God bless the Plains.

My Dear Great Ones,

I live most of the year in a semi-tropical, humid, at sea level, by the ocean, semi-mountainous region that has lush vegetation but also a very populated city (Hong Kong.)  It is great, but it is always a treat to take a break from that and experience something completely opposite.  Namely, a temperate, dry, high elevation, a time zone from an ocean, flat region, that has sparse vegetation and a sparse population (Southern Alberta.)  

Celia and I journeyed onto the great plains of Alberta this summer and enjoyed it a lot.  We also visited our good friends Brent and Xing-je at Aspen Crossing and had lunch in a converted train car that once carried John Diefenbaker on his campaign trails.  It was a great chewing on an Alberta grown burger while chatting and looking out onto an endless flat vista, with a massive sky.  

Flying over the great plains.

 Meeting up with good friends at Diefenbaker's old train.  Aspen Crossing in the Alberta prairies.

 The train car has been converted into a decent restaurant.

We took a walk after lunch and came upon this random plastic cow.  Celia and I also took some artsy pictures of the impending storm that came upon us.

The following pictures were taken by Celia on our other journeys around Alberta.

God bless the plains.  Amen.  Have a great week everyone.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Dresden Baroque

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Our last day in Germany this summer was spent in Dresden.  The Panometer was great, but so was the "Innenstadt," downtown Dresden.  It is a treasure trove of Baroque buildings.  Baroque was a style of architecture that started in Italy in the late 16th century and was popular for about a century or so in many European cities such as Dresden.  

For centuries the main landmark in Dresden was the "Frauen Kirche."  An architectural marvel it would later symbolize Germany in the 20 th century.  During World War II it was totally destroyed by allied bombers and reduced to rubble, much like most of Germany's cities.  For decades during the old GDR days it remained in ruins and became a war monument.  After the GDR ceased to exist in the early 1990's and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany the Frauen Kirche was rebuilt and has now become a monument to God's grace, forgiveness, hope, and Germany's reunification.  

Other buildings in the Innenstadt were rebuilt back to its former glory after reunification and today it is marveled by millions of tourists and is a great testimony to how wonderful German reunification was.    

Some views of the Frauen Kirche:

The inside of the Frauen Kirche was elaborate:

You can climb up to the top of the Frauen Kirche.  Very interesting to look down from inside...

...and outside... 

The World's largest porcelain mural.  Furstenzug, pictures of 35 princes, kings, and dukes from the house of Wettin  1127-1904.  Wow.

The following pictures are examples of baroque.....

Some cool passage ways:

Street minstrels dressed as Russians sang in the streets creating great atmosphere.

My aunt and her friends knew the Russian songs from their old school days in the old GDR, and with tears in their eyes sang along.

Cool pedways over the streets...

The Zwinger is a series of "World famous" Baroque buildings built in the 1700's in the reign of August the Strong... 

Yeah Dresden has some very interesting buildings...

It was a happy day for the intrepid travelers from Hong Kong....

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

The Best Art Museum Ever

The Dresden Panometer is an attraction in Dresden, Germany. It is a panoramic painting inside a

former gasometer, showing Dresden as it might have appeared in 1756, accompanied by an exhibition. The Panometer was created in 2006 by the Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi, who coined the name as a

portmanteau of "panorama" and "gasometer".

The Dresden Panometer occupies a disused telescopic gas holder in Reick, built in 1879–80. The gasometer is 39 metres (128 ft) in height and 54 metres (177 ft) in diameter. Buildings of this type are particularly suitable for panoramic pictures due to their circular shape and ample interior space.^[

The panorama, titled Dresden 1756, hangs on the inner wall and is 27 metres (89 ft) in height and 105 metres (344 ft) in circumference. It is viewed from a raised platform in the centre, and uses perspective to create a realistic sense of distance. It portrays the baroque Dresden skyline of 1756 – for the most part historically accurate, but with some artistic modifications – as seen from the Katholische Hofkirche. There is a musical soundtrack by the Belgian composer Eric Babak.^[2][3]

My Dear Great Ones,

Going to Dresden was a great way to end off our Germany trip.  Celia and I went there with my cousin Silke, Aunt Burga and two friends from Burga, both named, "Brunie."   What was great about the Panometer was not only the fine artwork, but what I liked best was looking at the people in the picture.  There were hundreds of stories going on the picture and it felt like you were seeing how it really was in the middle ages.  Every 15 minutes the picture would fade into sunset and then nighttime.  You could hear the sounds of the night and lights would come on in certain buildings. Then the picture turned into dawn and the sounds of a new day starting would come on.  Amazing.  If you ever get to Dresden the Panometer is a must see.  

The building of the Panometer is amazing.

This gives you some idea of the size.  The thing in the middle is a three story platform you can climb to get another view of the picture.

On the top of the platform you can look down at the painting and get a whole new perspective.

I was in awe.

So cool.

Celia took many of the pictures in this blog entry.  That is me below reaching up.

The following are some scenes from the picture:

The following are some close ups of people in the picture:

Celia becoming part of the picture.

Have a great week everyone.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk