Shakespear's birthplace in the 1880s

As you can see from these pictures, not much have changed since the 1880s in Shakespear's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. However, the house looked perhaps to be in a slightly better shape a little more than a century ago. Hopefully the Shakespear Birthplace Trust will find the means to repair some of the water damage that is visible under the eaves ...

A photo from the 1880s.

Contemporary photo (wikipedia 2007)

Hubert von Goisern - the king of Alpenrock - celebrated

Hubert von Goisern - a great musician and entertainer.

If somebody would have mentioned the name Hubert von Goisern a couple of years ago, I would not have had the slightest idea who he was talking about. But, mainly thanks to the Austrian Servus television channel, I have been introduced to one of the truly great world musicians and entertainers. 

Last night, in honour of von Goisern's 60th birthday (who would believ that!), Servus broadcast a concert with the king of Alpenrock and his outstanding band of musicians. It was raining cats and dogs in Spielberg, where the concert was recorded, but that did not stop the large audience - and the band - from enjoying the evening together. They played a mix of new and old favorites, like "Schleiniger", "Lawaramoi (Steirer) & Schleiniger", 
"Brenna Tuats Guat", "Koa Hiatamadl", and of course their great hit "Heast as mit". 

Let's hope Hubert will be entertaining us for many, many years to come!

Both the audience and the musicians were happy in spite of the rainy weather  at Spielberg.

The band turned into a male song quartet in the final number of the concert.

A rather good bartender

This bartender has been a hit on YouTube - and it is not difficult to understand why!
He is truly amazing!

Swedish yachtsmen braving the chilly winds in the Sound

It was a grey and cold afternoon today in the Sound, with the thermometer showing only about 3°C. And the wind chill factor must have made it feel more like -  3°C for these Swedish yachtsmen, who seemed to enjoy their November 17 day out sailing:

PS
The ship, which the yachtsmen saw passing by, was the bulk carrier KT BIRDIE, on its way southwards in Øresund. (Maybe the shipowner is a keen golfer?)

Daniel Barenboim's 70th birthday concert

What a joy it was to see Maestro David Barenboim celebrating his 70th birthday with a stunning concert in Berlin last night! To be able to perform two major piano concertos with majestic brilliance in one evening programme is no mean feat by a septuagenarian - or anybody. 

And how wonderful it was to see the two maestros - and friends - Zubin Mehta and Barenboim making music together! An evening to remember. 

Thank you ARTE for showing the birthday concert live!

The medieval Church of St. Mary in Helsingborg

The medieval Church of St. Mary (14th - 15th cent.) is oldest building in Helsingborg. It replaced a small sandstone church in the same spot. At the time it was one of the Denmark's biggest town churches. (Scania and Helsingborg became part of Sweden in 1658).

My own favorite among the treasures in the St. Mary's is the altarpiece, which depicts scenes of the life of St. Mary and the childhood years of Jesus. The altarpiece is dated to the middle of the 15th century, and is considered to be of North German (probably Lübeckian) origin. 

Composer Dieterich Buxtehude, who followed his father as organist of the St. Mary's in 1658, must have had many opportunities to admire the work of the German craftsmanship ...

PS

Had Buxtehude been active now, he would probably have enjoyed the beautiful Marcussen and Son organ from 1959:

Southwestern Helsingborg just before 5 PM today

This afternoon, just before five, I had a closer look at the area in Helsingborg just to the south of the ferry terminal. In this part of the city there are quite a few municipal and state offices. The Helsingborg Campus of the Lund University is also located here.

The "transportation center" of Helsingborg, with the ferry terminal on the left,  the Knutpunkten terminal  for ferries, trains and coaches in the background, and part of the railway depot on the right.

In the district court building judges and other staff were still busy at work just before five - hopefully considering tough sentences for serious criminals ....

A somewhat closer look at the district court. The lady in the bottom right corner is smoking her cigarrette outside,   because smoking inside the district court is not allowed.   

Most of the civil servants working in the building with the colorful extra "windows" were also still  busy working.

Almost all students at the Campus Helsingborg had already left for home. There was  only one female student left in the reading room. 

The hard-working student.

The Scandlines ferries on the Helsingborg - Helsingør route operate 24 hours a day. 

A chimney in the port of Helsingborg area.

Most lights were on also in this office building. Between the two houses, you can see a glimpse of the Helsingborg  hospital. 

A Swedish tourist coach on its way to one of the ferries.