“The name of Italy has magic in its very syllables.” Mary Shelley Tuesday Fine weather and Shell feels like lunch in Italy. We can take in the Swiss Alps and almost all of Liechtenstein with a few detours. Liechtenstein is 25 km in length, and a neatly matching 25,000 people live here. A constitutional monarchy,…
Year: 2024
Damüls Diversion
“We are each a river with a particular abiding character, but we show radically different aspects of our self according to the territory through which we travel.” David Whyte Monday The realisation comes that we are not in Damüls, we are in Lech am Alberg. Today we depart for nearby Damüls. Only an hour away,…
Lech am Alberg – Austria
“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us.” John Muir Sunday A better night’s sleep for Shell. Breakfast provided. Today we head for Austria. The most western state, Voralberg. Our village is at 1700 m elevation and in the…
Meditation and Medication
“Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question of what to do with the feelings that have been aroused, the knowledge that has been communicated. If one feels that there is nothing ‘we’ can do — but who is that ‘we’? — and nothing ‘they’ can…
Plauen
“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.” Charles Bukowski Friday An excellent night’s sleep. Although I do feel a little spongy in the brain region. Alcohol would be my guess. Breakfast at home. And…
A Pause in Plauen
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” Albert Camus Thursday We have spent some time in the car over this first week. Slovakia, Poland and Germany. It is time for a few days in…
Political Partitions and Plauen
“People speak sometimes about the “bestial” cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky Wednesday I look out the window and there are cobblestones embedded in the pathway. A scar of the past that…
Alte Nationalgalerie
“We have art in order not to die of the truth.” Friedrich Nietzsche Tuesday Breakfast at our apartment. It is nice to have a kitchen. Into the city early in search for coffee before the gallery opens. The first stop is Mörder. It has an alternative look which is often a good sign. A false…
Messages From Berlin – Part II
“I had found my religion: nothing seemed more important to me than a book. I saw the library as a temple.” Jean-Paul Sartre Monday (Evening) We head out for the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The city is full of people. We stop and point out the architecture. Shell takes all the pictures and I wonder if…