Zach goes Viking

Vikings in Germany?  We were surprised, too until we looked at the maps and discovered Haithabu in the northern finger of German just a few miles from the Danish border.  We loved taking the train all the way to Hamburg (sadly, there was no time to stop for a burger!) and one more train to Schleswig where we spent the night at a fantastic wellness hotel (Hotel Waldschlösschen) before our exploring day.  We spent a long time in December learning about the Vikings, so this was a great way to finish up!

The Wikinger Museum is a series of buildings overlooking a beautiful lake which eventually connects to the Baltic Sea.  Skillfully arranged with artifacts and interactive displays, the museum is well marked to correspond to the English reading guide.  

Upon entering, large maps reminded us where the Frankish kingdom (Charlemagne 742-814 CE) battled the Slavs, Frisians and Danes (Vikings) over hundreds of years for control of this major passageway.

One of the many interesting artifact displays

gold and silver jewelry dating to Carolingians (Charlemagne's time @800 CE)

Haithabu was the largest trading post in northern Europe at the time of the Vikings:  it's unique position made it "simple" (all things considered) to move goods from the Baltic to the North Sea by navigating little rivers and then ox-cart transporting the goods from one ship overland to the waiting ship on the other side.  Evidence of trade (coins, jewelry, weapons, dishes, games (Hnefetafl), iron, furs) from the far reaches of the earth -- Byzantine, Baghdad, China, Russia and Spanish Moors--was discovered by archeologists researching in this area.   The remnants of a viking ship (and a reconstructed model) were displayed in a room looking out over the water and surrounded by videos showing re-enacted scenes from medieval times.

What's left of a Viking ship....

Some aspects of the museum, while not interactive, were certainly interesting to view and learn from.  How does one display small pieces of a culture which existed 1000 years ago and make it engaging?  The curators of this treasure have certainly preserved it well.  

Game treasure chest-original artifact!

All around one room were maps and names of famous cities from the 1000s around the world that came into contact with the people of Haitheby.

Just offshore, archeologists found piles of animal bones in the water:  apparently a medieval trash dump full of clues into the daily lives of these people.

A beautiful walk thru the countryside and down closer to the water, we were able to view a reconstructed model of the original Viking village.  Standing on the 1000 year old rampart overlooking the village, we learned how this giant hill likely helped these folks guard their village for many years.

Reconstructed Viking village        

Viking Leif-Zach

The village was closed for the winter, but in spring/summer, it is a beehive of activity for visitors: showcasing life in a typical village and inviting guests to immerse themselves in the culture:  weaving, iron making, bread baking, etc.  A couple of workers on site allowed us to walk thru the village anyway so we could look thru the windows and admire the setting.  We had to hop the fence when we were finished at their suggestion (or walk all the way around the large enclosure.)  Suffice it to say, I really wish I had not succumbed to the peer pressure of a 10 year old who easily hopped the fence...


The Wikinger Museum definitely stands out among museum greats in Europe and if you're traveling north, it is well worth the time spent!

oven inside a home

 

Rune stone in the village

Wikinger Museum 
Opening hours:
March thru Oktober
open daily from  9:00 to 17:00

November thru  March
Tuesday-Sunday:  10-16:00 (viking houses closed this time of year)

Am Haddebyer Noor 5
24866 Busdorf

Istanbul 2: Museum Day

We enjoyed visiting a few interesting museums in Istanbul, although we wished they were more interactive!  The Science & Technology Museum was full of models of ancient technological marvels with  brief translations in English about their creators.  Perhaps the most intriguing part of this place was the introductory propaganda video about the contributions of the ancient Muslim scientists to the advancement of the world and their ultimate loss of stature when the Romans took over the world, which is apparently now our fault (as evidenced by the many American references in the video!)

   

Entrance to the Science & Technology Museum

Alex was most interested in pretty much everything in this museum *Chemistry*...the rest of us...hmmm....

Archimedes Screw!  It was a long, long year in World History for this boy...

Having walked a few miles in the blistering heat, cooled off only slightly in the museum (have I mentioned few places in Europe have AC?  Their contribution to stop global warming I guess) I convinced the boys we needed to head down into the cistern to cool off.  The Basilica Cistern was featured in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love . Originally built by Emperor Justinian in 532 BCE to store water sourced from near the Black Sea via 20km of aqueducts!  It was neglected for many centuries, even forgotten for awhile, rediscovered and then finally cleaned up, restored and opened to the public in 1987. 

Amazing how every time the ancients built columns they add frilly Corinthian tops even underground!  336 marble columns inside this space roughly the size of of 2 football fields!

For some unknown reason, there are 2 medusa heads at the bottoms of 2 columns; one upside down...

A column of eyes --always rub your hands on the eye for good luck.
Turkey is full of "eyes" to ward off any evil!

Last museum was the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, boasting their position as 1 of the top 10 museums in the world, (I may argue that, but the sheer amount of old stuff in there likely supports their claim).  We were I was captivated by the ancient Greek artifacts and many more interesting pieces from ancient Rome as well as Byzantine era items.  Probably most interesting in all of Istanbul was the plethora of columns strewn about the city streets, as if time had not really bothered with the falling down of yesterday, but rather just moved on to tomorrow, caring just enough to preserve pieces of history under the shade trees.

All these columns had us regaling stories of 6th grade ancient world history
and remembering fondly, Mr. Fleck, at Harman Elementary School in Oakwood!  

Cool artifact #1:  Funeral Stele from Persia 5th century BC

Cool artifact #2:  Late Classical (about 450BC) Greek Lion Statue discovered in Bodrum, Turkey
outside a tomb at Halicarnossus

This beauty once held up a Greek temple with her comrades.

Gergiev Concert & a Pancake (Feb 2015)

The evening program we attended

Here we are, 2 musicians, living in the land where western music began and we haven't taken the opportunity to seek out amazing concerts!  And, what's even more sad, it took a humorous facebook post by a couple of trumpet players, to prompt our visit to the Gergiev Festival!  I had no idea who Gergiev was, but after a little research into the festival, the price was right and the weekend was on.  We found seats in the orchestra so that our view was of the conductor's face:  it was awesome to watch all the facial expressions of Maestro Gerghiev and have a bird's eye view of the pianist.



Zach accompanied us while the other boys stayed home to "study" (video games, no doubt!)  We had a blast taking Mike's  BMW to new speeds on her inaugural autobahn road trip.  On the drive, we listened to NPR's "Meet the Composer" and learned about the story of the Wooden Prince --what a great way to help Zach get involved in the musical story.

A hundred years after the outbreak of the First World War the 2014 edition of the festival paints an impressive picture of big industrial, social, cultural and musical developments in times of fierce conflict. 
The recurring theme is a symphonic triptych with iconic works by Ravel, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and their contemporaries. The Festival programme also features chamber music, lectures, a night concert, jazz and theatre. 

Central Station

Rotterdam is an interesting and eclectic city --an architects' dream, I suppose:  a conglomeration of old and new styles as Hitler virtually flattened the city and used Rotterdam as his example of what would happen to Amsterdam if they didn't give in.  Not surprisingly, the St Laurentius Cathedral was heavily damaged by fire during the bombings; only the walls and tower remained.  It was decades before the reconstruction was completed.  The citizens of Rotterdam decided to rebuild with new ideas, hence, much of the architecture is very different:  including the much photographed Central Station.

Just around the corner was an eclectic street market with many interesting stalls: fish, clothing and treasures.  The best find was a Netherlander pancake called "poffertjes" --translated "heart attack in a napkin"!  It was absolutely dripping with butter....

A peek inside the St Laurentius Cathedral (ca.1495) revealed a sanctuary overflowing with an art show!  I guess to keep the bills paid, they rent out the church space to outside venues.  The organ was installed in the 1970's.

A beautiful Calliope parked nearby with it's little musical serenade was another treat to stumble upon, too. 


Just outside the city were miles of pasture land filled with sheep grazing just beyond the busy highways.  A round about trek (as the bridge was out!)  to find a famous pancake place on the water was our last destination before the drive home.  After many detours thru quaint, tiny villages, we found the old windmill --peacefully turning in the breeze and just beyond, the houseboat pancake place.  Not sure they were my favorite food ever (think pancake pizzas), but the view and the experience were worth the time!

Zach Blogs: Mosques & Minarets Istanbul

Welcome, Guest blogger Zach!  Zach is studying ancient world history and is wrapping up a unit on Mohammed and the Muslim faith.  Here's some of what he learned from studying and from our summer trip to Istanbul.

When did the Muslim religion start and how?  It was started around the 600s by Muhammed, the prophet when the Angel Gabriel spoke to him and gave him directions of how to live out your faith.  Later these visions were written in the Koran.
   
What are the 5 pillars of faith?  The five pillars are the duties every Muslim should do. Giving to the poor; prayer 5 times a day; faith: believe that Allah is the one true god; fasting during the month of Ramadan--even kids aged 10 and up; and you must try to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your lifetime. 

The Mihrab (which is like an altar) always points in the direction of Mecca.  

This mihrab is located in the ancient Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

 What did the people wear? The women covered every spot of their skin except for their eyes.  What are some of the mosque rules?  When in the mosque you must cover every skin part (even the tourists) but your face.  Worshippers must wash their hands and feet, take off their shoes before they enter and face Mecca when they pray.

The Blue Mosque has thousands of blue tiles inside and has 6 minarets.  This highly unusual --the Sultan Ahmed told the builder he wanted gold minarets, but the builder planned 6 minarets because the word for gold and the number "6" are nearly the same  ("altin").  It was built in the early 1600s.

What did the art look like inside the Hagia Sophia? There are geometric patterns & flowers, but they don't use living beings in their paintings.  

This is different from the Christian art.

Muslim art inside the Hagia Sophia when it became a mosque in 1495 CE.

Christian art from the time when the Hagia Sophia was a Catholic Church from 537 CE-1400 CE.

Describe the city sounds near the mosque:  There was a lot of traffic noise and honking cars, mixed up with calls to worship that go off at 5am and continue all day.  The calls, blasted from the minarets, were like something I can't figure out how to write!

Blue Mosque in Istanbul

Hagia Sophia: church, mosque, museum

Our #1 place to visit in Istanbul was the Hagia Sophia:  it was the most studied of all the sites we visited on this trip (in school this past year) and aside from some Greek ruins (later) was the oldest place we would visit.  Aside from the unbelievable age of this structure; the east-meets-west culture and dedication to preserving both in this historic place testify to our ability as humans to work peacefully together.  2 out of 4 of us were fascinated, the others loved the stray cats.

Top 10 Hagia Sophia Moments:

10. Originally constructed in 360 by Holy Roman Emperor Constantius; burned, reconstructed, destroyed and then the amazing Emperor Justinian (and his even more amazing wife, Theodora) completely rebuilt the structure between 532-537 after the Nike revolt.  I wonder if Justinian ever thought about the longevity of his building projects? This marvel, renowned for its massive windowed dome was THE world's largest cathedral for 1000 years (next largest was the Cathedral in Seville) until the Ottoman reign added the minarets (1453), covered up the Christian mosaics and turned it into a very large mosque.  In 1935 it opened as a museum.  In recent years there has been much debate over returning the building to a mosque.

9.  Barrel arches in the entry ways and pieces of columns, arches scattered on the grass from the Christian era of the Hagia Sophia --classic Roman, ok guys?  "Yeah, mom, whatever!" 

8.  The hallway from the door we just entered.  All mosaic tile in the ceiling and the walls have these amazing patterns and colors of inlaid marble.   I was slowing down the tour...

7.  And, inside...even with repair scaffolding, this enormous sanctuary / mosque/ now museum was pretty awesome.  When the sultan acquired the church, all Christian symbols were painted or plastered over and redecorated to reflect the Muslim style:  sweeping geometric designs and calligraphy. 

6.  The place of coronations for many, many centuries of Byzantine emperors.

5.  Zach attempts to replicate the feelings of the emperor upon coronation--to bad they didn't have a costume box nearby for a really cool regal photo!

4.  Visiting Istanbul gave us a realtime introduction to a completely different religion:  here we saw the care & craftsmanship of the mihrab, pointing the direction to mecca.   

the chandeliers were electric now, but still contained the glass containers for candles and gas lamps 

3.  Mosaics --the reason everyone visits this ancient site:  Here, the Angel Gabriel, restored as much as possible, looks down from the ceiling.

2.  I loved that not everything was perfectly restored --this way we have a sense that it takes care and concern to keep a treasure in good repair....like your bedrooms, right guys?

1.  The stairway to the upper level was surprisingly plain --there were graves (now empty) and roof drainage trenches up here.  No stairs --all cobblestone like ramps, and low ceilings!

Last, we found several Christian mosaics and a place where a Viking Crusader etched his initials into a railing. At least that's the story we were told....

The Deësis mosaic probably dates from 1261, based on artistic styles from that period.
Virgin Mary and John the Baptist with Christ.

11th century mosaic showing Christ in his customary Byzantine blue robe and Empress Zoe & Emperor Monomachos donating monetary gifts.  

 Friends.

Summer Grexit & Istanbul Taxis

Our summer 2015 travel adventure led us in search of "the stuff we learned in history class."  At least that was my goal.  The boys just wanted adventure.  And so, by way of Istanbul, we were headed to Athens.  Until the Grexit drama.  Unstable economy & public demonstrations in the news; being told "everything's fine" by the BnB host, but just bring lots (and by lots, I mean LOTS) of euro.  Last minute gut feeling was to cancel until a later date = more time to explore Istanbul.  And, a good decision since 1 day in Istanbul would not have been enough!

We flew in late to the city, so started the real adventure the next morning with the mother of all Taksi rides!  *note:  Alex is in German driver's ed and knows ALL the rules.  Heading from the airport hotel to the old town district was 45 minutes of white knuckled prayer.  The boys were all smushed together in the backseat (no way I was splitting us into 2 cabs!)  with no seatbelts (another prayer the sardine effect works when called upon) and the taxi driver attempting to speak English while I frantically search my pocket guide to conversation all the while keeping an eye on the road!

photo courtesy of carvingaspot.blogspot.de 

Traffic was rush hour style at 2pm and while the Turkish government painted perfect lines (and beautiful highway gardens), no one seemed to care about lanes!  And, no one seemed to care about seat belts.  Every passing car was equipped with a hands-on cell-speaking driver and as if that weren't enough, our sweet driver insisted on sharing photos of his beautiful granddaughter....looked them up while he was driving.....at least his top speed was only 90kph.   Horns blaring, cars swerving, stop, go, phone calls, look at a my photos and before we knew it we were successfully and safely dropped at the hotel!  #guardianangels

The rest of our week was on foot and tram!  First up:  the Hagia Sophia & Kebab

Hagia Sophia