meanwhile...

[selenak]

Due to my flight back to Munich being cancelled, I'm currently stuck at the airport of Vienna. Cross your fingers the alternate flight via Frankfurt (oh geographical insanity!) works.

Anyway: notable impressions of the week included meeting Lars "Son of Willy" Brandt, who wrote a book about his late father called "Andenken", which is an untranslatable pun in German, meaning both "remembering a dead person" and "souvenir". It's short and, very rare in German literature about one's father, especially of that generation, marvellously free of accusations. (But then Willy Brandt went into exile at age 19 when Hitler came to power and hasn't been forgiven for doing the right thing ever since in some circles. So, no Third Reich issues for Brandt Junior.) As a couple of years ago I came across the son of Günther Guillaume (aka the East German spy who was Brandt's attaché and hence contributed to his downfall), I found it interesting that Guillaume Junior did have all those issues, and raging anger etc, whereas Lars B. was placid and a bit bemused by life.

On a completely different note, as far as museums featuring Roman relics are concerned, of which I visited quite a lot in the last three weeks, the top price has to go to the one in Cologne. Most charming is probably the Antikensammlung in Leipzig, and coldest is the Ephesos-Museum in Vienna. Which is located in spectacularly beautiful rooms, all Austrian k.u.k. splendour, and the exhibits themselves, from Ephesos in Turkey as the name indicates, are beautiful, but they don't heat at all. Which is a problem if you have to walk around in evening wardrobe for several hours....

Hoping that I didn't catch a cold, I shall check once more on my replacement flight...

Comments

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

You know, I would say to most people stranded in Vienna that they are pretty much obligated to go find an American slacker to hang out with (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=293391&trkid=189530&strkid=12777947_0_0). You, now -- you'd probably want to strangle Ethan Hawke inside of a minute, but could have an intriguing conversation with the ghost of Harry Lime. Or possibly Salieri.

Umm, ok, I'm out of Vienna jokes. (Sausage?)

Good luck catching your flight.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

I will have to remember that Cologne is your recommendation! For the someday when I travel.

Good luck getting a flight!

(My fundraiser last night did very well -- $6,200 in two hours.)

[bimo.livejournal.com]

Due to my flight back to Munich being cancelled, I'm currently stuck at the airport of Vienna. Cross your fingers the alternate flight via Frankfurt (oh geographical insanity!) works.

I saw some pictures of the Bavarian snow chaos in the news, remembered how much you must be traveling these days and immediately thought: "Oh my! Let's hope she's not stuck in the middle of nowhere..."

the top price has to go to the one in Cologne

Was this the "Römisch-Germanisches Museum"?

While I haven't visited it in ages I still have rather fond memories of it. Here in my area it's probably the #1 destination for all kinds of educational school trips... *g*

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Just arrived back. 'Twas the travelling day from hell, to be sure. Still snow storm in Munich.

Of coruse it was the Römisch-Germanisches.*g* Go again!

[winter]

That Vienna museum, if I recall correctly (it's been a while, or more exactly almost 13 years), is also hellishly hot in July. And the Cologne one does rock - both for the presentation and for the sheer amount of stuff :)

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

I hope you get home to Munich without too much delay.

The amounts of snow are amazing. I shovelled the snow away in the morning and when I came home an hour ago so much new snow had fallen that the first two steps of the stairs to our entrance door were hidden underneath all the snow. (Nearly fell up the staits, because I didn't notice this right away. :-))

Very interesting what you write about G. Guillaume and L. Brandt. To be the son/daughter of someone who is well known, is sort of a burden in itself, isn't it? I expect you will always be measured against the achievements of your parents.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Don't suppose you got to see Michael Frayn's play Democracy about Brandt and Guillaume? I caught it at the National Theatre a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed it. I heard they were doing a German production, and that some of the "characters" turned up in the audience, but I didn't hear what the general reaction was.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Being an admirer of Michael Frayn's, I've read it, but I haven't managed to catch a performance yet.

There was a production in Berlin which was sucessful with the audience but the criticis were sort of snobbish about it, not because of the content but because it was a "well made play", and no directorial extravaganza interferred.

*spares you rant on excesses of the German Regietheater*