (SD) CAST: Hayden Tee (Thomas Andrews), Nick Tate (Captain E. J. Smith), Brendan Higgins (J. Bruce Ismay), Alexander Lewis (Frederick Barrett), Matthew Willis (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Goddard (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Ana Marina (Caroline Neville), Katrina Retallick (Alice Bean), Robert Gard (Isidor Strauss), Joan Carden (Ida Strauss), Belinda Wollaston (Kate McGowen), Cameron Mannix (Bandmaster Wallace Hartley) NOTES: Single camera proshot with soundboard audio. Sometimes listed as 2005, but the production ran from October - December 2006. Titanic - Bad Hersfeld, Germany - August, 2017 (Rumpel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: David Arnsperger (Thomas Andrews), Alen Hodzovic (Captain E. J. Smith), Veronika Hörmann (Alice Bean), Stefan Grego Schmitz (Edgar Bean), Gabriela Ryffel (Kate McGowen), Anja Backus (Kate Murphy), Christine Rothacker (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - 1997 (Highlights) (Press Reel's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Martin Moran (Harold Bride, Radioman), David Elder (Frederick Fleet), Don Stephenson (Charles Clarke), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Victoria Clark (Alice Bean), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Theresa McCarthy (Kate Murphy), Erin Hill (Kate Mullins) Titanic - Broadway - November 12, 1997 FORMAT:  MKV (HD) CAST: Michael Cerveris (Thomas Andrews), John Cunningham (Captain E. J. Smith), David Garrison (J. Bruce Ismay), Brian d'Arcy James (Frederick Barrett), Judy Blazer (Caroline Neville), Bill Buell (Edgar Bean), Larry Keith (Isidor Strauss), Jody Gelb (Eleanor Widener) NOTES: Camcorder video, mostly wide shot with a few zooms. The only known video of this production. Titanic - First National Tour - September 2, 2000 FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Kevin Gray (Thomas Andrews), William Parry (Captain E. J. Smith), Adam Heller (J. Bruce Ismay), Marcus Chait (Frederick Barrett), Dale Sandish (Harold Bride, Radioman), Timothy J Alex (Frederick Fleet), Christianne Tisdale (Caroline Neville), Liz McConahay (Alice Bean), David Beditz (Edgar Bean), S Marc Jordan (Isidor Strauss), Taina Elg (Ida Strauss), Richard Roland (Jim Farrell), Melissa Bell Chait (Kate McGowen), Kate Suber (Kate Murphy), Jodi Jinks (Kate Mullins), Raymond Sage (3rd Officer Herbert J. Pitman) Titanic - Redondo Beach - March 20, 2001 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Richard Kline (Captain Smith), Eve Cohen (Kate McGowen), Wendi Bergamini (Kate Murphy), Moriah Angeline (Kate Mullins), John Bisom (Jim Farrell), Tracy Perry (Lightoller), Mark Capri (Mr Ismay), Jamie Snyder (Pittman), Elizabeth Loyacano (Caroline Neville), Tony Adelman (Thomas Andrews), Lois Bourgon (Ida Strauss), Bob Lauder Jr. (Isidor Strauss), Kevin Earley (Stoker Frederic Barrett), Richard Israel (Harold Bride), Paul Greene (Charles Clarke), Gibby Brand (Henry Etches),Danny Michaels (Murdoch), Kent Melwig (Frederick Fleet), Douglas Carfrae (Mr Astor), Jill Simonian (Madeleine Astor) Titanic - The Netherlands - 2001 FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Tony Neef (Thomas Andrews), Bert Simhoffer (Captain E. J. Smith), Hugo Haenen (J. Bruce Ismay), Danny de Munk (Frederick Barrett), Dick Cohen (Harold Bride, Radioman), Jon van Eerd (Henry Etches, 1st Class Steward), Annick Boer (Alice Bean), Céline Purcell (Kate McGowen) Titanic - West Palm Beach - February, 2019 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Christopher Pappas (Thomas Andrews), Colton McDonald (Captain E. J. Smith), Kyler O’Brien (J. Bruce Ismay), Chris Santiago (Harold Bride, Radioman), Olivia Henley (Alice Bean), Finnigan Anthony (Edgar Bean), Alli Graves (Kate McGowen), Jonathan Allen (1st Officer William Murdoch), Ethan Spell (2nd Officer Charles Lightoller) NOTES: running time 2'23; complete multicam proshot of West Palm Beach's King's Academy 2019 production. [title of show] - Broadway - July 5, 2008 (Preview) FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (SD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) [title of show] - Broadway - July 6, 2008 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Heidi Blickenstaff (Heidi), Hunter Bell (Hunter), Jeff Bowen (Jeff), Larry Pressgrove (Larry), Susan Blackwell (Susan) NOTES: Cute little show about making it to Broadway. Heidi was my favorite part of the show. There were some very funny parts to the show, especially if you are a theater buff. There are about 10 mins of total blackouts, which is mostly a chunk in within the first 13 minutes. Depsite that, a nice capture and the audience was very into the show. A- To Kill a Mockingbird - Broadway - July, 2019 (Hollis Mizner's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Scout), Will Pullen (Jem), Manoel Felciano (Horace Gilmer), LaTonya Richardson Jackson (Calpurnia), Aubie Merrylees (u/s Dill), Dakin Matthews (Judge Taylor), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Tom Robinson), Frederick Weller (Bob Ewell), Danny Wolohan (Boo Radley), Erin Wilhelmi (Mayella), Neal Huff (Link Deas), Liv Roth (Miss Stephanie), Phyllis Somerville (Ms. Dubose) NOTES: Very shaky video, never really settles down. Filmed nearly entirely through close-ups, which means a fair bit of the action is missed. Tootsie - Broadway - December, 2019 (theaterfan64's master) FORMAT:  MOV (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Britney Coleman NOTES: Full stage shot of the show during it’s run on Broadway. There is washout, as it’s a full stage shot, but it is very very watchable. About 8 minutes is missing right before the Act 1 finale. Tootsie - Pre-Broadway / Chicago - September 11, 2018 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Santino Fontana (Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels), Lilli Cooper (Julie Nichols), Andy Grotelueschen (Jeff Slater), Sarah Stiles (Sandy Lester), John Behlmann (Max Van Horn), Julie Halston (Rita Marshall), Reg Rogers (Ron Carlisle), Michael McGrath (Stan Fields), Anthony Wayne, Britney Coleman, Diana Vaden, Drew King, Harris Milgrim, James Moye, Jeff Kready, John Arthur Greene, Katerina Papacostas, Leslie Donna Flesner, Paula Leggett Chase, Shina Ann Morris NOTES: Excellent HD capture of the first PreBroadway preview performance. This is a fun show with terrific performances based on the 1982 movie. Santino gives a wonderful performance and earning early Tony buzz for Best Actor! A+ Translations - National Theatre - July 31, 2018 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Colin Morgan (Owen), Seamus O'Hara (Manus), Ciarán Hinds (Hugh), Dermot Crowley (Jimmy Jack Cassie), Adetomiwa Edun (Lieutenant Yolland), Rufus Wright (Captain Lancey), Michelle Fox (Sarah), Judith Roddy (Maire), Laurence Kinlan (Doalty), Aoife Duffin (Bridget) Travelling Light - National Theatre, London - February 9, 2012 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MKV (HD)|Subtitles CAST: Tom Allwinton, Norma Atallah, Roy Baron NOTES: National Theatre Live 9th February 2012 mkv, 5.46GB Hardcoded English subtitles

Treasure Island - National Theatre - January 22, 2015 (Pro-Shot's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Arthur Darvill (Long John Silver), Patsy Ferran (Jim Hawkins), Oliver Birch (George Badger), Raj Bajaj (Job Anderson) Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Excellent capture of the Broadway transfer from Atlanta. Many changes and direction from the out of town tryout. A Tuck Everlasting - Broadway - April 4, 2016 (Preview) (NYCG8R's master) FORMAT:  DVD ISO (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: A more rare recording of the same performance as a more common capture. Single Disc Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 5, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  MP4 (HD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Carolee Carmello (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful HD capture of the PreBroadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Carolee's final performance due to leaving for Finding Neverland. Wonderful show, performances and music! A+ Tuck Everlasting - Pre-Broadway / Atlanta - February 6, 2015 (SunsetBlvd79's master) FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD) CAST: Sarah Charles Lewis (Winnie Foster), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Jesse Tuck), Beth Leavel (Mae Tuck), Michael Park (Angus Tuck), Robert Lenzi (Miles Tuck), Terrence Mann (Man in Yellow Suit), Michael Wartella (Hugo), Fred Applegate (Constable Joe), Pippa Pearthree (Nana), Valerie Wright (Mother) NOTES: Beautiful capture of the Pre-Broadway tryout in Atlanta. This was Beth Leavel's first performance taking over for Carolee in the final few weeks of the run. Great performances and music! A+

[inkstaineddove]

The Pride of Wisdom

Characters: Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary; mentioned Holy Rome, England

Summary: To create Germany's body, Prussia and Austria must work together using less than typical means. Somehow, their plans are found out and lead to an uncomfortable confrontation with a incredibly upset Switzerland over the morals of their methodology.

A/N: The title comes from a Frankenstein quote '“Man," I cried, "how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom!”' There's some overlap in themes between this story and that classic which, while unintentional, I decided to lean into in the choice of title. I've also changed Switzerland's name from Bash/Vash to Roland due to neither of those names being actual names and my liking many alternatives for him better that work in French and German. I hope this doesn't impair anyone's enjoyment too much and, if it's bothersome, I apologize. I can also explain why the date for which this is set too, as it's much earlier than any formal efforts by Austria or Prussia to unify, which is acknowledged by Roderich and Gilbert.

Vienna, 1835.

 Prussia knocked impatiently on the door. All was quiet around him save for the gentle patter of rain against the ground. It was the typical nighttime stillness and he found it irritating. No one appeared to be stirring. He knocked on the door again, this time with much more force.

 “Yes, yes, I heard you the first time!” The door was flung open by a flustered Austria. He ushered Prussia inside. “Are you ready? I would prefer to get this over with as soon as possible.”

 “Of course I’m ready. I didn’t come all this way to laze around. Where is it?”

Austria led them to the basement. At the very end, something the length and shape of a child sat atop an old table. It was wrapped in a series of blankets, masking what was beneath.

 Gilbert hoisted it up over his shoulder. He patted the padding around it affectionately. “What’s with all this? Were you really that afraid of people snooping?” For once, his teasing appeared to be good natured. They were acting towards the same goal, eliminating any need for malice between them in the short-term.

 “I wish that were the case. How many years has it been now? It’s been rotting in that crypt for long enough. I didn’t want the stench to fill up my home.” Roderich extinguished the candle he’d lit to illuminate the room. “Carry it up to the kitchen. There’s plenty of room there for what you’ll need to do.”

 “You’re not worried about any of the servants walking in?” Gilbert shrugged, silently impressed at the lack of concern. It seemed uncharacteristic of his host, but there could be hidden depths he had yet to discover.

 Roderich gave him an incredulous look. “You think I would have them here? No, I’ve sent them home to their families for the weekend. Much easier to operate without fearing an interruption.” He shook his head. “Honestly, Gilbert, what kind of fool do you take me for? The risk I’d run to my reputation if any of them saw. Perhaps you can flout the wishes of your government openly, but I prefer to have a bit more tact in my personal rebellions.”

 That was disappointing. And here Gilbert had almost believed he had rubbed off on Roderich, had taught the man the benefits of cutting it fast and loose. He shook it off quickly, imagining the humor in Roderich being left alone to fend for himself. He smirked. “No one to look after you? How have you made it this long? I would expect you to be wasting away by now.”

 That earned him a sharp rebuke. Roderich opened the door leading them out of the basement, casting a foul look over his shoulder. “I am fully capable of navigating a kitchen. For years I got along fine without any help. I can certainly last for a few days. Your concern is misplaced.” A self-satisfied little smile made itself home on his lips. “Besides, I doubt that you would find it very comfortable without them either. Do barbarians know how to use a knife for cutting meats or is it only a tool for bloodshed in your hands?”

 Gilbert laughed. “That says it all. Erzsi’s been doing all the cooking, hasn’t she?” The silence he received proved telling. He laughed harder now, having to lean against the kitchen’s doorframe for assistance holding himself up. He wiped a tear from his eye. “For a second – a second! – you almost had me. Ah, poor Roddy. You’ve grown too soft from all the years of living as a pampered kitten.”

 A loud sigh escaped from Austria before he could contain it. His face burned red. There were more important things at hand, the teasing could be saved till later. He tapped his foot impatiently. “Can we begin this? The sooner it’s over the better. Now, where is that…thing you were supposed to get from Arthur?”

 Prussia set what he’d been carrying down on the counter. Out of his pocket, he pulled a worn and leather-bound book. The cover contained various markings that held no meaning to either man. “Relax, I’ve got it right here. Arthur handed it over without so much as a fight. All he did was warn me to be careful.”

 Panic flashed through Austria’s eyes. “Don’t tell me he knows what we’re doing.” His anxiety only increased when Prussia could no longer meet his gaze. “You absolute moron! Why would you think that appropriate! If France catches wind of what we’re doing – much less our own kings – it will be our heads on the chopping block! The one time it truly mattered for you to keep your damn mouth closed and you couldn’t be bothered! You’re an imbecile!”

 “What would you have done? He cornered me on the damn issue, pressing me for why I needed a spell book with such a thing in it. What would you have me say? The guy’s been reliable enough to me, I felt sure I could trust him.” Prussia shrugged. “All that mattered to him was that it would hurt France in some way. And I never told him the details, but I’m sure he figured out a lot of it for himself.”

 This answer satisfied Roderich somewhat. His worries were still gnawing at him, but he pushed them aside. There was no need to get into them now, there was nothing that could be done. He began undoing the knot of blankets that hid what they carried. Finally, he reached the last one and did away with it. There, amid them all, laid what remained of Holy Rome’s corpse. He gagged on the scent, stumbling away from the counter.

 Gilbert seemed completely undisturbed by it. By now, the scent of death meant nothing to him. He flipped open the little book to the page he needed, skimming the instructions. He had them memorized as he’d been reading and rereading it over the journey here. Still, he wanted to be completely sure of himself. They couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

 “Where’s the rosemary? We need to burn that first and clean what we’re going to use with moon water.” The absurdity of Gilbert saying such things wasn’t lost on either of them. He suppressed his smile, knowing he needed to be serious.

 Roderich stood on the far side of the room, with his head turned towards the hallway. The air where he was remained pure and not putrid. “It’s not h-” a loud banging on the door cut him off. Irritation prickled his skin as he headed towards the front entrance. “Who in the world could that be? That incessant banging at such an hour. What could possibly be so important that it can’t wait till tomorrow?”

 He threw open the door, surprised to be staring down an infuriated Switzerland. Roland pushed through, backing Roderich up into Gilbert. “You know what’s just wonderful? You two shut everybody out of your little schemes, but word always seems to travel. Both of your damn egos don’t allow you to keep your mouths quiet, huh?” His breathing was ragged, and his shoulders trembled in their fury.

 Roderich threw his hands up between them, trying to gently push the other man away. “What are you rambling on about? You come here, bursting in like a madman, and expect us to have any idea what it is you’re referring to? Outlandish, have some courtesy.” Despite how calm he sounded, his heart was racing in his chest. He supposed this is what a cornered animal felt like.

 His answer was unsatisfactory. He was grabbed by the collar of his shirt. Never had he seen such mania in Roland’s eyes. “Don’t play coy with me! You think that act really works for anyone but your princes, too inbred to have anything resembling a brain left between their ears? You and I both know exactly what I’m talking about! This crime against nature! You both should be ashamed!”

 “Schwarze, the only crime against nature happening here is that Roddy and I are spending a peaceful evening together.” Gilbert gingerly freed a grateful Roderich, moving slowly so as not to enrage Roland further. “There’s no need to burst in here like this. You’d be better served heading home.” He tried nudging Roland away, but the man refused to budge.

 The more they pretended everything was normal, that nothing was out of the ordinary, the more they increased Roland’s rage. He narrowed his gaze on Gilbert now, eyes blazing with a fire that refused to be stomped out. He smacked Gilbert’s hand away with a look of disgust. “Don’t you dare touch me! I don’t need to be corrupted by your influence either!” He noticed the light coming from behind the others and barreled his way into the kitchen, moving faster than they could react to. He skidded to halt before the counter, dry heaving. “This proves it! It’s exactly what I heard from the others!” His voice was weaker now, his words stuttered out between gags.

 Roderich and Gilbert stood in the doorway, sharing looks. Each was challenging the other to extrapolate themselves from this mess. What was there to say or do? While both were skilled at manipulating others to do their bidding or to go along with their schemes, there was no way to trick Roland into disbelieving his own eyes and nose. It would require something more creative, but both were at a loss.

 Roderich dared to try first, stepping into the room. To his surprise, he had grown adjusted to the stink enough to hardly notice it. “Roland, please, you’re hurrying to all sorts of unfounded conclusions. Why not provide us with a moment to explain ourselves? You forget how reasonable we are.” Part of him was weirded out by how implicitly complimentary he was speaking of Gilbert. The pragmatic half of him, the one currently controlling his actions, couldn’t be bothered to care. There was the more important matter of appearances and reputation; any rivalry was secondary to that.

 “Reasonable? You both lost any claim to that when you dug up a grave to work some sort of devil’s magic! Things that are dead should stay dead. Though you’ve never been one to understand that, haven’t you, Roderich?” Roland sneered at him with a look in his eyes conveying how little he thought of both men before him.

 The bitterness stung, melting any of Roderich’s faux politeness away. His fingers twitched, wanting to smack the self-righteous look off Roland’s face. “And yet I’m not the one barging into your home, telling you that which you can and cannot do. Seems like only one of us has moved on from things better left in the past, while the other is still hurt over how easily replaceable he was.” He grinned, seeing that his words hit their intended mark. “What we do should be of no concern to you, being the neutral party and all. Really, what claim do you have in our affairs when you constantly refuse to help either of us? You have no thoughts when we’re trying to destroy one another, but, now that we’re working towards the same goal, that’s what you find objectionable? You truly defy all logic.”

 Roland ground his teeth together, trying and failing to keep from exploding. “Why would I care when you two are out killing each other? If one of you fades away, that’d be a blessing to us all. Maybe this part of Europe could catch a break from the constant warfare if one of you is pacified! But this? Oh, this is beyond belief!” He began pacing, needing to get his excess energy out in a way that didn’t end in a brawl. “This is an act against creation! A sin if there ever were one! Our kind may have incredible powers, but they’re meant to protect our people and not engage in something like this, something so sinister!”

 “Roland, you’re really going to throw around charges like this? Our very existence is a sin. We shouldn’t exist by all accounts and yet-” Gilbert dramatically waved his left hand around, strolling into the room. “here we are. What would you say is the worst sin: taking life so freely as we do, slaughtering many in wars for our own power grabs, or giving back life to what is dead, reviving what is still?” He spoke with the passion of a former zealot. These were questions he’d grappled with while serving as the Teutonic Knights, questions that hadn’t left him since. A mischievous glint appeared his eyes and he smiled, belying that he already knew the answer. “The sin is always in taking and salvation is found in giving. Our work here should be admirable, even if isn’t the most traditional route.”

 “Cut with the choir boy shit! I’m not one of the pagans you can spout a bunch of garbage off to and convert. Have a little respect for my intelligence, Gilbert. You and I both know you’re trying to play God here and it’s sickening! Karl was a failed experiment with a body too frail for this life. It’s cruelty to subject another person to that kind of torment.” He laughed, cold and harsh. “Who am I kidding? As if either of you care what kind of life it lives. This only makes your ambitions more obvious.”

 Gilbert flicked his wrist, batting Roland’s words aside. “Who’s to say we’re not as close to gods as you can get? Think of it, we all have limitless power and can’t be destroyed except by our own hands. Neither of you can stand here and pretend like you didn’t try praying to whichever god we’re told to believe in, desperate to find the meaning of this existence, only to find no answer in response. Maybe you weren’t, but I was forced to walk through fire too many times to where I can still feel the rope around my wrists. And still I look like the devil, as if God’s cures don’t work and His laws were written by men. If we’re not gods then we must be monsters and, either way, that gives us free reign to act as we please.” He realized he was speaking with too much honesty, felt the surprised eyes boring into his skin, and cleared his throat. He smiled, changing tones with a speed that could cause whiplash. “I thought you couldn’t stand Karl, what’s with the sudden concern? If all this goes right, his body should be good as new, nothing to worry about. He’ll be healthier than the last kid and with enough strength that all of Europe will be listening to us.”

 “‘Us?’ You two plan to share him?” Roland snorted. “As if that will last. I shouldn’t be so worried. Both of you will have destroyed him as soon as he’s breathing.” He shot them both a glare. “I don’t have to like someone to do what is right. No one should treat anyone’s body with such disregard, especially one who has no say in the matter.”

 “Ah, so it’s about consent? Well, let’s ask him!” Gilbert moved to the counter, standing over Holy Rome’s corpse. “Karl, do you mind if we use your body for Germany’s? What was that?” He leaned down low, meeting Roland’s gaze with ferocity and manic energy. “Right! It doesn’t matter because he’s dead!”

 It was a grim joke, one that belied his soldier’s sense of humor and one no one else found funny. Roderich wrinkled his nose. “Gilbert, don’t be so crass. That’s distasteful.” He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This conversation was going nowhere, both sides remained firmly entrenched in their beliefs. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.

 Erzsébet burst into the room, a wide smile across her face. She was unfazed by the stench of decay, grown too used to it on the fields of battle and revolt. She set her bag down, removing its contents. “Really, Roderich, there was no need to send me out so late. I understand that we must be cautious, but this is a bit much.” She smiled sweetly at Gilbert, who was standing in her line of sight. “Gil, what’s with the look on your face? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” She laughed at her own lame joke, before following the Gilbert and Roderich’s gaze. She froze at the sight of Roland, who looked ready to snap again. “Ah, fuck.”

 She barely finished speaking before Roland was carrying on again. “I should’ve known. Even your little whore is in on it too. Anything to follow them to the ends of the earth, right Erzsébet? And you’re supposed to be the moral center.” He had never liked her, for reasons Erzsébet was clueless on, but this was much crueler than his usual treatment towards her. “Grow a spine, dammit. I thought even you could see how wrong this is, but I guess I thought too highly of you. Do none of you really care what the others will think once they find out?”

 “Roland, you realize you’re the only one with any objections, right? Did neither of them tell you that they spoke with Saxony and Bavaria about this, that this isn’t what you’re thinking.” She looked between Austria and Prussia. “You two really didn’t? I forget how helpless you both are.”

 Prussia seized upon this, appreciating where she was leading them. “We probably should have mentioned this earlier, but we do have the go ahead from everyone. A lot of our people are desperate for Germany of some kind. The four of us agreed it would be in our best interest if we, at least, got a body ready.” He laughed, relaxing considerably now that things appeared to be going their way. “It’s been so long since we had a kid in the family, it was getting stale with all the same faces.”

 “That’s it? The four of you decide everything for this family? No one else has any say?” Roland tried to suppress his hurt feelings, desperately not wanting his upset to be on display. And he would’ve as the changes were barely perceptible. But Roderich knew him too well, knew exactly what it meant when Roland couldn’t maintain eye contact, when he began chewing at his bottom lip, when his hands rolled and re-rolled into fists.

 Roderich intended to capitalize. With cool detachment, he smiled. “You know Gilbert, he speaks in generalizations. We did speak to others, some of the lesser states. If he truly is to represent Germany, then his birth must be through a method we all agree on. And, astonishingly, there were no qualms with our idea so long as it was us who got our hands dirty. Which is fair since it will be through our might alone that things will coalesce, but that’s at a later time. As for the present, why we didn’t speak to you is simple.” His smile widened and he paused a beat, relishing it. “You’re not our family. You lost the privilege to be consulted on these matters when you left us. No harsh feelings, of course.”

 His words had their intended effect. Roland stiffened up, his eyes becoming distant to separate himself from the conversation. He looked to Gilbert and Erzsébet and, finding no allies in either of them, turned his attention to the wall. “Of course,” he grumbled bitterly. Recovering slightly, he tried to regain some mojo, but found much of it lost. “And you, Erzsébet. Why do you go along with this?” He needed to believe he wasn’t the only sane man left standing, that she had some wits about her.

 She was caught off guard by him suddenly using her name. He normally only referred to her in derogatory terms, never had he been so respectful. Her surprise led her straight into honesty. “What else am I to do? What say do I have in all this? I had no love for Karl, but if he can be repurposed then what’s stopping us? Besides, perhaps having a kid around again will give me something to do if I’m not allowed to live in Budapest.” She shared a tense look with Roderich, conveying arguments Roland wasn’t privy to. He was unsurprised to see Gilbert’s quick look of contempt towards Roderich, but wondered what else he had missed while attempting to float above the fray.

 He was big enough to admit defeat. He sighed, frustrated by the outcome. But what was there to do when the world was aligned against him? Maybe he was the one with the lopsided morals and that playing with dark forces was now acceptable. He found that, if that were the case, he’d rather sequester himself in the Alps away from the rest of the world rather than try to engage it. “I see how it is then. Fine, have it your way.” He gave one final disgusted glance at the corpse, before turning on his heel. “There’s nothing left for me here. Hasn’t been in years.”

 “Allow me to escort you out,” Roderich offered more out of habit than genuine kindness.

 Once they had left, Gilbert and Erzsébet began preparing everything, unpacking what she had brought and assembling all their tools. Lavender burned in the center of the room, purifying the area. Gilbert lifted the needle from the moon water, threading it carefully. Roderich returned, taking his place besides Erzsébet. Gilbert grinned at them, adrenaline pumping through his veins. “Let’s get ourselves a son.”

[militant-holy-knight]

On a fall day in the early 8th century, somewhere between the French cities of Poitiers and Tours, a Muslim army crashed into the serried ranks of a force led by a powerful Frankish noble: Charles, Mayor of the Palace and son of Pippin of Herstal. In the ensuing battle, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi — governor of the Muslim territories in Al-Andalus (Spain) — was slain, and his troops were routed. This confrontation between two Dark Age warlords echoed through the ages and acquired a potent symbolism, all despite the fact that medievalists know relatively little about the principal protagonists and the respective orders of battle, let alone how the fight actually unfolded.

We do actually know sufficient details about everything in regards to the battle and considering the author used a BBC link (from an outlet infamous for historical revisionism) to prove his point, I really shouldn’t take what he claims seriously. And even if any of these things are true... Should they be dismissed? There are important battles whose details are still obscure like the Battle of the Cataluniuan Fields where the Romans fought Atilla the Hun, but no one knows who won. Yet no one ever complains about it because it isn’t a thorn on the author’s skin. But again this is pointless because we know how the battle played out.

Edward Gibbon famously speculated that, had Abdul Rahman prevailed at Poitiers,

“the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.”

The French romantic writer Chateaubriand made the equally dramatic claim that, “if it were not for Charles Martel’s valor, we would all be wearing turbans.”

“Oh yes, how I wish these Islamophobes had just bowed down their heads and let the Arabs walk over them, violate their wives and daughters, destroy and desecrate their churches. Europe would have been so much more tolerant than today.” - Iskander Rehman, the author of this piece of shit.

Perhaps most importantly, Charles Martel has become an enduring icon of fascist and far-right movements, in France and other Western states. The Vichy regime, for example, reveled in its warped reading of Charles Martel and of medieval French history more broadly. The francisca, an early Frankish throwing axe, featured prominently in Vichy iconography and propaganda, and Charles Martel was presented alongside Joan of Arc as an embodiment of pre-revolutionary Catholic virtue. Meanwhile, a notorious division of French volunteers to the Nazi SS was named the Division Charlemagne after the great Carolingian Emperor and grandson of Charles Martel. In the years following France’s bitter war in Algeria, a far-right group — the Cercle Charles Martel — conducted a string of terror attacks against Algerians and citizens of North African descent in France. More recently, the founder of the French Front National party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, reacted to the Charlie Hebdo killings by proudly claiming “Je suis Charlie Martel,” in defiance of the more republican and inclusive slogan “Je suis Charlie.” “Je suis Charlie Martel” has since become one of the rallying cries of French far-right activists.

This sinister historical crush extends far beyond France. Anders Breivik, the Norwegian neo-Nazi who slaughtered 77 people in 2011, claimed in his online rants to have “identified” with the figure of Charles Martel. In the United States, a group called the Charles Martel Society funds the publication of a pseudo-intellectual and deeply racist journal, The Occidental Quarterly. Charles de Steuben’s famous 19th-century painting of the Battle of Poitiers flashes through one of Richard Spencer’s slickly edited “alt-right” videos, providing a brief and jarring backdrop to a long stream of nativist gobbledygook.

These two paragraphs can be summed up as “Racists, bigots and hate groups love Charles Martel, so you cannot too or else you are one of them”. The irony in all of this is that Adolf Hitler hated Charles Martel for defeating the Arabs because he felt that if they had won, they would have brought Islam to Germans and they would have become unstoppable, since he felt Islam was a more appropriate religion for the Nazis.

Most modern historians are skeptical of the notion that the battle of Poitiers constituted such a watershed moment. While the defeat of the Andalusian army by a Western European force was certainly significant, it was not unprecedented. Only a few years prior, Odo of Aquitaine crushed another Muslim army outside Toulouse, but this battle never acquired the same mythological symbolism of the battle of Poitiers.

The difference is that Odo’s victory was merely temporary while Charles’ stopped any more invasions - that is exactly what makes it decisive. If Arabs had retreated back to Spain after the Battle of Tolouse, you’d be writing this same article except condemning Odo of Tolouse instead of Charles Martel. The Battle of Poitiers happened because Odo asked Charles for his help and in exchange he’d swear his allegiance to him.

The academic consensus now appears to be that Al Ghafiqi’s foray into what was then referred to as Northern Gaul was a long-distance raid or “razzia” motivated not so much by an ambition for conquest as by a desire for plunder. Indeed, we are told that the prime target of this raid was a wealthy religious sanctuary located at Saint Martin de Tours and filled with gold and precious fabrics. Hugh Kennedy has noted that the defeat seems to have had little resonance in the wider Arabo-Muslim world, and he views it as one symptom of many that marked the steady decline of the Syrian-based Umayyad Caliphate. Others have pointed to the Caliphate’s overextension into Spain and to the growing tensions between local Arab and Berber forces as well as rival tribes and clans. 

A lot of Islam apologists use this argument of “plunder” to whitewash it’s militarist expansionism and not name it what it actually was: colonialism. There is no such thing as being there “just” for plunder when Arabs are actively settling the region and governing over it (Septimania was already occupied by this point). The Vikings were motivated solely by plunder and didn’t care about ruling their victims (the Danelaw over England being the exception). I love how he uses “academic consensus” because that is dogwhistle for “what me and my SJW friends agree with”, as well as “Arab Muslim world didn’t care for this battle, but I am so mad about it I am going to write everything I can to discredit it”

Although the destruction of Al Ghafiqi’s field army depleted the Ummayads’ local reservoir of military strength, Moorish troops lingered in some southern French cities such as Narbonnes for two and a half more decades. Meanwhile, Muslim raiders continued their “ghazawat” across the Pyrenees for at least another a century, long after the fall of the Ummayads.

Minor skirmishes don’t mean a whole lot if they can’t even launch another full-scale invasion again.

It would be reductive to present the battle of Poitiers as the military manifestation of some age-old existential struggle between Christendom and Islam. Charles Martel’s Europe was a continent of many faiths and philosophies, not a religiously bipolar system. 

OMFG. You actually went there, you son of a bitch.

Religious differences could cut across tribes, kingdoms, and ethnicities. For example, along the Pyrenees resided the fiercely independent Basques, some of whom were Muslim, some of whom were Christian, and a portion of whom practiced more ancient forms of belief. The “Song of Roland,” a medieval ballad familiar to all products of French middle schools, recounts the cowardly ambush of one of Emperor Charlemagne’s retainers, the noble Roland, by enemy forces in a narrow mountain pass. For centuries, schoolchildren were told that the Carolingian knight had been killed by “Saracens” — Muslim forces based in Spain. It is now believed that Roland — whose prolonged death scene famously inspired Boromir’s in Lord of the Rings — was actually killed by Basques, rather than by Arabs or Berbers. This historical gaffe provides yet another indication of our tendency to overlook the rich tapestry of political and religious actors in early medieval Europe in favor of more binary models.

Admittedly, the Song of Roland is very historically inaccurate - this is obvious to anyone who reads it since Muslims worship Muhammad the same way Christians do with Jesus - but this is explained due to an unfamiliarity the people at the time had with other religions. Rehman expect us to believe that Europe was like this bastion of religious tolerance when the authors of the Song of Roland can even get other people’s religions right.

I am honestly done, this guy is beyond retarded and I feel like genocided more braincells than I should have trying to refute his bullshit. I strongly mulled on whether or not to post this, but I feel like it would have been a waste of time to not expose this shit. Iskander Rehman is the kind of guy who would criminalize celebrating the Battle of Poitiers, the Siege of Vienna or any “triumph of the cross over the crescent” battle (even an obscure one, like the Battle of Vaslui) if he had the power to do so.

[architectuul]

FOMA 23: German Post-War Modern

As a result of the devastating destructions of the Second World War architects in postwar Germany were faced not only with the rebuilding of cities but also with the opportunity to break with the past and follow new paths.

Children in bombed out Berlin in 1945. | Photo Otto Donath via Berliner Ferlag

The following five buildings represent Forgotten Masterpieces of German postwar architecture that deserve a closer examination.

The theater captured shortly after its completion in 1966 by Sigrid Neubert. | Photo via Baunetz

The first building is the Municipal Theater in Ingolstadt by Hardt-Waltherr Hämer and his wife Marie-Brigitte Hämer. Hämer is best known for his Berlin works, where he eloquently proposed a cautious renewal of the city and its quarters. 

Interior view of the theater around 2009. | Photo via Breitschaft Architekten

The theater, designed and built between 1960 and 1966, is undoubtedly a prime example of German Brutalism that takes a bold modern stand within the city center of Ingolstadt: with its board-marked concrete surfaces and complex, interlocking interiors makes for interesting spatial experiences that are faintly reminiscent of Hans Scharoun‘s Berlin Philharmony. 

View of the church from Northwest. | Photo by © Florian Monheim

As the followers of my Tumblr might have recognized I have a major knack for postwar church architecture in Germany and beyond. One of the most interesting examples of postwar modern church architecture in Germany is St. Paulus in Neuss in the lower Rhine region, a congenial collaboration between architects Fritz and Christian Schaller and engineer Stefan Poloyni. 

View from East into the nave. | Photo by © Florian Monheim

On a hexagonal plan they created an awe-awaking space that is crowned by a spherical, folded and diamond-shaped vault. The church quintessentially represents the inventiveness of architects faced with the task of designing contemporary religious architecture: a spectacular, technologically innovative space that relies on the interplay of light and shadow to create a contemplative yet solemn atmosphere.

Moroshito after completion in 1961. | Photo via SAII

The summer house Moroshito, which Paul Stohrer designed for himself at Lake Constance, is a very unusual example of German postwar modernism and as such a favorite of mine. In its wedge-shaped design Stohrer processed influences from Oscar Niemeyer, a reference rarely present in German postwar architecture, and also gave expression to his colorful personality, which not only included a life-long passion for painting, but also for flamboyant sports cars. 

The house's little bridge leading to the waters of Lake Constance. | Photo via Ruppenstein

Free from a client’s restriction Stohrer realized a house that was tailor made to his needs and gave him the freedom to play with shapes, materials and plans.

Aerial view of the town hall in 1975. | Photo via Baunetz

Harald Deilmann’s design for the Town Hall Gronau, a city on the German-Dutch border, represents a multi-functional approach to town halls in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The town hall in 2016. | Photo by © Christian Richters

The scaled design houses a multitude of rooms, office, meeting places and with its raw concrete facade gives expression to the increased artistic freedom architects sought in these years. The building ranks among the most interesting yet overlooked examples of brutalism town hall architecture in Germany after WWII.

The Stadthalle in c. 1964. | Photo via Wesser Kurier

Last example of the architectural self-confidence of cities in postwar Germany is the Stadthalle in Bremen by Roland Rainer, built between 1961 and 1964. Rainer’s idea was to form a structural unity of a roof and stands, an idea that resulted in a suspension roof spanning more than 100 meters. 

The Stadthalle was in 2000 renamed to AWD Arena. | Photo via Ortsamtwest

Due to the resulting expressive construction the Stadthalle soon became one of the city’s landmarks and together with the Stadthalle in Vienna and the one in Ludwigshafen forms a trilogy of Rainer’s successful civil engineering works.

--

#FOMA 23: Phillip Ost

Phillip Ost studies art history at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, a middle-sized town in the Northwest of Germany. He focuses on postwar art and architecture in Germany and beyond with a special emphasis on postwar church architecture and German Art Informel. In 2014 he established German Post-War Modern, initially intended to serve as his personal visual archive of largely forgotten modernist architecture in Germany.

[road-to-mandalay-2015]

October 4th-6th: Vienna - Santander

At the end we made it to Santander just in time for dinner. At 19:15 and some 1.650 km from Feldkirch and 17 hours of driving to the Hotel Real we rolled into the parking lot. It was a great hallo with all the other rally friends. Most of them we had seen a year ago in India for the last time. Roland and Bernie the other car from Vienna were waiting with a glass of white wine. It did not take long and we were back in rally mode at the bar to meet the rest. We then continued on to a restaurant where Lee-Ann and Tony Strelzow a couple from Canada joined us for excellent Spanish food.

But now back to the right sequence. Len made it on time to Vienna coming from Dubrovnik after a three week tour through Europe. I took him to the Allerley my son‘s restaurant right away and around 22:00 we loaded the car onto the train which took us to Feldkirch. The sleeper we booked was uncomfortable as always. Not even a bottle of some awful Croatian redwine Len carried in his suitcase helped to get us through the night.

At around 8 a.m. on Saturday we started our journey to Spain in pouring rain. Not much to report besides a little trouble with the cables of the alternator. We thought we had fixed it only to find out that it fell off during the day so that we drained the battery by the end of the day. We (Len with my intellectual support) plugged it back in and secured the plug with some cable. The Swiss highways were smooth and we ended up in the French countryside at „Le moulin de Chaméron“ a recommendation by a Viennese well traveled friend. The minute we drove into the parking lot I realized I had been there already a couple of years ago on the way to Portugal. The food was good the room basic but it served its purpose.

Sunday we had the same picture in France with rain on and off. The highways were mostly empty and the tolls added up quite a bit. At the gas stations they robbed us with fuel prices of € 1,80 to the liter. But hey, try this in a Tesla!

Tomorrow there are the usual proceedings: Registration and Scrutineering. Let’s hope to find some time to stroll around in Satander.

Best

L&C