It has been a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. In Part 1, we posted photos of places we visited in the second half of 2019. Here are the places we visited in the first half.
In reverse chronological order:
Rapperswil on the shore of Lake Zurich
Feusisberg overlooking Lake Zurich, Switzerland, the boats were waiting for the firework on Swiss National Day (August 1) to start after dark
Feusisberg, fireworks from towns around Lake Zurich on Swiss National Day (August 1) – looking in the direction of Zurich – hope it is not too dark online
Place de la liberation, Dijon, France – of course, we visited a mustard factory
Vignoble de Bourgogne (Burgundy) – off D974 between Beaune and Dijon
Rincon Park – San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge
Powell and O’Farrell, San Francisco
Santa Barbara, view from Belmond El Encanto
Santa Barbara, view from tower at County Courthouse
Lake Cachuma, on the way to St Ynez – lots of rain recently
Heading north out of Los Angeles near Malibu, due to the rain, yellow flowers were blooming
Albertina, Vienna
Hotel Bristol, Vienna
Hlavné námestie, Bratislava, Slovakia
Lenbahhaus, Munich
Munich in January, Frauenkirch (cathedral) visible in a distance
We have moved here about a decade ago, and started this blog just before our departure from New York. So this blog is 10 years old ! We took a break from updating the blog earlier this year because of other projects. But we are committed to keep this going as long as possible, even if the posts are less frequent and regular.
It is a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. We traveled quite a bit in 2019, possibly more than 2018, at least in terms of capitals visited. Chris had been to Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava, Bern, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo.
In reverse chronological order:
Basel – Christmas markets – originally we wanted to visit Strasbourg but the French train strike …
St Alban-Tor, Basel, Switzerland
Chateau Grandson, near Yverdon Les Bains – on the shore of Lac Neuchatel, Switzerland
The Zytglogge, Bern, Switzerland
Brandenburger Tor Berlin, Germany
Berliner Fernsehturm & Alexanderplatz, Germany
Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany
Bauhaus museum, Weimar, Germany
Leipizig University, Germany
Leipzig opera house, Germany
Imperial Palace 皇居 from Otemachi Building 大手町ビル, Tokyo
Yurakucho 有楽町 near Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
Samseong dong 삼성동 near Coex, Seoul, South Korea
Samseong dong, Seoul, South Korea
Qian Men 前门 near Zhengyang Gate 正阳门 Beijing, China
The Place 世贸天阶, Beijing, China
Photos from the first half of 2019 will be in our next post.
We visited Taiwan in November last year. It has been many years since we lasted visited this island. We only had time to see Taipei.
Upon arrival, we checked into a spa hotel in Beitou 北投 in an area north of Taipei, which is famous for its volcanic sulfurous hot springs. Nearby is the former residence of Marshal Zhang which has been turned into a commercial enterprise – 少帥禪園 that include a tea house, a restaurant and a foot spa.
The residence comprises several small buildings built on a steep hillside overlooking Beitou and the Thermal Valley 地熱谷. The buildings are connected by walkways and stairs.
View of the roof of the residence and Beitou in a distance.
The gardens are very lush and well-tended. There are lots of little cutesy ceramic animals scattered all over the place. A bit too much if you ask me. I am pretty sure there were none when the Marshal was living there. You will notice them in the pictures.
The whimsy decorations soften the historical purpose of the residence – it was a place of house arrest for Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsueh-liang 張學良 (1901-2001) nicknamed the “Young Marshal” (少帥), who was detained for almost 40-year period (1949-1975).
His study includes a photo of the “young marshall” and his lover 趙一荻 (nicknamed 趙四小姐, later his second wife) who accompanied him at this residence.
We know very little Modern Chinese history. My school did not teach Modern Chinese history.
He was a Manchu warlord who became a republican marshal and played an important role in shaping the Chinese world as we know it today. We will go into his story in the next post.
The residence was originally a part of the complex of the Xin Gao Hotel, built in the 1895-1945, Japanese colonial period.
In 1920, it was turned into a club for the Japanese military. During World War II, it was also a spot for the final pleasures of kamikaze pilots before they headed out on their suicidal missions.
A building which housed the guards who watch over the young marshal is converted into a tea house (open only in the afternoon). A beautiful set of drawers surrounded by soft toys and knickknacks is visible at the entrance to the tea house.
There is a place to soak one’s feet in warm sulfurous whitish water piped in from a nearby hot spring.
Flanked by banyan trees with hairy aerial roots, it was a shady, breezy relaxing spot. Perfect after some walking and just before lunch.
We booked a table for lunch at the restaurant. Our next post will feature the story of the young marshal, to be followed by a post on the fabulous food we had.
It has been a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. In Part 1, we posted photos of places we visited in the second half of 2018. Here are the places we visited in the first half.
Click on the links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
Real Madrid scored against Liverpool and went on to win the title 3-1 – Marcelo, Bale (2 goals – 64′ and 83′), Benzema (1 goal at 51′), Modric and Ronaldo
It is a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. We traveled more in 2018 than 2017, at least in terms of distance traveled. Chris had been to Hong Kong and Tokyo twice and went to the Middle East.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
Wadi Rum is a protected area covering 720 square kilometers of dramatic desert wilderness in the south of Jordan. Huge mountains of sandstone and granite emerge, sheer-sided, from wide sandy valleys to reach heights of 1700 meters and more. Narrow canyons and fissures cut deep into the mountains and many conceal ancient rock drawings etched by the peoples of the desert over millennia. Bedouin tribes still live among the mountains of Rum and their large goat-hair tents are a special feature of the landscape.
If you are curious about the local geography/topology, there is a map of the desert and rock formations online here.
The experience in the desert was otherworldly to say the least. There was not much wind (thankfully) and it was not scorching hot. There was no smell.
Distance was difficult to estimate except by the haziness of more distant objects. By the way, there are a few tents just below the smaller rock formations if you can spot them.
While criss-crossing the desert in canyons formed between the little and big rock formations, our guide took us to see some markings made at Thamudic times. Apparently, as much as the desert looks hostile, Wadi Rum has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times.
Nearby there was a caravan of camels … that is another touristic thing to do. All the people living in and around Wadi Rum today are of Bedouin origin and, until recently, led nomadic lives, relying on their goat herds.
Have a camel ride in the desert … exotic but I think it would be really uncomfortable and potentially dangerous if one does not know how to ride.
There are sand dunes and they are found mostly piled up agains the rock formations. They are difficult to climb as your feet sinks into the ground and sand pours into your shoes.
We started around 3-4pm, so by the time we saw the camels, it was getting hazy as the sun is setting.
Not only the vista was stunning, it was also very quiet (except when we were on the back of the truck with the engine and wind noise).
Our guide said he will give us a treat by taking us to a spot to see sunset (Al Ghuroub). We sat on this rock ledge and enjoyed the silent sweeping vista. The sun was mostly hidden behind clouds on that day.
Transcendence is the word.
This spot, not only afforded us with a vantage point, it was also used in the movie, the Martian. Many other movies about Mars were made around here.
It has been a tradition of this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. In Part 1, we posted photos of places we visited in the second half of 2017. Here are the places we visited in the first half.
As you will see, we went to the two other capitals on the British Isle, the administrative center of the Netherlands, and the wine capital of France.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
This is our first post of 2018. It is a tradition of this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. Overall, we traveled less in 2017 than 2016, at least in terms of distance traveled. We did not leave Europe after our Hong Kong trip concluded in January 2017. But we entered the Arctic Circle, visited the capital of Norway, England, France and Portugal.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
In reverse chronological order:
Oslo, Norway, December-January – Astrup Fearnley Museum
Tromsø, Norway, December – 350 km inside the Arctic Circle
London, December – overnight business trip
Paris, France, December – on the Grande Roue
Lisbon, Portugal – attended a conference at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown
Rotterdam, Netherlands, in November – outside the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
This is our second post of 2017. It is almost a tradition of this blog – the first two posts take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. I(Chris) had the good fortune of having visited the capitals of 6 countries – Japan, Italy, Russia, Korea, Spain and France – in 2016, some for work reasons.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
This is our first post of 2017. It is almost a tradition of this blog – the first two posts take a look back at some of the places we visited last year.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
We spent a weekend in Verbier towards the end of July this year. Kind of a last minute thing. Verbier is about a little more than an hour’s drive away.
Verbier is a primarily a ski resort but during the summer, it actively promotes itself as a haven for outdoor sports. Not just hiking and biking though, it also put together a classical music festival.
The music festival is best known for an intimate atmosphere (since it lacks any big venue) and a didactic tradition (masterclasses, student performances).
We were lucky because the weekend we went coincided with the annual village fair. One of the main event took place in the Alpage des Grand-Plans, Les Planards, an open pasture above Verbier.
Apart from a street market in the village, they also held the annual Bataille des Reines (“Battle of the Queens”) – an institution in the local community.
The highlight of the full day event was the Battle – a cow fight. There are no matadors, no enraged bulls and and no stabbing. Humans are not involved here.
This is a tradition that has grown out of letting the cows establish a pecking order.
The cows are sorted according to age and weight before being led into a ring.
The animals were nonchalant around people and standing calmly as a group until provoked.
They appear to ignore each other and eat grass until they decide to get into a bit of a head butting contest.
They were all wearing their cow bells so there were a lot of clanking noise.
We did not see the end because it took them a while to get the cows started and then to separate them. But it was fun.
It was a nice day and we got sunburned because it was not hot or sweaty at that altitude and we did not wear any sunblock.
It is odd to write this post about summer pastures while it is probably snowing up there and knowing that the same place is now all white and rather cold.
IT and I visited the Vitra Design Museum at Weil am Rhein in April 2016. It is a beautiful, well-designed (duh), starchitect-built campus – more about this place in future posts. From 26.02 – 29.05.2016, in a free-standing gallery next to the museum, the exhibition titled “Objection! Protest by Design” was held.
The exhibition presented a number of objects that was spawned by the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement 雨傘運動 in Hong Kong that took place between 26 September 2014 and 15 December 2014. Much of what I wrote below came from the Vitra-distributed exhibition guide.
In a reaction to proposed changes in the electoral process in Hong Kong, spontaneous student protests erupted in Hong Kong. The protesters created numerous informal and improvised physical structures, graphic images, digital art, and online networks; protesters used the umbrella that gave the movement its name to protect themselves from the police.
“Broken” by Jonathan Mak. Notice the fractured leg and an off-balance star and the tiny umbrella beneath it.
There were two large “tables” which were overlaid with a large scale birds-eye view of the streets in Hong Kong.
Protesters were highly organized in their occupation of three main heavily trafficked protest sites: Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay.
Do click on the map below here to see in details the Admiralty site.
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A large number of installations (barricades, means to cross the expressway median), first aid stations, study areas, press stands and camp sites appeared in the 8-lane expressway and two shopping districts to become voices and means of protests.
The appearance of these installations were recorded and mapped, and shown on these two tables.
Mong Kok
A number of barricades were set up to create a safety zone in order to make a defined space for resting. They were recreated here by 3D printing.
The Lennon Wall was created by students and social workers with Post-Its on a wall of a stair leading from a street up to a pedestrian footbridge in Admiralty.
They invited people to write down their hopes and reasons for staying in Admiralty after the police tried to disperse the protestors with tear gas.
At the end of the occupation, the Wall was taken down and parts of it were preserved.
The exhibition wanted to show how design not only shapes and define products, but can also function as an agent of change in politics, communications and social innovations.
I hope the people of Hong Kong all voted and voted wisely today.
The Shchusev State Museum of Architecture is presenting an exhibition of the original plans and photos of the Moscow Metro (Метро, March 17, 2016 – August 14, 2016). It will close in less than a month’s time. So go see it or click here to visit the museum’s web site.
The Shchusev Architecture Museum is celebrating the magnificent Moscow underground system with an exhibition called “Moscow Metro. Subterranean Monument.”
Visitors can retrace the history of this symbol of Moscow in the exhibition halls of the Architecture Museum and be convinced once again that the metro system is not just public transportation, but a living museum.
Because it came out of research in their archives, “Moscow Metro. Subterranean Monument” focuses on the first four stages of metro construction, between 1935 and 1954.
The drawings of such renowned architects as Ivan Fomin, Alexei Dushkin, Dmitry Chechulin, Alexei Shchusev and Vladimir Gelfreikh are exhibited alongside photo chronicles from the TASS news agency, photographs and documents from the Shchusev Museum and the Moscow Metro Museum.
Not only are the designs fantastic, the draftsmanship on display is superb.
The exhibition presents the Moscow metro as an architectural and artistic wonder, an important part of Russia’s history and development. The curators hope that the exhibition will aid them in their efforts to include the main stations on the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.
“We want to draw people’s attention to unrealized plans and the many variations of architectural design, and we hope that Muscovites and visitors to the city will appreciate our exhibition and see its value.”
Stations such as Sokolniki, Teatralnaya, Mayakovskaya, Kropotkinskaya, and Komsomolskaya are presented in their first paper incarnations, and you can compare the original ideas to what was eventually constructed. You can also see structures and details that were torn down and lost.
Many Metro stations and pavilions were erected as the result of architectural competitions, although winning projects were often altered in the building process.
Particularly valuable in historical terms are original versions of Moscow Metro station plans and decoration designs that noticeably differ from their present-day appearance.
Unique station projects entered in competitions but never implemented are exhibited here for the first time.
These rare architectural drawings are complemented by photographs from different years, as well as photographic records of structures that no longer exist and are now lost to posterity.
Beside baroque and neoclassical styles, the more recently proposed stations are modern and exude an uniquely Russian aesthetics, utopian and futuristic.
The drawings are behind glass, hence some ghostly reflections in the photos.
Although there were some English explanations on the wall, I wanted to buy the exhibition catalog. But the catalog was not yet ready.
This youtube video is a true gem – not only are the photos bright and vivid, showing so many of the stations, including the lesser known modern and hi-tech ones, the accompanying lounge-y music soundtrack is also superb. Don’t miss it.
Part of the reason we went to Japan in February is this woman. She is not getting younger and we reckoned if we do not grab a chance to see her perform live on stage soon, she might retire. Hope she will be around longer than David and Prince.
We are not die-hard fans but enjoyed her music over the years and heard many good things about her concert tours.
We could have seen her Rebel Heart tour in Zürich in December 2015. But IT managed to get tickets for Tokyo. Japan is certainly a more exotic location to see her than Switzerland. Initially, she had one concert in Tokyo but as it was sold out quickly, then she added another date on February 14.
Her concert was held in the Saitama Super Arena located just outside of Tokyo – a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama City, it’s a bit like Wembley to London or Flushing Meadows to NYC.
It was in the news that her concert held the day before started two hours late. So we took our time and arrived about an hour late. People were mostly seated when we entered the arena. Within 10 minutes of our entrance, the concert started. Great timing.
Our seats were not bad but not great either. You can sort of see what’s happening on stage but really too far to feel it. The big screen helps but it is not like being in the pit.
She did not have an opening act (as far as we know since we arrived late).
Having dancers on the flexible poles (like in Mad Max 4) was a novelty. They were swinging wildly on top. Very acrobatic indeed.
She did some songs from her latest record and a bunch of old favorites – e.g., Like A Virgin – the white “thing” on stage (below photo) is Madonna in her bridal outfit.
She performed well throughout, definitely aerobically fit for her age, but somehow the energy I was expecting was not there. May be we were too far from the stage or we set our expectations too high.
We saw some fans dressed like the 80’s Madonna but not many people were dancing.
The showed ended after a little bit more than 2 hours. She did one encore.
Bye Bitches !!!
Overall, it was a fun experience but not as much power and action as we hoped though.
On Valentine’s day February 14, Sunday, we encountered a protest in Tokyo.
Harajuku is the geographic area spreading from Harajuku JR Station south along Omotesando down to Meiji-dori. It is better known internationlly as a center of youth fashion – especially Takeshita dori (竹下通り). After we crossed Meiji-dori, Sue and IT stopped at a vintage clothes stand to peruse second hand fur coats and kimonos.
We heard them at first, then we see a column of protesters led by a police van, clearing the streets ahead the crowds.
“Smash Fascism ! Abe out !”
Rappers doing their thing on trucks were leading the chant.
“Take Back Democacy. Keep Calm and No War.”
“Teens stand up to oppose war.”
People from all walks of life participated. Not just young people.
Young and old people, men and women – . “This is what democracy looks like …”.
The protest was very organized and people were behaving. But it created a huge traffic jam on Omotesando all the way back to Aoyama dori.
We saw the protesters again just outside the Harajuku JR station.
“No nukes. No war.”
“Make some noise, Tokyo”
They certain did make a lot of noise. A peaceful successful protest indeed.
Continuing with our first post of 2016, this post takes a look back at the places we visited in the first half of last year. In 2015, there were 94 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 650 posts. The post that had the highest number of views in 2015 was about our visit to a durian stand in a night market in Malaysia.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
This is our first post of 2016. It is almost a tradition of this blog – the first post takes a look back at some of the places we visited last year.
Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.
In reverse chronological order:
Swiss alps featuring Matterhorn – we went up to Zermatt on December 30 – this was taken from a view point at Gornergrat – 3,135 m (10,285 ft)
Continuing with our tour of Expo 2015 in Milano … part 1 is here
One of the pavilion that we wanted to see (as we have heard much praise about it) was the Padiglione Giaponne (Japanese Pavilion). But it was so popular that when we found the tail of a long line coiled around the back of the pavilion – we were informed by a notice board that, according to our position in the queue, we were three and half hours from the entrance.
We gave up.
Here is another sign which said that if the line is here, the wait is five hours – that kind of line must have occurred during the weekend. Who can wait that long ? Crazy. But they are serious, it says – to make the last entrance at 8 pm, the last time to join the queue is at 3 pm !
If you look carefully at the sign, disabled visitors or people with infants have a shorter wait (50 minutes versus 300 minutes). My friends who brought a young child and a baby carriage confirmed the advantage. Only parents are allowed to go in with the child.
The other pavilion where we actually spent some time inside was the South Korean pavilion. The wait was only 1 hour as announced but it was actually less than 1 hour.
The Korean pavilion put on a more hi-tech and simultaneously artsy exhibition.
Kimchi was artfully glorified as a traditional healthful food.
This little boy is not static, it looks like a hologram of some sort.
This exhibit employed two industrial robot to move around the space (silently), turning and spinning around two giant video screens while the graphics flows back and forth in unison. Nice.
We had dinner at the pavilion, partly because it was about to open (so there was no line outside).
But we wandered how authentic would the restaurant be, given the surroundings. Well, it was run by Bibigo, owned by a chaebol – CJ-Cheiljedang (CJ제일제당) – it was ok.
More corporate speak – “Expo 2015 was also a great laboratory of ideas and insights, an opportunity to rediscover old traditions and to learn about cultures and distant lands, a window on the world of technology and innovation, which has allowed us to peek will be the future of agriculture and food production worldwide.”
Belgium – “a time corridor leading to food’s future”
This is a system of hydroponics and aquaculture where the fish poop in water is directly used to fertilize the vegetables grown under artificial light.
China – “a wheat field blowing in wind reminds us we are part of the planet” – the orange flowers were chrysantheums.
Czech Republic – “nature, innovation, tourism and art … all in harmony beneath the same roof”
Our overall impression is that the idea of the Expo was exciting but its contents were overrated. The actual experience of attending the event was downright exhausting due to the sheer number of visitors and long hours of waiting. Nothing in there was worth waiting for hours after hours standing behind a line of people.
The next Expo will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan with the theme “Future Energy” and Dubai will host Expo 2020 having selected the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.
Kazakhstan in Milano
Click this link to see all 52 pavilions built by the participating countries, and the 9 clusters which included exhibits by additional countries. One can explore further links to the specific exhibits inside each pavilion. There is really quite a lot to see at this site.
In October, we took a tour of Milan and Venice – to see the World Expo 2015 and the 56th International Art Exhibition (La Biennale di Venezia). IT joined us for the Venetian leg of the trip. Here are pictures of the Expo 2015.
The line to enter was not as bad as we thought but there were far too many people everywhere.
Pavilion Zero located at the main entrance provides an introduction to the Expo Milano 2015 Site.
Pavilion Zero takes the visitor on a captivating journey to explore how much humankind has produced, the transformation of natural landscape, and the culture and rituals of food consumption
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The exhibition hall had many giant screens – talk about being immersive.
The official statistics indicate over 20 million visitors, more than 150 participants and about 5000 events held in 184 days.
Click this link to see all 52 pavilions built by the participating countries, and the 9 clusters which included exhibits by additional countries. One can explore further links to the specific exhibits inside each pavilion. There is really quite a lot to see at this site.
Germany – “where awareness is raised and transformed into action”
Much of what we have written below came from the official web site. So it may sound a bit “corporate”.
“Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” – Expo Milano 2015 offers an opportunity to reflect upon, and discuss, solutions to the contradictions of the world today.
Feed the Planet, Energy for Life”, was aimed to give concrete answers to the important issues such as sustainable development and food security.
USA – “Food 2.0 depends on each one of us”
We came across a parade of giant fruits and vegetables mingling with stuffed animals.
We fed ourselves in the pavilion of Tunisia where a couscous bar was found. Nothing special on the menu. But we bought some Tunisian harissa.
Padiglione Italia: le cifre del successo – the host country’s pavilion
Tree of Life – there was a show of lights and water jets every hour – it must be spectacular at night.
UK – “Following the buzz of a bee is easily than expected”
Vietnam – “Beauty birthed from mud”
Skyline of the exhibition grounds. It was not a sunny day (thankfully) so the temperature was not unbearable.
We went up to Basel for a weekend in July to see this annual musical festival. Sue has always been interested in marching band and drum line. So this event is perfect.
We found a bunch of Youtube videos of the performances uploaded by others. Some are now embedded below, don’t miss them.
Music, choreography, fireworks and light show in a breezy summer evening.
This year is the eleventh performance and it involved 30 formations from five continents giving 15 performances over nine days.
We have no idea why the event is called a tattoo. According to Wikipedia,
A tattoo is a military performance of music or display of armed forces in general. The term comes from the early 17th century Dutch phrase doe den tap toe (“turn off the tap”), a signal sounded by drummers or trumpeters to instruct innkeepers near military garrisons to stop serving beer and for soldiers to return to their barracks.
According to Wikipedia,
The Basel Tattoo was started in 2006 by the local Top Secret Drum Corps. It has grown to be the world’s second largest military tattoo in terms of performers and budget after the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Apart from military marching band music, there were choirs, local pop singers and dancers (Celtic-like Riverdance). The Korean Air Force band performed and brought with them traditional folk dancers.
This Italian band – Fanfara 8th Reggimento Bersaglieri – came running into the arena several times in between other acts. It was really funny the first time since the audience expected them to remain and perform but they ran out of the arena almost immediately. Amazing that they were running and playing at the same time.
Someone posted their “running-in” on Youtube.
Popular singer Chloë Agnew from Ireland
The Blue Devils are 16-time world champion in the marching band division – about 100 musicians performed.
See a part of their performance at the Basel Tattoo here.
Imps motorcycle display team from the UK – 6- to 16-year-old youth motorcycle acrobatics – the team started in the 60’s as a leisure activity for poor schoolchildren from London’s East End. They added some stunts and humor to the otherwise formal, high-precision marching band performances.
A short clip of a stunt by Imps.
The Top Secret Drum Corps – the founder of the Basel Tattoo – apparently all amateurs – had a face-off with the Blue Devils’ drum line – it was great but a bit too short. We wanted more time and more drama like in the 2002 hit movie – Drumline.
We found a video of the two team’s first practice session.
This looks like World War I uniform.
There were several bands with bagpipes and one performed Mull of Kintyre which was great.
Mull of Kintyre was a 1977 song by Wings (Paul McCartney’s group) about Scotland which included bagpipes.
The whole show started and finished more or less on time and lasted for 2 hours without intermission.
At the venue, all the CDs and DVDs of past performances were available for sale. They even had a shop in downtown Basel. Go to their website here on the event and descriptions of the bands.
Here is a highlight of the show we found on Youtube. Enjoy.
Where available, click on the music link to launch blip.fm in a new window. Press the orange-colored play button near the top to start. While listening, return to the blog by clicking the wordpress window.
The whimsy decorations soften the historical purpose of the residence – it was a place of house arrest for Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsueh-liang 張學良 (1901-2001) nicknamed the “Young Marshal” (少帥), who was detained for almost 40-year period (1949-1975).
Mong Kok
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Chris & Sue's Excellent(?) Adventures 