Showing posts with label Moldova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moldova. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

LYRIK-Taschenkalender 2014 21. KW 06.05.2025

 


Michael Braun hat den LYRIK-Taschenkalender 2014 herausgegeben. 17 Dichterinnen und Dichter stellten jeweils zwei Lieblingsgedichte mit Kommentar vor. Von diesen wählte der Herausgeber je ein exemplarisches Gedicht aus und kommentierte es. In diesen Taschenkalender habe ich nun wieder Annotierungen und Assoziationen geschrieben. Vielleicht so ein wenig wie Daniel Spoerris: An Anecdoted Topography of Chance (1966 Something Else Press, New York / Cologne). Diese Annotationen stammen aus den Jahren 2023-2025.


21. KW
Immanuel Weissglas: Ahasver

Wenn man nur ein einziges Hemd hat, wird es wohl das sein, in dem man begraben wird, aber selbst das ist nicht sicher.

Wer in die Welt geboren wird, ist Fremder. Wir sind alle Fremde. Könnten wir uns nur kennenLernen, damit wir uns weniger fremd wären.

In der Wüste vergißt du alles, auch das flammende Schwert, und irgendWann geht kein Weg mehr zurück nach Ägypten.

Wer sagt denn, daß der Cherub immer noch mit flammendem Schwert vor dem Paradies steht. Hat er nichts Besseres zu tun? Oder ist er geGangen, gleich dem Tataren in Kafkas „Vor dem Gesetz“?

Fluch und Flucht
Such und Sucht

FlammenSchwert und LichtSchwert der Jedi Ritter

Flucht
Mit dem ersten Schrei in der Welt erKennen wir noch nicht, daß wir uns auf der Flucht befinden. Das erKennen wir erst später, wenn wir das Schweigen erlernt haben.

Flucht
    du fliehst
Nicht
Vor
Den
Cherubim
Sondern
Vor
Der
Eigenen
Tat
Und
Siehe
Einst wird
    Enden
Alle Flucht
 
 
21. KW
Kommentar: Kathrin Schmidt   

Transnistrien -: da war der Bahnhof mit dem riesigen Loch als Toilette. Aber das war noch nicht in Tiraspol. Wir sind dort weder ausgestiegen noch kontrolliert worden. Transnistrien war auf meiner Reise politisch aufgeladen, aber sonst eher langweilig.

Transnistrien ist ein völlig überflüssiges Konstrukt, hätte schon längst mit Moldawien vereint sein sollen.  

Moldawien könnte auch ein Paradies sein.

Moldawien - Hölderlin?  




.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Travel and Toilets



While travelling you have the need of toilets. Sightseeing means you have to look for restrooms. Maybe you take a rest at a coffeehouse, a tea garden, a restaurant and look for restrooms there. Maybe you look for other alternatives. After the train ride from Kishinev to Odessa I thought to give the problem special attention as the first half of the journey the train didn't have a toilet, but you had to use the loo at one of the railway stations. It was very basic, the hole was big and might swallow slimmer people than myself.


Moldovia Railway Station - don't fall inside


Train from Odessa to Kiev - it is robust, looks a bit rusty, but is has been clean


The railway station at Sergiev Posad - no, not what you might think, it's clean, but a used and damaged


A restaurant at Sergiev Posad - OK some unfinished work, but quality and cleanliness of this lavatory are superb


These pictures were't shot inside the Tzar's quarter or at the villa of an oil magnate but in the toilet of the Arkhangelsk car sale Laura, where we rented the car. Besides a toilet there's also a bidet.


At Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) we were quite surprised to find an indication to a water closet ...


... but alas it had only been close to the water.


A coffeeshop in St. Petersburg - a little untidy, but clean



Related links for this travel:

Red Square (Красная Площадь) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/red-square.html  

Cafe Pushkin and Coffee Mania http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/cafe-pushkin-and-coffee-mania.html

The Monastery of Sergiev Posad http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-monastery-of-sergiev-posad.html

Black Sea and Arkadia Beach http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/black-sea-and-arkadia-beach.html  

The Wooden Church of Izhma http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-wooden-church-of-izhma.html  

On Renting a Car in Arkhangelsk http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/on-renting-car-in-arkhangelsk.html  

Outskirts of Kiev http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/outskirts-of-kiev.html  

Statues of old Old Comrades or Leaders http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/statues-of-old-old-comrades-or-leaders.html  

New Logic or No Interest in Business http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/new-logic-or-no-interest-in-business.html

The Burnt Muffin http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-burnt-muffin.html  

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html  

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html

Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels (2012)http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html


Red Square (Красная Площадь)



A visit to Moscow without walking around the Red Square (Красная Площадь) and the Kremlin would be impossible. Walking around in Alexander Garden from the Kremlin entrance you might see the change of guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier, who died 41 km off Moscow, which was the nearest point of Nazi troops to Moscow. Go around the corner in between the red State Museum and the Kremlin and you're on the Red Square. If you want to enter the Lenin Mausoleum, a policeman will tell you: "Lenin is closed. ... Stalin, too." You trod on looking at the huge square, look at Gum (Гум), the famous warehouse, now an upmarket Arcade, wondering 为什么你听这么多的华语 ... why you hear so much Chinese and so little Russian. That's easy - there are busloads of Chinese tourists filling the Red Square. As with the booming of the Chinese economy you find nowadays enough Chinese wanting to see the world. And Moscow is traditionally a place to go. While we were walking across the square, a huge area of the Red Square was suddenly closed by fences. A week later I could watch on TV the big light show, which just had been prepared.

If you move along Gum you'll come to St. Basil's Cathedral (Собор Василия Блаженного), which has been build in some kind of confectionary architecture.

To sum it up Moscow's Red Square can welcome even loads of Chinese tourists, walking around and entering Gum or St. Basil's Cathedral already means a dense schedule.


Guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier - the inscription on the block is Leningrad



State Museum and Gum to the right


Inside Gum


St. Basil's Cathedral



Laser show on the Red Square in front of Gum


Related links for this travel:

Cafe Pushkin and Coffee Mania http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/cafe-pushkin-and-coffee-mania.html  

The Monastery of Sergiev Posad http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-monastery-of-sergiev-posad.html  

Black Sea and Arkadia Beach http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/black-sea-and-arkadia-beach.html  

The Wooden Church of Izhma http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/the-wooden-church-of-izhma.html  

On Renting a Car in Arkhangelsk http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/on-renting-car-in-arkhangelsk.html  


Outskirts of Kiev http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/outskirts-of-kiev.html  

Statues of old Old Comrades or Leaders http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/statues-of-old-old-comrades-or-leaders.html  

New Logic or No Interest in Business http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/02/new-logic-or-no-interest-in-business.html  

The Burnt Muffin http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-burnt-muffin.html  

Love locks from the Black to the White Sea http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/11/love-locks-from-black-to-white-sea.html  

Antoniyevo-Siysky Monastery (Антониево-Сийский монастырь http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/antoniyevo-siysky-monastery.html


On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/on-changing-moldovan-lei-in-odessa.html   

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html   

Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  

Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html  

Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels (2012)http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html     






Tuesday, October 30, 2012

On changing Moldovan Lei in Odessa



As I reached Odessa by train from Kishinev, I still had some Moldovan Lei in my pocket. Odessa is an open-minded city. You get to know friendly people very quickly. There is one exception: when it comes to changing Moldovan Lei. No money changer in the city changes Moldovan Lei. I’ve been to different banks and now I know all the shades of terse, brash, and unfriendly. The worst has been in one bank quite near to my hotel. The account type of an elderly woman in the glass box was yelling at me to read the notes on her box. Actually there were like 20 print out pages glued to the glass – and I’m not fluent in Russian. O.K. on one sheet I discovered the currencies this bank would change and the Moldovan Lei wasn’t one of these. I left the bank and looked back – Bank Antarctica. I should have known from the name that the employees of this bank must have been chosen for their quality of being ice cold.
Nevertheless I didn’t give up and had the idea to go back to where I started, right, the railway station. West of the station is a small flea market and there is ONE money changer, who accepts Moldovan Lei.

Related links for this travel:
The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html
Crime and Punishment (St. Petersburg) http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/crime-and-punishment.html  
Hram Ilias – the hidden silence near the Red Place in Moscow http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/hram-ilias-hidden-silence-near-red.html
Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/kishinev-prologue-of-this-years-travels.html  



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Kishinev – the prologue of this year’s travels


This year I’ve visited Ukraine and Russia with a prologue in Moldova. Friend kept asking me: why do you want to go to Moldava? One reason is, because other people don’t go. You have to look very hard for destinations that aren’t swarming with tourists. Kishinev is such a place. In later blogposts you will also see, that you may be able to find tourist free zones next to tourist attractions.

Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe bordering to Romania and Ukraine, which is on the map since 1991. Its area makes about 80% of Switzerland’s area. The capital of Moldova is Kishinev or better Chişinău on Moldovan, which is virtually Romanian. A small part of Eastern Moldova has proclaimed independence and is called Transnistria, but Transnistria hasn’t won international recognition. It’s quite an adventure to cross a country by train, which has no diplomatic ties.

If you’re interested in Moldova, you’ll get more information on Wikitravel: http://wikitravel.org/en/Moldova  

From the small airport you enter a modern city.

Entering Kishinev

You can visit the house, where Alexander Pushkin lived while exiled in the region. And look at a picture of Zemfira, his great love, on whon he had written lots of poems.

House of Pushkin

Picture of Zemfira

Well decorated rooms, where Pushkin lived

The main religion of Modava is Orthodox Christian. You can visit the churches, even take part in ceremonies. Orthodox Christians use thumb and 2nd and 3rd digit to draw the cross. Roman Catholics draw the cross from left to right shoulder, Orthodox Christians draw the cross fom the right to the left shoulder. When you see that they bow after drawing the cross, it seems more reasonable to do it this way.


In a church in Kishinev


From the outside

Aminteste ti gustul -: did you ever had cvas (or квас)? Kvass is made from fermented rye bread, it contains a little alcohol. I’ll come back to kvass later in another blogpost, when I talk monastery kvass like it’s mentioned in Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Kvass seller in Kishinev


Old trolley bus – and of course the German car industry exports to Moldova


Leaving Moldova by train, I had the pleasure to look at railway stations, where time hasn’t changed anything