The Chimpanzee that played Hitler – Obitury

I was sorry today to learn of the death of Cheetah the Chimpanzee.  As most people know, all elderly Americans retire to Florida at some stage, and the well known actor from the Tarzan films was no exception, living out his twilight years in an old chimps’ home on the panhandle.

What not so many people know is that Cheetah was one of the best impersonators of Hitler in Hollywood. As a fitting obitury to the great actor of the Tarzan films, I’d like to share this clip of Cheetah in his best role.  Enjoy!

German Christmas markets 2011

Over the past few weeks in most German towns, little wooden huts have sprung up on squares and along the main shopping streets. Behind shutters we heard scuffling and hammering, mysterious bags and boxes were unloaded, cables laid, lights tested… wafts of aniseed and cinnamon and ginger…  a general air of mystery and excitment.

And now, this weekend most of the Christmas market stalls are finally opening up. The bratwurst and waffles are sizzling, the wine mulling, the stalls full of craftwork and sweetmeats are overflowing with novelties.

I walked through part of the Duisburg Christmas market yesterday lunchtime and got an impression of what they have to offer there… for a start the choice of food was surprising. One stall was just beginning to roast a whole hog…

Why settle for a Bratwurst when you could eat the whole pig?

Another was starting to flame-grill some salmon…

The smoking ban clearly doesn't extend to salmon...

Traditional sweets, nuts and candied fruits are everywhere…

It wouldn't be Advent without toasted almonds

Being only a short distance from the Dutch border, there are plenty of specialities from the Netherlands too – sold from Dutch gabled huts

Poffertjes are technically a Dutch speciality - but the Germans love them

I’m not entirely sure why there was a Viking ship in the town centre selling Glühwein – but it certainly stood out. I didn’t see any Vikings, and the figure of Saint Nicholas on board looked decidedly tipsy…

Glühwein served from a Viking longship? Well, I suppose it gets cold up North....

No Christmas market is complete without a German Christmas Pyramid. This one was a fine specimen because it actually has an integrated Glühwein stand…  no German city should be without one!

Glühwein served from a German Christmas Pyramid

 

Lovely old German vehicles…

I was out and about in Duisburg today and I spotted these two beauties.

First up, a red BMW motorbike with sidecar – not the newest but definitely oozing with retro-charm. Getting in and out of it might be a challenge… but who needs to wear a pencil skirt anyway?

Must-have transport for the aging hippy...

Second, the door-to-door grocer was out and about with his yellow deli-van. One half  is a greengrocer, the other a butcher and vendor of fine condiments. Dairy in the cool box in the middle. A very fine selection of home-produced sausages, hanging up at the back. Much more fun than queueing up at Aldi!

Stop me and buy one!

The people of Duisburg are obviously quite inventive actually. For instance, instead of the ubiquitous Internet-café they can offer you the Internet-hairdresser.

Surf and blow-dry?

There was also a lego-man down near the harbour. I suspect he’s German. It’s the socks and sandals that give it away…

Fashion faux pas

 

Sniff a German bum today!

You’ve got to love German marketing. Not content with a penchant for moist toilet tissue, the Germans are now marketing the aforementioned product with a delightful image of a lady in very close proximity to someone’s rear end. She appears to be conducting a bottom inspection. Possibly giving it the sniff test. Though judging by the way she’s wrinkling her nose, I’m not sure this one passed muster.

Sniff that bottom!

Perhaps there’s a whole new cultural ritual I’ve been missing all this time. Obviously I know that dogs like to check out each other’s rear ends, but I wasn’t aware that Germans do this too!

A weekend in the Eifel

We spent this weekend in the hilly Vulkaneifel region of Germany, visiting the pretty town of Kaisersesch.

The first thing we noticed was that something about the spire of the church next to our hotel didn’t seem quite right.

Had the spire-builders been on the schnapps?

In fact from below it looked a bit like a witch’s hat…

Wonky spire... with a brim

The historic prison building had forgotton to release this chap when it finally stopped being a jail and started being a museum…

Could anyone lend me a nail file?

Other statues in the town seemed to be having more fun….

Come on in! The water's lovely!

Typical local postal worker?

 

So here we are in August…

… and in the shops you can see amazing bright coloured cardboard cones everywhere.

Like a Christmas stocking on the first school day

These are essential accessories for every child starting school for the first time. Their parents fill the cone with sweets and little gifts (often school related, like pencils and crayons) and the child takes it to school on the first day. At the end of the first school day, they are allowed to open it and have all the contents. Of course school-life goes downhill rapidly from this glorious start!

Of course the end of August is the right time for these cones to be in the shops.

I was rather less enthusiastic to find the first flush of Christmas Lebkuchen clogging the aisles though.

Premature Christmas Fare...

I know the weather’s been chilly… but surely nobody thinks it’s Christmas yet?

 

Street scenes in Aachen

I had to go to Aachen this morning.  It was a sunny day and lots of people were taking the opportunity to have a paddle in one of the local fountains, along with some statue-people.

Real people and statue people enjoy the warm weather...

I can't reach my toy boat....

Is that statue picking pockets?

I also came across a small boy with some vomiting fish… or something like that…

Projectile vomiting fish?

…and a bird bath, but no real birds, only bronze ones…

Fake birds... and no wonder, the bath was empty!

What I really did like though, were the hanging baskets. Aachen has the biggest hanging baskets I’ve ever seen! They looked more like trees, because by now the petunias had all grown together… fabulous!

Giant hanging baskets....

 

Remembering…

I visited Moers this week. When I was there I came across the ruins of a synagogue in the shopping centre. There was not a lot left – it had been destroyed during the war. Actually, even the doorway which appeared to remain was a replica, rebuilt as a memorial on the site of the old synagogue, with the names of all the murdered jews from Moers inscribed on the inside of the doorway. A permanent reminder of what happened here back in the 1940s.

The site of the former Moers Synagogue

Names of the dead

 

More German street art…

I was in Viersen this week and I spotted plenty more interesting street art.

To start with, there was this group of figures playing boule…

A game of boule...

Then there was a strange bee-hive which seemed to be home to a range of weird bugs.

Beehive... or bug-basket?

Then there was a bishop sitting amidst a range of weird creatures…

Doctor Doolittle or St. Francis of the hallucinogenic pills?

A few details of the surrounding statues…

Cluck cluck

Hissss

A little further away there was a pair of angels engaged in WWE wrestling… or something…

Ready for the smack-down?

…or possibly it was Icarus being caught by a very skilled out-fielder…

Icarus caught out on the boundary...

 

Street art in Germany

I was out and about this morning in the part of Germany over towards the Dutch border.  You know… near that place that makes every Brit giggle as they pass the Ausfahrt on the Autobahn.

What I found interesting around there, was the wide range of ways local communities choose to “decorate” their streets. For instance, in Nettetal I found weird brick mounds in the street… and trees made from scrap iron….

Not all of the artwork was in particularly convenient places. I bet this outdoor café owner was chuffed when someone decided to build this right in his main seating area!

Further up the road, Grefrath was a bit more traditional about its street-art. There was a cross between a ship’s mast and a maypole with banners on it for all the local clubs and guilds.

The Grefrathers also have a slightly more traditional sense of civic art when it comes to statues. This was on the square.

I’m not sure what it was called, but I think I’ll refer to it as: Naked children wrestling with a lump of putty