Bayreuth Opera House

Big Frank is in Bayreuth, Germany. This is the home of Richard Wagner and now has an annual opera festival where Wagner's operas are put on every summer. However, there is a tradition of opera here that predates Wagner. In fact, the opera house here is one of the few remaining roccoco opera houses left in Europe - it dates from 1744. Here are a few photos that Big Frank took of it yesterday.

Antipodes in Jena

Big Frank is in Jena with the Fulbrighters. Today was full of touring, power point lectures, schnitzel, coffee, university talk, and lots of picture taking. Big Frank is going to spare you having to review all 60 or so of the photos that he took today. Instead, here are a couple of photos that accent the old juxtaposed against the new - two views in the same frame, as it were. Nothing further needs to be said, or does it?

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Fulbrighters having fun

Big Frank is lucky to be in the midst of Germany with a great group of people from all over the U.S. They are all, like Big Frank, in Germany as part of the Fulbright for U.S. Administrators in International Education. They're from all over the U.S. and not only do they know how to study hard in mastering al the changes in the German higher education system, but they also know how to have a good time. Here are a few photos of some of the people from this group. The evening started out at the Restaurant Weihenstephaner at Hackescher Makt in Berlin and then moved on to Restaurant Frarosa at Zionskirchstr. 40. The Frarosa is a great wine bar where they have a unique system: you pay 2 euros for a glass and then pour your own wine throughout the evening. At the end you pay whatever it is that you think the wine was worth to you - the honor system. Big Frank likes that - a lot!

Holocaust Memorial

These are pictures that Big Frank took of the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. It was completed in 2005 and is a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi-planned genocide of WWI. It is composed of 2711 rectangular concrete blocks of varying height placed on undulating ground - as though it were some giant cemetary. It is best experienced from within the structure - wandering along the cobblestones between the narrow passage ways between the cement blocks. A beautiful memorial to the victims of the holocaust.

Berlin snapshots - night at the Reichstag

This is a view of the top of Brandenburg gate, lit up in blue lights, taken on the way to the Richstag.

The is a view of the Parliment floor from inside the cupola of the Reichstag.

Some Fulbrighters happily waiting in line to get into the Reichstag at night to view the city from its cupola. It was about a 45 minute wait.

Two Fulbrighters on the train heading back after a late evening at the Reichstag.

Big Frank at the Wall

Check point Charlie (resconstructed). The soldiers are student actors who charge money to have their pictures taken!

Big Frank is in Berlin. First day of the Fulbright seminar was mostly meet and greet, and then when all got on a bus and got the quick two-hour tour of the biggest tourist attractions: the wall, check-point Charlie, Alexander Platz, Potsdammer Platz, the Jewish Hollocast Memorial, and various museums, churches and neighborhoods. The pictures that Big Frank took above are of the largest remaining section of the wall, where the eastern side has been turned into an art gallery where arts from around the world were invited to come and paint on the wall. This was done twenty years ago, and now once again to honor the 20th anniversary of its coming down. Then in the evening a great dinner on a top floor of the hotel when all of us got a chance to get to know each other better. The seminar begins in earnest today!

Big Frank is going to Germany on a Fulbright

Big Frank is the proud recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study the German higher education system. He takes off tomorrow morning for a week in Berlin followed by another week in various German cities visiting universities. He'll be in the company of 20 other scholars from across the U.S., including his good friend Mandy from NAU. In addition to a full dose of educational seminars there will also be lots of time for concerts, museums, and long leisurely dinners in great German restaurants. Big Frank may not be all that excited about coming back!

The picture above is of a trip to Berlin last year, where Big Frank's son, Konrad met him. This year, Big Frank is going to Warsaw to visit Konrad after his German trip ends. He hasn't been to Poland in almost 4 years; he'll see if any Polish he speaks is at all intelligible anymore.

Osaka Izakaya

Big Frank was able to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of Osaka last night. A group of us met in an izakaya for scrumptious food, great fun, and wonderful company. Here are a few photos showing what a great time it was.

Japanese angles (again)

Big Frank likes Japanese angles. He's done a post on this previously and here are a few more good shots showing this. These are urban angles - not so strikingly obvious in the countryside of Japan, but in the cities, especially in those areas that have been the subject of some obvious planning there are some interesting juxtapositions. Below a night shot in Shinjuku, Tokyo.



Then below two shots from the Umeda district of Osaka. Both, in contrast to the previous taken during the day - looking up.

Umbrellas in Tokyo

Umbrellas
---- Big Frank Dickinson




Umbrellas in this Tokyo rain umbrellas in the rain.
Black and pink - black for the three who walk
Together in step and talking darkly - maybe,
And pink - pink for the lone lady on a mission.

And this one - white to match the stripe

That marks the arc that he will follow

Taking him to his longed for destination,

Nothing very lofty, with the rain, only the train . . . station.

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Photographs - Big Frank Dickinson

Japanese Injunctions

Big Frank has been trying to follow all the rules here in Japan. He's taken a few photos of some of the more important things to avoid doing. Here's the first one: Do not Rush! What great advice! Big Frank is definitely taking it easy. No rushing in this country.

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Big Frank is curious what the poor woman who just had the rolly cart pulled over her toes said. We can imagine it wasn't "Do not rush!"


This thing about not eating on public transportation - seems unnecessary to Big Frank - especially the noodles. Who eats noodles on the subway??

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And this is no injuction: Big Frank likes to think that this guy is saying: "Way to go Big Frank".

Tokyo Commuters

Commuting
---- Big Frank Dickinson

"The many as noticed by the one:
The noticed one confusing itself with the many
Yet perceives itself as an individual
Traveling between two fixed points."
--- John Ashberry

I, the one with the shify eyes, can understand
That I will probably never ever see these
People whom I am so close to now again;
I pay no attention to them whatsoever.
They don't seem to be paying any attention
To me either; that the unspoken agreement
We have with each other - be nice, but don't look.
Well, I'm not looking . . . at them, I'm looking out
Beyond them out the window of this train at
A foreigner who is taking my picture!
As this train moves off a little piece of me
Stays behind in this stranger's camera as
A collection of digital dots that will be shown
Perhaps, to others, but I will not be commented on;
I will not be seeen. I am a stage prop of sorts
For his photo of Tokyo commuters doing what we
Are doing because we are Tokyo commuters
And what is it that we are doing? We commute, which
Really is just a matter of putting all of us in this car
And then waiting until the right station (should I have
Gotten off here?); before we stop being commuters
And start being part of a moving throng which
Holds us in its collective mass until, pretty much
Until I get home when I then become just me;
But nobody is going to take my picture then,
Unless it's some kind of celebration or holiday,
When my relatives or friends save the images
Or at least capture them to be saved, which
They probably are, but only looked at once
Or maybe twice. I wonder how many times
This foreigner is going to look at us commuters?

Japan Glimpses

Lunch time texting in Tokyo.


Hankos on display in a store window. These are used for signatures in Japan. It's a small stamp and it's pushed on an ink pad and then serves as a signature. The names are in kangi - ideograms. When Big Frank lived in Japan he had one of these made with a miniature version of his own signature - no kangi for Big Frank (I wonder where there is now)!



The raven is not a statue or a stuffed one - it's alive and it flew up and posed for Big Frank. Lots of ravens in Tokyo. This one's got talent - real poise!