Tag: germany
Köln and Bonn
For my thirtieth birthday, J had organised a surprise trip. This time, unlike so many others, she managed to keep the details a perfect secret for three whole months.
Köln (Cologne)
When work started in 1248 on the Kölner Dom – better known to anglophones as Cologne Cathedral – few of the craftspeople would have expected it …
Berlin
Berlin is a city of strong contrasts and illogical progressions. Graffiti-covered artist squats to cool, glassy government buildings. Triumphant neo-classical architecture to empty plots of weedy wasteland.
Enlightenment, growth, political extremism, the Wall, enlightenment and growth again. It all comes out in the wash.
Larger Map at GoogleMaps
The merits of grandeur
It was probably the restless Frederick II, …
Stasimuseum Normannenstraße
Though the fledgling East German state was tied to a democratic process by wartime Allied agreements, in practice democracy was nominal since all parties were members of a coalition controlled by the ruling SED.
The SED gradually cemented their political power, using peoples’ organisations and the coalition to secure an absolute majority in the volkskammer.
By 1950, …
Monschau and Vogelsang
Occupying the lower flanks of a deep green valley, through which the Rur river flows frothy the colour of beer, old Monschau seems almost hidden away.
Barely a few kilometres from the Belgian border, this little town of timber frame houses embodies the very notion of traditional, upland Germany.
A cold wind pours sleet on the streets, …
Something to do with Lotharingia
When Charlemagne died in early 814, he left behind him the strongest empire known to Western Europe since that of the Romans. Barely a generation later, it had been dissolved.
The wholesale division of territories among the royal issue led to weakness and fragmentation. In the case of the Carolingian empire, the sum of the whole …
La Gloria para El Mejor
Such was the headline at the El Pais website this morning.
There can be little doubt that Spain was consistently the best team on the field in Euro 2008, playing their entertaining brand of fútbol total.
In a thrilling climax to a tournament full of surprises – exciting turns from Russia and Croatia, spectacular deadline management …
Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Austria, 2007
A busy master forger, Salomon Sorowitsch is a man with little concern for political ideals. And that’s what keeps him alive when war breaks out and he ends up in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Receiving preferential treatment to other prisoners, Sorowitsch is given the task of forging the currency that will keep the …
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Germany, 2006
Crass Hollywood remakes of European art film aren’t often successful. The big budgets, the bigger country and the biggest names tend to kill off every single cell of zeitgeist in the original. And I can see that happening here, when they get sad-jowled Nicolas Cage to emote all over this …
Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …
Warche and Warenne
A quiet corner of the Belgian Ardennes, the Warche-Warenne valley is just east of Malmedy. Highlights on this walk included the beautifully restored Château Reinhardstein (originally dates from 1354), long riverside sections and …
- Originally published: 23 Aug 2009 in Walking
Enough already!
What did you expect? You pluck a porcine, no-hope loser out of some dump in Bermondsey. You take her out of her dental nurse job, you shove her into the dentist’s chair …
- Originally published: 21 Jan 2007 in Editorial
Rounding up to 2006
Apologies to regular readers of the Blog That Nobody Reads for the lack of postings. J and I had a leisurely festive season, visiting Sharm-el-Sheikh and Florence with a quiet Christmas in between. …
- Originally published: 17 Jan 2006 in Personalia
Relocating to Brussels: the final haul
I’ve come to believe that the most important thing when relocating for work is to buy some time. Most of the important decisions could only be properly informed by our experience of …
- Originally published: 14 Jul 2008 in Relocation
The Apartment
Director: Billy Wilder United States, 1960 Wilder’s comedy about a clerk who lets his bosses use his apartment for trysts in exchange for career advancement has some unusually dark moments but on the whole …
- Originally published: 15 Jan 2007 in Film
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.