Topic: Germany

Pink for girls: Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland Paris - excellent fairy-tale stuff.

Germany’s Blockbuster: Neuschwanstein Castle

1.05.2025

When the King is a Queen

As is endorsed, Schloss Neuschwanstein, Germany’s prime tourist attraction perched on a steep rugged rock deep in Bavaria, served as a role model for what was to become the epitome of a castle eligible for the classical Disney story. Its silhouette was even chosen for the logo of the Walt Disney Studios. The elaborate palace is a real estate shrouded in ever-lasting mystery and thus an ideal venue for the incarcerated, bewitched or poisoned princess desperately waiting to be swept away by the handsome heir to whichever throne.

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Coal miners working at the Zeche Zollverein in Germany.

Germany. Zeche Zollverein: Diamonds are Forever

28.04.2025

Events above the pit-web

The actual pit may have been shut down decades ago, but the lifeblood of Zeche Zollverein, one of Europe’s largest industrial monuments, is pulsating powerfully through its veins to this day. Bestowing upon it a new purpose by turning its extraordinary properties into an event location seemed a brilliant idea, whereby the challenge lies in simultaneously complying with the constraints a recognised UNESCO world heritage site has to bow to. The venue shakes up an impressive cocktail of modern industrial architecture corroborated by the moving history of a legendary colliery – and has rightly become a much-regarded landmark – and a meaningful symbol for the Ruhrgebiet region. Zeche Zollverein is the indisputable epitome of coal mining activities in Germany.

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Berlin-Neukölln: From problem child to prodigy?

6.03.2025

It is presumed to be the most colourful, multinational and omnicultural of Berlin’s districts: Neukölln, whose reputation – up to the not too distant past – could be considered controversial at best. Predominantly low-income (German) residents alongside a high rate of immigrants touching the 40 per cent mark have been benefitting from affordable rents and been trying to make ends meet remote from posh Berlin areas. Diverse beliefs; traditions; habits; tongues; skins or dress codes hailing from alien ethnic backgrounds not seldom ignite the precarious potential for social conflict. Better-off Berliners and visitors to the city alike preferred to stay at a safe distance for a reason. Yet, by avoiding the confrontation with a challenging reality, they simultaneously missed out on “glamour” of a quality only thriving in microcosms such as Neukölln.

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Oktoberfest Munich: O’zapft is’!

17.09.2024

On Saturday, September 21st, 2024 at high noon sharp Munich’s Lord Mayor – will once again ceremonially exclaim: ‘It’s tapped!’ The Oktoberfest, a festival recurring for the 189th time, has been exerting its magnetism on the crowds since 1810. It means huge fun for regular folks, works as an illustrious place-to-be-seen for celebrities of all shapes and sizes and could even enhance or jog a career of one trade or another. And it serves as a welcome runway for the presentation of suitably traditional garb (such as Dirndl, Lederhos’n or Lodenjanker) – or for a rare species of couture whose daring crossover creations are at times hard to swallow for the more conservative.

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Lindau Puppet Opera: Swanlake Pas De Deux. Christian Flemming

Lindau/Germany: Why Opera-goers adore Puppets on Strings

11.07.2024

When these shapely legs are swung high during the rehearsal for the Swan Lake performance, they are not made of flesh and blood. Nor, in fact, are any of the lissome corporal parts belonging to the remarkable cast acting on the miniature stage of the Lindau Marionette Opera (House): they are puppets on strings choreographed and directed with an expertise and finesse that leaves any audience open-mouthed with bafflement. And that doesn’t just account for the ballet troupe bobbing their tutus in tune with Tchaikovsky’s legendary Swan Lake ballet: there are works by Mozart, Verdi, Rossini, Strauss, Bizet and Humperdinck on the programme as well. But, how is it accomplished to elicit credible emotions from actors sculpted from wood? Carving features to augment the illusion of changing mien is the craftsmanship their creators are excelling at!

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