St. Lorenz church is packed to the gills (or would be, if churches had gills) with masterworks of art. I’m not throwing the word “masterworks” around: we are talking about immensely talented sculptors Adam Kraft and Veit Stoss working at the top of their game. The church also has impressive (and sometimes funny) stained glass […]
Jet lag is part of the travel experience and once you learn to think of it that way, it’s so much easier to cope with. Opera makes a good analogy: there are some people who believe opera is a three minute clip on a reality tv show, you know those clips that end up on […]
See, there’s Christ in the center, with Virgin and St. John at his feet. Some happy naked people are popping up out of graves under his feet. On the left, some annoyingly self-satisfied folks are headed to their eternal reward, on the right, well, the facial expressions say it all. I know, I know, I […]
Do you love Gothic sculpture? Well, what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to Bamberg, Germany asap, run up a steep hill past all the college kids drinking smoked beer, past the City Hall that may or may not have been designed by Jeff Koons, to the cathedral. Don’t miss the superb tympanum and the […]
The crucifixion of Christ is one of the most predominate symbols of Christian Art, so it’s surprising to realize that, as a form of art, it’s only developed in the last 1000 or so years. (Back in the early days, when Christians were trying to recruit converts, a symbol of a tortured man probably wasn’t so […]
Monumental but austere and a superb space to hear organ music: Speyer’s imperial cathedral is glorious. And because we seem to be the luckiest travelers ever to wear matching Rick Steves backpacks, we happened to enter just as a first-rate organist performed on the cathedral’s organ. It filled the church with sound, turning the entire building […]
We’ve just returned from a lovely trip through Southern and Western Germany where we met charming people, enjoyed fine music and saw sensational art and architecture…..and white asparagus. The Germans call it Spargelzeit, which means asparagus season, but I thinks a more apt name would be Frenzied Consumption and Worship of White Vegetable Season. I […]
HOB and I have been together 18 years, sharing a of love of art in situ and adventurous eating, and finally, in Frankfurt, I’ve found something I’ll eat that he won’t. Handkäse mit Musik “hand cheese with music” is a sour milk cheese aged and marinated in oil and vinegar and a specialty of Frankfurt, […]
No one knows the identity of the Bamberg Rider, an equestrian statue in the Cathedral of Bamberg, though there’s no shortage of scholarly speculation. The other great mystery is why I am so attracted to this statue. While we were rushing uphill to the church to see him, HOB said to me “Now why is it […]
Last night we watched Die Walküre at Staatstheater in Nurenberg, conviently located on Richard Wagner platz. What a treat to watch a Wagner opera in this jewel box of a Theater! Wagner’s music was, of course, mesmerizing, but the theater aspect of the opera was impressive as well. We were curious about the experience of watching a quintessentially […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 