Jinxed In Jutland

I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue the alliteration theme with all future posts, but I'll give it a shot...

Ribe from the top of the cathedral

A rather prettily decorated Ribe Cathedral

In keeping with the theme of missing public transport, the Famous Four from Bornholm embarked on another holiday (using our free DSB ticket we received as a result of our problems getting to Bornholm) to Sydjylland - the section of Denmark near the German border on the European mainland. Despite being super organsied and having the itinerary written down in multiple places, somehow, when noting our time of departure for return to Copenhagen, I noted down the time of the train from a town called Bramming (after which my street in Copenhagen is named by the way) instead of the time the train-bus (this is the lovely name given to buses in Denmark which are running 'instead of' trains when the trains can't run for whatever reason) from Ribe. So naturally, we arrived back in town ready for our train-bus, only to discover we had missed it by 10 minutes. DKK 360 later and a little bit of frustration, we got to Bramming in time for our onwards train...

Munchin' in München

A very cool "map of Munich" for the blind - allowing them to
experience the city in 3D

Following the very 'business-like' city of Frankfurt, I moved on to the hustle and bustle of Munich. Once again I found myself in a hotel smack bang in the middle of the red light district - but the location really was convenient (for touring, not prostitution!)

Munich's maypole

Definitely a more exciting and lively city, Munich has a lot of character, is a great city to walk around, and has plenty of things to keep one entertained. My first day was really a 'walking and exploring' day, though prior to this, I got my first pleasant surprise....

Despite the concept of the EU, commodities and services can vary so significantly in price within the zone. My gold chain required a new clip - a tiny pice of 14 carat gold. In Denmark, this was going to cost DKK 650 (~EUR 85). The chain itself probably cost slightly less than that around 10 years ago. The argument presented to me by the jeweller was the increase in the price of gold over that period. The same component in Munich, EUR 25. Holy cow! So, there I was, off to a good start already with EUR 60 in my pocket...

Hitler Would Turn Over In His Grave (aka Frankfurt Has Left a Sour Taste in My Mouth)

Up until a couple of hours ago, I didn't have much but good things to say about Frankfurt. But having just been ripped off in broad daylight in such a way that I wouldn't expect anywhere apart from when I would be an obvious tourist in a third world country (or perhaps when taking a taxi in Sweden...), I now think differently.

Frankfurt has its very own Maggi Noodles restaurant!

Rockin' Roskilde

OK, so I'm not exactly a heavy metal junkie, nor am I a total music nut. In fact, I don't know many other people (besides the friend I went with) who would quite happily book a ticket to a music festival without actually knowing who is playing on the day you're there. Then, once the schedule comes out, only recognising two of the bands (giving a total of no more than 5 familiar songs). No matter, the purpose of our one day expedition to the four day (plus a few pre-days) Roskilde festival was to enjoy ourselves, experience the Danish festival culture, chill out with some nice music, and hear some bands live that I would otherwise never hear. It didn't fail on any account.

Roskilde, home of the famous Viking Museum, is a small town in Zealand, which once a year hosts a multi-day music festival. Approximately 60,000 guests descend on the camp-grounds for up to a week. Another 15,000 or so day-trippers show up each day. I was one of the latter group.

Walking in Their Footsteps - Part 2

I have an old photo, from 1925 (+/- a year) of 2 of my grandfather's sisters at the grave of their father, Yitzchak ben Shaul HaLevi. The grave is in the old Jewish cemetery in Rokiskis. I know that around 10 years ago, my grandfather returned to Rokiskis but was unsuccessful in finding the particular grave of his father. I had the same quest, but figured it would be nice to find the grave of any one in the Ruch or Bacher family. Apart from the problem I'll mention in a second, I knew this would be hard because firstly the headstones would be engraved in either Yiddish, Russian or Lithuanian. And secondly, many inscriptions would not have family names, but just their Hebrew names (X son of Y). The real problem was the state of the cemetery. I had been warned about it, and a good article I was led to an article turned out to be a very accurate description of the place. Some more information can be found at here and at Shtetlinks (though the photos in those linked sites show the cemetery in a slightly better condition than I found it).

Walking in Their Footsteps - Part 1

For a long, long time, I have wanted to visit the places my family come from. All my direct ancestors left their respective homelands on their own free will, but only when they realised things weren't in their favour, and life would be better elsewhere. A few more years and they would have ben more desperate to leave, or, I shudder to think, would have been caught up in the mess of WWII like so many others were.

My maternal grandfather's family hails from a small town in North-Eastern Lithuania called Rokiskis - it also happens to be the capital of the region by the same name. This is where my grandfather was born and lived until he left for South Arica with his mother and three sisters at the ripe old age of 9, in 1929. His two brothers had already emigrated years earlier, as children.

More Killing Fields

It seems as though Rokiskis (probably like Lithuania as a whole) prefers to forget about its Jewish heritage, and I do wonder whether it is due to a sense of guilt. There is very little commemoration of the Jewish population which was decimated. And I mean that there is nothing around, neither in their memory, nor to commemorate their contributions. When it does come to the massacre sites outside of town, without external help, the lack of signage means it would be practically impossible to locate them.

The Bajorai site from the mosquito infested parking spot.