Joyeux Noel

I know very well that Christmas is over but I really can’t wait till this year’s Christmas to review this movie.  So…

Some of you might be aware of the World War Christmas truce of 1914 when many widespread unofficial ceasefires took place along the Western Front.  It is not a myth, and truly something amazing that took place – there are many survivors who could attest to that, and many letters sent home to show proof that it indeed took place.  Of course, back then the soldiers involved in this weird and unprecedented move were not seen as heroes, but more as errant soliders who defied their superiors’ orders.  Most of them were deemed to have commited high treason and were duly punished with forfeited visits to their families or sent to harsher frontiers etc.

I learnt about this historical event some months back when I was researching for this past trip and what we could do on Christmas Eve.  What I didn’t expect was that it had been made into a film!  It was indeed fortunate that I could catch this movie on our flight home from Paris.

I never liked movies showing scenes of war.  I couldn’t sleep well for days after watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’.  ’Blackhawk Down’ was only a little worse.  As a general rule, I don’t watch movies of such genre because they disturb me profoundly.  But ‘Joyeux Noel’, which is a French movie by the way, is not just about World War I.  It’s about humanity, and how even our enemy is as human as we are, with family and loved ones.  We tend to forget this little truth when we get so caught up in our own passionate disdain.

Somehow this movie reminds me a little of what Atticus Finch told his children in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ – that we never really know a man until we stand in his shoes and walk around in them.  In the book, that sentence stemmed from Atticus’ attempt at trying to teach Jem and Scout about prejudice.  This movie is no different, really.  It was made easier to kill the ‘enemies’ because propaganda had pictured the enemies as barbaric and inhumane.  This was especially highlighted when Father Palmer rebutted the bishop about the true meaning of Christmas, and how the bishop swiftly went on to preach an anti-German sermon to the new troop taking over Father Palmer’s disgraced troop.

I could think of one reason why the superiors were upset with the troops that practiced the Christmas truce, because fact is, it makes it a lot harder to kill the other person along the enemies’ lines when you know who they are, how they missed their loved ones, and how they, like you, had no choice but to be conscripted to go to war.  These young men realised it didn’t matter what nationality they were, or what language they spoke, because they were in actual fact no different.  This is the one true sign of humanity.

I like this movie.  In fact I like it so much that I have bought it over iTunes and am now downloading it to re-watch it.

10/250

The Beautiful Midnight Mass

It was our first day in Salzburg on Christmas Eve.  Prior to the trip, I already planned to attend the Midnight Mass at the baroque Salzburger Dom (Salzburg Cathedral).  Reviews on Trip Advisor and some other travel websites suggested that we should start queueing outside the Church at 10.00 pm for the Midnight Mass because apart from the Austrian Catholics, many tourists – Catholics and not – also like to attend the Midnight Mass to be part of the celebration.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Salzburg was to check out the cathedral to decide when we should start queueing.  There was a notice at the front entrance of the cathedral stating that the Mass would commence at 11.30 pm and that they would start admitting people into the cathedral at 11.00 pm.  To be honest, I was rather startled when I saw the notice, because it must meant that the crowd would be huge enough to warrant regulation.

After exploring some parts of Salzburg Old Town including the Christmas Market, we proceeded back to our accommodation to have dinner.  Well, Christmas is a big day in Salzburg and thus most, if not all the shops were closed early on Christmas Eve.  That left us with nothing to eat.  It was fortunate that the hubby brought some cup noodles along with him on this trip.  I even laughed at him when I saw him packing them in.  I was truly short-sighted.

It’s really quite sad to be chomping down our cup noodles on Christmas Eve while everyone else was feasting with their loved ones, but it’s probably worse if there was nothing to eat and we had to go hungry.  So I should just quit complaining about it.

After our very quick and fuss-free dinner, we bundled ourselves up and left the hotel to brave the cold.  And cold it was. Coupled with the drizzle, I reckoned the ambient temperature must had fallen below freezing point that night.  Salzburg was like a dead town that night; nothing was open.  The only people on the streets were tourists, like us, looking for something interesting to occupy our time.  Fortunately, my annoying hobby (read: photography) came in handy that night.  With me all busy over taking some night shots and the hubby busy trying to shelter me with the umbrella, time passed by fairly quickly.  Though not quickly enough for 11.30 pm to come.

By 9.30 pm, we had run out of things to do but our hotel was too far for us to return to.  We decided to ‘stake out’ near the Salzburger Dom, preparing to join the queue once one formed.  And we waited around for about half an hour before there was some ‘action’ – a group of Americans started queueing at the entrance of the cathedral but we decided not to follow suit till more people came along.  By then, the rain had also grown heavier.  The hubby decided that we should join the queue, at the same time taking shelter at the little porch at the entrance of the cathedral.

And so, we huddled together with many other cold and wet people at the entrance of the cathedral for about an hour before we were allowed entry.  I didn’t know where we should sit so we were walking rather slowly to the front of the cathedral when people started running towards the front pews.  Gosh… I didn’t know some people were so enthusiastic about attending Mass!

Salzburger Dom is truly a beautiful cathedral.  But I didn’t have much time to admire the interior architecture till I was seated at the pew on the last row of the first section, right next to the centre aisle.  Because the Mass was going to be conducted in German, I needed to quickly identify a local Catholic so that I could emulate her actions i.e. kneel when required, stand when required etc.  Thank goodness I quickly spotted a lady with a blue mantilla – a sure sign that she is a pious Catholic.

That lady was my saving grace, because the service was attended by so many non-Catholic tourists who didn’t know what was happening.

The whole Midnight Mass lasted almost an hour, and was interspersed with the singing of angelic voices from the cathedral’s resident choir.  The acoustics of the cathedral was fantastic and the whole Mass was beautiful.  A very befitting Mass for the Lord our God.

Unlike many other tourists who were busy snapping away even during the Mass, I personally found it highly inappropriate to be taking shots of the proceedings during the Mass itself.  I only allowed myself one shot with my iPhone towards the end of the Mass when Holy Communion was about to be received.

It was way past midnight – more like close to 1 am – when the Midnight Mass finally ended. The hubby was quick in ushering me to the exit because he said ‘it was past his bedtime and he was sleepy’.  I asked him to give me some minutes to take a few pictures of the cathedral after the crowd cleared out, and he grudgingly obliged when I reasoned that the cathedral wouldn’t be lit up like this moment again if we visited the next day.  My hunch was right, by the way, because we visited the next day and I couldn’t take such nice pictures without the lighting.

This is my parting shot of the Salzburger Dom.  Not my best attempt ever, but please forgive me, it was indeed way past my bedtime when I took this picture.

8/250

Epiphany

Or sometimes written as 20*C+M+B*11.

During this vacation, I kept seeing this symbol written on the doorway of many homes.  Curiosity got the better of me, and finally at the information centre at Fussen, I asked the staff for the meaning of this symbol written over the doorway in chalk.

In his halting English, he explained that the 2011 referred to the year (which I rightfully guessed) and C+M+B referred to the Three Kings Casper, Melchior and Balthasar.  Apparently Christian homes write this symbol on their doorways at the beginning of the year to bless the house.

I made it a point to check on it via the internet the moment I had internet access back in the hotel.  The helpful man was only half right.  Or perhaps he couldn’t express himself fully in English.  The symbol is written on Epiphany, which is on 6 January, and technically speaking, it is at the beginning of the year.

There are 12 days to Christmas, all of us know that, with the climax to the Christmas Season as Epiphany.  And Epiphany commemorates the coming of the Three Wise Men who went searching for and bringing gifts to baby Jesus. Sometimes they are also known as the Three Kings.  In the Catholic Church, Epiphany is a Holy Day of Obligation (i.e. must attend Mass) and after Mass, the Catholics bring home chalk from the Church to write the symbol over the doorways, followed by prayer.  Some websites also noted that the letters ‘C+B+M’ also abbreviate the Latin phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which translates to ‘May Christ bless the house’.

Interesting.  I never knew that.  And I am also not sure if this practice is active in Singapore but I doubt so.

Oh, by the way, I hope you have remembered to remove all Christmas decorations on Twelfth Night (which is the night of 5 January since Christmas begins on the night of 24 December).  Apparently it’s bad luck to leave the Christmas decorations on beyond Twelfth Night.

6/250

München mag Dich

Ditto.  München, I like you too.

München (or spelled as Munich, in English) is a surprise find.  I was not expecting it to be my favourite city out of the 7 we were going to visit on this trip (Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nuremberg, Munich, Salzburg, Prague, Berlin and Paris).  Instead, I was expecting Prague or Salzburg to top my list prior to the trip.  Imagine my surprise when Munich came up tops in both the hubby and mine list, quite unexpectedly.

Munich reminds me a lot of Venice – which has firmly remained in the top spot as my absolute favourite city in the world – in that although there is a lot of hype about the city, it is actually big enough for one to explore the nooks and crannies, and fall in love with it.  I cannot pinpoint that one point which made me fall in love with this Capital of Bavaria because it is a cumulation of several factors – could be the British elderly man who chatted with us about Singapore at a bakery, the Hard Rock Cafe waiter and his great service, the friendly owner of the Pension where we stayed at, the museums and interesting buildings, or the snowing when we were there.  I can’t tell for sure.

This is the amazing Renaissance Antiquarium at the Munich Residenz (Munich Palace), purported to be built to house the antique collection of Albert V.  It is simply stunning!  And I am absolutely sure that my photography skill does not do justice to this Hall of Antiquities.  In a way, it reminds me much of Vatican Museums especially Sistine Chapel, only that it is newer, brighter… and pictures are allowed!  Lovely place!

Another amazing place I visited in Munich is the Cuvillies Theatre, the formal court theatre of Munich Residenz.  Everything about it just about screams opulence.  And the best part of it all?  Operas are still being held in this very theatre.  You must watch an opera here if you have the opportunity because I’m sure the acoustics must be terrific!  I’m disappointed we couldn’t watch one because we were spending the day in Fussen when an opera was scheduled.

Now, let’s move on to something that may interest the beer drinkers – Hofbrauhaus!  It is arguably the most famous beer house worldwide and one of Munich’s most famous attractions too.  It is huge, I kid you not.  But of course since Oktoberfest had passed when we visited, the beer house was not operating at its full capacity, maybe just 1/3 of it.  And oh, they serve great pretzels, and the souvenir shop just by the entrance carries some really interesting keepsakes too!

And last but not the least, the singular reason why this trip was even conceived – a white Christmas!  It snowed rather heavily while we were in Munich.  It may sound silly, but there seems to be a sense of solidarity amongst the Christmas Market shoppers as we huddled close together in the few sheltered stands sipping on our hot wine and munching on the sausage buns.  The feeling was warm and cosy… and made me feel fuzzy all over.  I like that feeling.

Seems like I will not see my new favourite city any time soon.  Well yes, although I like to revisit places I like, the hubby has kind of set the ‘rule’ that we should instead see more of the world.  So… barring unforeseen circumstances, we shall visit Munich again during the 2020 Oktoberfest while hopping over to Oberammergau for the Passion Play.

Can I start planning for that trip now?

4/250

Germany’s Most Famous Christmas Market

And without a doubt, the title goes to Nuremberg Christmas Market.  Honestly speaking, Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s Christmas Market was a little underwhelming.  Perhaps we was expecting too much and Rothenburg’s didn’t live up to our expectations.  And I know the hubby had his reservations when I assured him that Nuremberg’s was going to be much bigger and much more interesting.  In fact, I wasn’t really convinced myself.

But oh, Nuremberg Christmas Market does live up to its title as being the most popular Christmas Market in the whole of Germany.  There must be close to 200 stalls at this Christmas Market, and although some of the stalls look repetitive, they actually do sell different wares.  I felt like a young child let loose in Toys”R”Us; the hubby had some difficulty trying to make me leave the market each time we walk into it.

Because we also had to accord some time to visit Nuremberg Trials, Nuremberg Castle and the numerous museums, I couldn’t spend as much time as I could at the Christmas Market.  To make matters worse, the market closes at 2000hrs each night.  There just wasn’t enough time for me to browse all the stalls in detail.

Right up till now, I have visited 3 Christmas Markets in Germany – the ones in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nuremberg and Munich – Nuremberg’s wins hands-down as my favourite Christmas Market, although Munich’s is a very close second.  And I have to admit one main reason why Munich, despite not being a large market, has captured my heart is because Munich started snowing rather heavily on the day we visited.  To me, Christmas isn’t like Christmas without Christmas Trees and Christmas carols.  Along the same line, I think Christmas Markets are not the same without the cute little white snow crystals gracing the real Christmas trees with their presence.  But that, I shall write more when I write about Munich’s Christmas Markets.

Blessed Christmas 2011

In true tradition of the Tan family, here’s a greeting card wishing all our family and friends a very Blessed Christmas and a great 2012!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

Self Portrait.  I took this shot at one of the Christmas shops in Rothenburg ob der Tauber just hours before I checked the internet and learnt that the photo challenge for this week is ‘Self Portrait’.  I was inspired at the right moment!

I like this shot a lot because it encompasses a couple of my favourite things in life – one, I don’t take self portraits and this is a rather creative take; two, it’s the Christmas season and three, I was travelling during my favourite season – winter.

I might just crop this picture a little tighter and use it for my FB avatar.  But that has to wait till I get home and have access to Photoshop.  Whatever stock programme on my Macbook isn’t really sophisticated enough for me to play around with.

Rothenburg

It’s been almost a day since we set foot on the soil of Germany. And the rain has been incessant. It’s so bad I’m not even keen to take out my DSLR most of the time. As a result, I really don’t have that many pictures. Add on to the fact that there is no wifi coverage in the room meant that I am now blogging on my ipad, with no means to access the photos on my SD card.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a very beautiful medieval town. But it had been a hassle travelling from Frankfurt, including two changes of the train while braving the rain with our luggage in tow. I can deal with most kinds of weather but I really, really loathe the rain. To think that I was happy I would be escaping Singapore’s rainy season. Ya, fat hope.

Because of the weather, we couldn’t explore the town or the perimeter walls as planned. Instead we visited two museums – the Medieval Crime Museum and The Christmas Museum. Didn’t exactly enjoy the first museum because there were exhibits on torture instruments and legal documents but the latter was a joy to visit. There was quite a bit of history on how Christmas and Christmas Trees came about, and how the decorative ornaments we now hang on our Christmas Trees evolved. Did you know that in the olden days, apples were hung on Christmas Trees to symbolise the Tree of Life? Well, I didn’t know that.

There was also a plethora of Christmas ornaments on sale at the museum shop. The hubby got bored but I told him that was because he couldn’t appreciate the quality of the ornaments. Two to three decades ago, Christmas ornaments in particular those for Christmass Trees were of considerably high quality especially the kugels, which were made of glass and would break if you dropped them. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the kugels are now not made of glass but of some unbreakable but ugly material. Christmas just isn’t like Christmas without the real kugels.

We went to one of the churches near the market square because the schedule indicated that there would be an English tour cum Christmas carolling. There must have been an update in the programme because when we attended the tour, it was conducted in German with no carolling st all. We don’t speak a word of German, and despite knowing it would be rude to leave mid-way, we decided to do so. I am attempting to catch the English tour tomorrow. I hope they don’t change the programme again.

According to my iphone app, tomorrow’s supposed to be a sunny day at Rothenburg. I really hope so. Keeping my fingers, and toes crossed.

In Sweet Rejoicing

This is by far my most favourite piece of Christmas carol, followed by John Rutter’s version of ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’.  I loved singing this version of ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ during the carolling days in university when we had to perform a few sessions a day at several hotels.  Ah, those were the days…

There is just something about singing in a choir that gets to me.  I miss that goosebumps-rising experience.

Christmas Lightings

As a kid, I loved putting up the Christmas Tree together with my granny.  It was an annual family affair and my favourite moment must be completing the finishing touch to the tree – the angel or star at the top of the tree.  Being raised as a Christian when I was under the care of granny (before I started primary school) meant that Christmas is really more of a religious rather than a celebratory festival.  Even the simple act of decorating the Christmas Tree was treated with reverence because it signified Christmas (although on hindsight, I don’t see the connection between the Birth of Christ and Christmas Trees).

This family tradition came to a halt after I left the care of granny and moved in with my parents.  I really missed the times when I sat on the floor with granny, sorting out the ornaments and tinsels.  And so, the Christmas Tree was the first thing I persuaded the hubby to purchase after we got our own place.

The first year when Sugar just came to our home, the Christmas Tree was a very nice touch.  And then during the second and third years when I set up the Christmas Tree, Sugar and Paris both started feeding on the plastic leaves and tinsels.  No matter how I screamed at them or coaxed, I couldn’t make them stop.  The Christmas Tree started balding at about the height of the two girls.  And so it was decided we would stop putting up the Christmas Tree.

Now that it’s a few years in between, I had wanted to bring out the Christmas Tree again.  But for last few years, we had been travelling in December hence the logical decision was not to put it up so as not to collect dust.

Next year, I will see to it that our Christmas Tree stored in the yard gets to see the light of day.  In the meantime, I shall enjoy myself visiting Christmas markets in Europe.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…