New Food #6 - Peaches (sorta.......)

OK, it's not really a new Polish food.  And it may not be a new food to any of you.  But I tried something sort of randomly tonight that turned out pretty well, and I thought I would share.

I picked up some thin (less than 1/2 inch) turkey cutlets to pan fry up for dinner tonight, and as part of dinner tomorrow night.  Besides the chili flavored olive oil, a bit of lemon juice, and a bit of soy sauce; at the last minute I decided to dice up a peach I had that a deep bruise on one side, but was a bit firmer than I usually buy them (I hadn't noticed the bruise when I bought it).

Because the turkey cutlets were thin, they cooked quickly.  And the peach had enough time to absorb some flavor from sauces and lemon juice, and get a bit softer, while not being anywhere near falling apart.  Adding a bit of peach on my fork with a bit of turkey turned out to be surprisingly good.  I'm sure it would work just as well with chicken, and probably pork and fish as well. 

So there it is, not a new food, but a new way for me to eat it.  I had never tried peaches in any state other than raw before, and it was good enough that I decided to share.  :)

Enjoy!

Transatlantyk Film and Music Festival 2012

For the last week Poznań has again been the host of the Transatlantyk Film and Music Festival, 2012 edition.  The founder of the festival is Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, a Polish composer who has composed the scores of over 50 movies, including Finding Neverland, for which he won an Academy Award.

I love film festivals, and this one was great.   I was able to attend eight different films over the week-long festival.  And at only 10 złoty per ticket, they were half the price of normal movie tickets in Poznań, so the festival was very affordable as well.  My only regret was that I couldn't see as many films as I would have liked.  

In this post I'll give a brief overview of each of the movies I saw, as well as a link to the trailer and IMBD page if I have them.  And I'll include at least one movie that I did not get to see got good reviews from co-workers that saw them.

But to start off, the festival has a neat little animation that I linked to below.  Check it out.  There is a high-def version available too.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 3 (14 pics)

I think the title of this post should be "The Cathedrals of Munich", but I figured I would stick with the format I have been using all along.  There are several churches in the old town area of Munich, but the ones I made it to were the Frauenkirche, Michaelskirche, Theatinerkirche, and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

 

 This is a picture of the Frauenkirche.  Unfortunately, it's in a confined area and there was construction going on around it, which meant that this was the best image I managed to get of the exterior.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 2 (9 pics)

Like in nearly every other city I visited on this trip (Nuremberg was the only exception), I had to visit some parks while I was in Munich.  Munich doesn't seem to have the sheer proportion of park space that Dresden has, but it has a giant of a park in the English Gardens.  I only wandered around in the very southern part of the Gardens, but they go on for quite a ways north.  To give you an idea, let me borrow a few statistics from Wikipedia:

• They cover an area of 3.73 km squared.
• They contain over 100 bridges
• They contain 8.75 km of streams (length)
• The contain roughly 75 km of roads, footpaths, and bridlepaths

 
As you can see from this picture, they are also a favorite place for locals to bring their dogs.

Great Train Journey - Munich: Part 1 (9 pics)

The last city I visited on my trip was Munich, and I have to admit that did not explore nearly as much as I could have.  After having spent a week walking at least 8 hours a day (and some days closer to 12), my body was telling me it was time to lay off a bit.  So out of the three days I was there, I probably only explored for about two.  For the rest of the time, I actually did something I rarely do.  I hung out at Starbuck's and other cafe's reading books on my iPad and just relaxing.

One thing that was definitely true about Munich is that it was BUSY and full of people.  I did not take nearly as many pictures in Munich as I did in other cities like Dresden, so the posts on Munich will be short and sweet.  Today, just some introductory pictures around town.

 

This is the gate at Karlsplatz, that leads onto Neuhauser Strasse, the main pedestrian street in the center of old town area.

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 3 (8 pics)

This will be my last post on Nuremberg, and I'm just going to show some pictures of some of the interesting things I saw (that aren't churches, castles, or similar old buildings).  :)

The picture below is from The Way of Human Rights, which is an outdoor sculpture between different parts of the German National Museum.  There are 30 pillars in total, with each being inscribed with one article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in German and one other language.

 

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 2 (11 pics)

In this second post of the series on Nuremberg, I'm just going to show some pictures of the old city.  One of the interesting things about Nuremberg is that the Pegnitz River flows almost directly through the middle of the old city.  This means that there are a number of bridges that provide different views of parts of the old city.

This particular picture is near the western wall of the old city.  You can see another bridge, and the tower above is right new the western wall.

Great Train Journey - Nuremberg: Part 1 (10 pics)

After Dresden, the next city in my trip was Nürnberg (aka Nuremberg).  Unfortunately, Nuremberg was the city I ended up with the least amount of time in due to the length of the train trip there.  This was unfortunate because after Dresden, it was my second favorite city on the trip.  I only had about a day and half to wander around, so I focused on just visiting all of the old city (there are a few streets cars can use here and there, but nearly the entire old city is one giant pedestrian zone).

Nuremberg is another instance of Germany going to great lengths to rebuild and restore old buildings that were destroyed during World War II.  In January 1945, the old medieval city center was systematically bombed by the Allies with 90% of it being destroyed in roughly an hour.  Yet it's been exquisitely restored.  To give you an idea of just how much damage was done, you can check out this map on Wikipedia.  If you check the legend below, the red indicates a total loss.

Today, as you wander around the old town, it's a great place to visit.  Lots of rebuilt older buildings.  Lots of people wandering around.  Lots of restaurants, cafe's, and shops.  It's very cool.  Nuremberg also reminded me of Poznan in that as I was wandering around I noticed that a large percentage of the people I was seeing were young adults.  And after chatting with some locals, I was told that Nuremberg (like Poznan), is a big college city and that a large proportion of the population is college age.

It was an interesting city to visit, and one that I might try and go back to if the opportunity presents.  I know I only saw the old city, and that there were a number of places I had to skip over due to time constraints.

Anyway, on to the pictures.  :)

The Imperial Castle is located at the very Northern end of the old town on a promontory.  It's a bit of hike up a slope to see it and the picture above is looking up at one of the main buildings from the path up.  The Castle was one of the more important fortified palaces of the Holy Roman Empire, and was the home of kings up through at least the 30-years war.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 5 (7 pics)

This will be the last of my posts on Dresden (for this trip).  So I just thought I'd throw a few more interesting photo's out for you to enjoy.

This is one of two statues that stand on either side of an entrance tunnel through the old castle wall.  This is right next to the Hofkirche and around the corner from the Zwinger Palace.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 4 (9 pics)

Like all of the European cities I have visited so far, you seemingly can't walk more than a few blocks before you come across another church or cathedral.  So in this post I'll show a few pictures from 2 more churches in Dresden, the Kreuzkirche and the Hofkirche. 

The Kruezkirche (or Church of the Cross) was dedicated in 1388, and is currently part of the Evangelical Church in Germany.  Since 1491 it has burned down 5 times, and was re-opened in its current form in 1955.

Unfortunately, it is now surrounded by buildings that are pretty close on all sides.  So I was not able to get a good shot of the exterior.  The church is far larger than this exterior shot indicates, and hopefully the interior shots that follow will give a better idea of its size.

 

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 3 (14 pics)

Another of the really cool buildings I visited in Dresden was the Zwinger Palace.  This was the garden, exhibition gallery, and festival area of the Dresden Court of Augustus the Strong.  Like nearly everything else in the city, it was destroyed in the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945.  Unlike the Frauenkirche, the citizens of Dresden voted to rebuild the Zwinger after the war while still part of the GDR.

Unfortunately, nearly all of the Zwinger interior is now made up of museums, and I really wasn't in the mood to go to museums.  But there are a couple of very interesting parts of the exterior of the building.  So took pictures of those as I wandered around.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 2 (14 pics)

While in Dresden I had the opportunity to visit the most spectacular building I've ever seen, the Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady).  Originally built in the 18th century, it's 96-meter high dome (the "Stone Bell") was an engineering feat similar to Michelangelo's dome for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  The church survived for over 200 years as the Lutheran parish church for the city and was a central element of the cities distinctive skyline.  Unfortunately, the original church was destroyed in 1945 during the Allied fire-bombing of Dresden in which over 650,000 incendiary bombs were dropped on the city and the temperature at the church reportedly reach around 1000 degrees C, causing the sandstone pillars supporting the dome to explode and the dome to collapse.

During the Communist era, public sentiment kept the GDR government from taking away the rubble and making use of the site.  A large effort was undertaken to rebuild the church after reunification, using the original plans.  Reconstruction started in 1993 and was not completed until 2005.  The cost was around 180 million Euros, and included a new 4,873 pipe organ.

Quite simply, the results are stunning and if you ever get to Dresden, this should be the absolute first thing on your list of places to visit.

This is a picture of the Frauenkirche (link to the Saxony website on the church in English) looking across the Neuemarkt square.

Great Train Journey - Dresden: Part 1 (8 pics)

After my visit to Leipzig, I took the train to Dresden as my next stop.  I have to say that I absolutely loved Dresden, and it is my favorite city far in Germany of those I have visited (which is admittedly only 6).  It's close to the Polish and Czech borders, which means it's close enough that I am thinking of going back.  From the handy city guide I picked up, here are few interesting points about Dresden:

• It is the capital of the Free State of Saxony
• It is the 4th largest city in Germany
• 62% of the city area is green spaces or wooded areas
• There are more than 13,000 cultural monuments within the city borders (including 44 different museums)
• 30km of the River Elbe lay within the city borders
• Nearly 10 million people visit the city every year
• Vladimir Putin was stationed by the KGB in Dresden from 1985-1990

In my two days there, I barely scratched the surface of what the city has to offer.  And from the guide books and references I've seen, the surrounding area is fully of lots of interesting places and things to do as well.  So if you coming to Germany, try and fit a visit to Dresden in.

I happened to capture this image on my first evening in Dresden.  I had walked up to river Elbe and took this picture looking north toward the Cathedral and Semperoper (Opera House).

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 4 (9 pics, 1 video, + last thoughts)

The picture above is part of the new main building being constructed (are you sensing a theme here when in comes to Leipzig and construction? <grin>) for the University of Leipzig.  The university was founded in 1409 and is the second-oldest university in Germany.  The university is apparently spread around the city, and this new building should centralize some things.  It's a striking design.

Great Train Journey - Liepzig: Part 3 (8 pics)

On my first full day in Leipzig, I headed out to go see the main site that made me want to visit Leipzig.  The Monument to the Battle of the Nations (or Völkerschlachtdenkmal in German).  This monument, built over 15 years from 1898 through 1913, is dedicated to the Battle of Leipzig (also known as the Battle of the Nations) in which the coalition of forces from Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden defeated the forces of Napoleon and his allies in a massive battle between 16 and 19 October, 1813.  It was largest battle in Europe ever until the World War 1 came along.  As you can see the monument is being restored in time for the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2013.

I'm not much of history buff, or a military buff, but I had heard about this place from various people and web sites over the years and the people I talked to all said something along the lines "you have to see it for real to get the full impact" and things to that effect.  And they were right.  It's pretty jaw-dropping when you see it in person.  This is a monument this actually a bit taller (91 meters/299 feet) than the famous Flatiron building in New York which was built around the same time (1902) and which is 22 stories tall.

There is a memorial chamber inside that has a lower area surrounded by warrior statues, and which opens above into a larger chamber that fills most of the dome.  Inside that a four giant statues as well.  None of my pictures of the inside were that great, so I won't show them here.

Also, I have to say that none of my pictures even come close to doing this place justice and it's actually worth doing a Google Image search for it to see some of the other fantastic pictures out there.  Just a few of the ones I found that were really great are: this, this, this, this, and this.

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 2 (10 pictures)

The old town area of Leipzig is not as preserved, or as old, as the other cities I visited.  Nonetheless, there are a lot of interesting places to visit.  One of those places is the Church below.  This is the Thomaskirch (St. Thomas' Church).  Founded in 1212, it was rebuilt several times, with the current church mostly being built around 1537, and then reconstructed in 1702.  It has been the home of a famous choir (the Thomerchor) since it's founding in 1212 and is famous as once having Johann Sebastian Bach as its cantor.  Bach's remains are actually currently buried at the church.

Unfortunately, none of my pictures of the inside of the church turned out very well.  But there are a few more shots of the outside, and some more of old Leipzig in the rest of this post.

Great Train Journey - Leipzig: Part 1 (7 pics)

From July 18th, 2012 through July 28, 2012, I took my first extended vacation in Europe since I arrived in Poland.  There were a number of places in the Eastern part of Germany that I wanted to see, and I had enjoyed my train trip to Berlin earlier this year, so I planned a trip that would let me travel from my home in Poznań, Poland to München (Munich), Germany.  The map below gives you a general idea of my route, but since Google Maps doesn't show train tracks, it's based on road travel.  :)

I left on July 18th from Poznań, took the train to Berlin where I changed trains and took the train to Leipzig, arriving in the early evening.