Jena Germany: "City of Science"
In a couple of weeks, we will be getting back on an airplane and flying to Central Pennsylvania, after (for me) a six month extended vacation in Europe. My family has been here even longer. For all of us this will be a very difficult re-entry. So our next few weeks will be a flurry of travel, packing, preparing for classes, and homeward focus. We still plan to do Christmas in Dresden and then New Years in Jena (of course!) I thought I would take a few of these last relaxed moments to commit to blog a photo montage of our last six months.
Certainly it will take much longer for me to process the experience into some coherent narrative...
Click on any photo to see it in its largest version.
A tough day in the salt mines of scholarship: Joe hard at work in a chair in his beloved Saale River
A hillside (Sophienhohe) a short walk south of our apartment, overlooking Jena
"The Steps" in Meerane, Germany
More steps...these in Erfurt the capital of Thuringen
The Trail to Leuchtenburg near Kahla in Thurningen
A glimpse of the "City of Science" from a medieval castle ruin, another short walk from our apartment, this time to the North
Wild Raspberries on a hill near our apartment (I'll never tell where, of course.)
Afternoons in Nuremberg
View From the Castle at Nuremberg
Trier, Roman Gates and Philosophical Breakthroughs
Prague! I had been here in 1992. Since that time, Prague has been altogether transformed!
Of Course, Vent Austria in late summertime is unbelievable!
This trip, we neglected to visit France and Italy. Next time we can go back to the lands of elaborate eating, living, red wine, beauty, history, philosophy, and food!)
We also missed Spain and Portugal. Next trip!
Also, Turkey is a must for our next excursion. Ten thousand years of history awaits!
But some more places we were fortunate to visit:
Then there's green, green Ireland! The land of poets and whiskey! (a good combination)
And break yer heart beautiful Scotland! Whiskey and Philosophy! (Bad Combination...) or beefsteak and ale...(wonderful combination!)
London, England (A cute piece of an island where they still have a Queen and speak a kind of English.) The Hogwarts Express starts there and Mary Wollstonecraft and Karl Marx are buried there.) Since they are owned and managed by Scotland, they do import some good whiskey--fairly cheaply--and get plenty of Philosophy from Scotland and Germany, but their logic has achieved fame and their tea is pretty good, but these are also imported and processed domestically. Perhaps their lingering importance comes from the unexplainable influence they still hold over American Presidents. The less educated the President, it seems, the more likely that administration will follow the PM's advice on foreign relations. Go figure! I think its the accent.
But their essay writers have made the entire island worthwhile. So long as they can, once in a while, produce a Virginia Woolf, a Mary Wollstonecraft, a Richard Price, a Charles Darwin, a Joseph Priestley, then their notions of national grandeur should be encouraged. I just wish they would treat their intellectuals a little better while they have them. Still, it's all good once what is left is the archive...
But the biggest surprises (to someone who thought he "knew" Europe)?
Berlin and the Thuringen Wald
Okay, no whiskey. But the world's best dark beer, Kostritzer, the world's finest bubbly white wine, Rotkapchen Extra Trochen, the best brands of pork, vegetables, dairy products "bei uns" and some of the best philosophers studied and taught here...
The Rennsteig (A Wonderful foot trail through the heart of German History, Poetry, Wilderness, Literature, Art, Science, and Folklife.)
More description of the Rennsteig at this older post, here.
Soljanka (An East German Soup...my new favorite!)
In Berlin, "Victory" Returns. A multi-cultural, world class city. Tolerant, up-beat, in repair, and smart.
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