fantastic world travel: August 2010

European Day of Jewish Culture article

My latest article on JTA is a preview of the European Day of Jewish Culture -- this year Sept. 5 -- highlighting the way it has become a major event on the end-of-summer cultural calendar in Italy. There are 25,000 affiliated Jews in Italy, but Culture Day activities take place this year in 62 towns and cities around the country. And last year's events in Italy drew 62,000 visitors, the overwhelming majority non-Jewish. Culture Day gets lots of media attention and has the support of civic bodies and is under the patronage of Italy's president.

Tourists shop in a store in the former Jewish district that sells kosher wine, matzah, Jewish pastries and souvenirs. (Ruth Ellen Gruber)

Introducing non-Jewish Europeans to Jewish life
By Ruth Ellen Gruber · August 31, 2010

PITIGLIANO, Italy (JTA) -- In Italy, where there are only about 25,000 affiliated Jews in a population of 60 million, most Italians have never knowingly met a Jew. "It's unfortunate," said the Italian Jewish activist Sira Fatucci, "but in Italy Jews and the Jewish experience are often mostly known through the Holocaust."

Fatucci is the national coordinator in Italy for the annual European Day of Jewish Culture, an annual transborder celebration of Jewish traditions and creativity that takes place in more than 20 countries on the continent on the first Sunday of September -- this year, Sept. 5.

Synagogues, Jewish museums and even ritual baths and cemeteries are open to the public, and hundreds of seminars, exhibits, lectures, book fairs, art installations, concerts, performances and guided tours are offered.

The main goal is to educate the non-Jewish public about Jews and Judaism in order to demystify the Jewish world and combat anti-Jewish prejudice.

“What we are trying to do is to show the living part of Judaism -- to show life," Fatucci said. "What we want to do is to use culture as an antidote to ignorance and anti-Semitism.”

Some 700 people flock to Culture Day events each year in Pitigliano, a rust-colored hilltown in southern Tuscany that once had such a flourishing Jewish community that it was known as Little Jerusalem.

Click to read full story at jta

Nicky Loh: Tattoo Girls of Taiwan

Photo © Nicky Loh-All Rights Reserved

Nicky Loh is a photographer with Reuters working in Taiwan, whose specialty is news, sports and feature photography, who's interested in documenting traditional art forms such as Chinese opera.

On his employer's blog, he writes of having had an assignment to cover the 2010 Taiwan International Tattoo Convention in Taipei which, while not newsworthy per se, offered him a good opportunity to produce colorful photographs.

He describes how he decided to set up an impromptu studio in one of the empty booths of the convention, and do portraits of women with fully tattooed backs.

Not only beautiful artwork, but also very attractive women...so a "twofer" as they say.

Global Post: Turkish Brothels

Photo © Nicholas Dynan-All Rights Reserved
One of my favorite online news provider is Global Post, not only for its cutting edge news reporting and analysis, but also for its frequent "off-the-beaten-path" features such as the one of Turkish transsexual brothels by Nicholas Dynan.

It also periodically publishes Full Frame which features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field (including myself).

The Turkish transsexual brothels which, we are told, can be located in the busiest streets of Istanbul, and are the work place of some of Istanbul's transgender and transsexual sex workers.

To the best of my recollection, only one attendee of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul last June presented work relating to transgender issues. Pedro Gomes, who attended my multimedia class, produced Esmeray, an audio slideshow about a transgender feminist-sex worker-actor.

Book Event semi-washed out....

Heavy rain, alas, washed out my book event today in Budapest promoting Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel .... it was supposed to have taken place in an open-air courtyard of Gozsdu udvar, a long series of connected courtyards that leads from Kiraly street through to Dob street.

For the past few days, Gozsdu udvar was the scene of a book and crafts fair that was part of Budapest's annual summer Jewish festival.

With the weather threatening, the publisher, Geographia kiado, organized another venue for the event -- a slide-illustrated talk by me -- in the upstairs cafe of one of the main branches of the Alexandra book shop, just around the corner from the Dohany St. synagogue.

About a dozen intrepid souls found their way to the new venue, and the presentation was a much more intimate experience than anticipated....

Still, people were very interested -- and the publisher says the books has been selling well, comparable to sales of a paperback novel!

My Work: The Salt Maker of Kusamba

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A few days before the start of the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ , I drove to the eastern shores of the island to photograph the traditional salt making in Kusamba.

I spent a couple of hours with Dewa Yoman Sanat; a traditional salt-maker (or more accurately, salt gatherer) in Kusamba. He guesses his age to be close to 70, and he works at gathering salt everyday under the scorching sun. On cloudy and rainy days, he remains home as a hot sun is needed to evaporate the seawater which leaves a thin film of salt, which is then gathered by Dewa.

He and his wife, Jero Sekar, who also helps him in this back-breaking work, have 7 grand children...none are understandably interested in continuing the salt making tradition. Dewa said that he gets about Rp 5000 (about 50 cents) for every 10 kilograms of salt.

Seattle

It was our first time to visit Seattle and we're in love with the "Emerald City" at first sight. Emerald City is its nickname, referencing the lush evergreen forests of the area. It's about 170 miles (270km) north of Portland, Oregon and 140 miles south of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. We would like to visit Victoria, British Columbia's capital, which is about 100 miles by passenger ferry -hopefully next summer :) Seattle has nice, cool summer weather, and a great place to escape from the heat of Dallas. Winter is wet with the temperature around 45-55 F degree (8-13 Celsius). It's a great, exciting city and people here are so charming.

This is the first Starbucks store, which has been at Pike Place Market since the coffee company was founded there in 1971. There are many tourists in this store just to buy souvenirs. Along with Starbucks, there are many companies based in Seattle, such as department store Nordtroms, internet retailer Amazon.com, Microsoft...

The famous Pike Place Market- Public Market. It's really fun to visit this place. The market is big and there are a variety of goods.

The famous fish throwers at the Pike Place fish market. It's a fun thing to see for tourists. In the picture below, there was a fish in the air.

Riding on the Duck Tour was so much fun. My kids loved and enjoyed it so much. This Duck Tour bus tours you around the city on land and becomes a boat to tour you on Union Lake.

The bus becomes the boat.

1st ave in downtown. Art Museum and Pike Place Market are nearby.

Another fun thing to do, and a great way to see the city view, is to visit the Space Needle. It features an observation deck and the rotating CitySky restaurant. Space Needle has become one of the symbols of Seattle. It was built for the 1962 World's Fair, and has become the most recognizable landmark in the city. It's been featured in the television show Frasier, Dark Angel, Grey's Anatomy, iCarly, and films such as It Happened at the World's Fair, Sleepless in Seattle, and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.Union Lake seen from the CitySky restaurant at Space Needle.
It was a clear day, so we could see Mount Rainier from the Space Needle.
Downtown Seattle as seen from the rotating CitySky restaurant.

Space Needle and downtown at night.Sunset at Elliott Bay.
Seattle's best waterfall: Snoqualmie Falls, located just 25 miles outside Seattle. The Falls were featured in the popular cult television show "Twin Peaks".
Thank you everyone for visiting and your comments! Wishing you a wonderful day ahead! Kisses...Hanh ;)

NYT: Pakistan Floods By Tyler Hicks

Photo © Tyler Hicks/NY Times-All Rights Reserved
The catastrophic flooding of the Indus is considered as Pakistan's worst natural calamity, which has ruined almost every infrastructural aspect that connects the country together — roads, bridges, schools, health clinics, electricity and communications. The destruction is also estimated to set Pakistan back decades, will weaken its feeble civilian administration and add to the burdens on its military.

The New York Times has recently featured Tyler Hicks' compelling photographs of the disaster in Pakistan's Floods, as the one above of two young girls quenching their thirst at a water pump in Sukkur. It's said that 20 million people have been affected by the floods; a number of people equal to the population of New York State.

According to the New York Times, a joint study from Ball State University and the University of Tennessee, puts the total cost of the flood damage at $7.1 billion. That is nearly a fifth of Pakistan’s budget.

I sense an apathy amongst the Western and Islamic nations to assist Pakistan in its difficulties. Is it because of the widespread perception (or knowledge) that the Zardari's government is riddled with corruption and cronyism, and thus may divert some of the aid? Or is it Islamophobia? Or is simple donor fatigue after Haiti? I tend to think it's all of the above and perhaps more.

And while I'm on the subject, is it only me who now increasingly relies on foreign cable news like China Network Television (CNTV) and RT (the Russian 24/7 English-language TV) for in-depth international news??? The added bonus of course is that these stations have no interest in Glenn Beck and the repellent clowns of his ilk as does CNN, MSNBC, et al.

Jon Vidar: The Tiziano Project

The Tiziano Project presents the journalistic efforts and personal accounts of Iraqi citizens living in the Kurdish north, along with stories produced by their professional multimedia journalism mentors.

An extremely well-made multimedia project, it includes stories such as those on the Yazidis, nomadic mountain-dwelling Kurds, a pigeon keeper, a muezzin, a klash maker, and many more.

The mentoring team consist of Jon Vidar (one of the talented instructors at the Istanbul Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and a freelance photographer who developed self-assigned projects spanning six continents, including work in Iraqi Kurdistan, Southeast Turkey, Rwanda, and Brazil), Victoria Fine, Grant Slater and Chris Mendez.

Castiglione D'Orcia and Bagni San Filippo. (Sylvia visiting Tuscany)

Yesterday morning, departing from my Villa in Monticchiello, whose beauty and comfort as well as stupendous service they give their guests still captivates me, I decided to go on an excursion by car to Castiglione D'Orcia and Bagni San Filippo.

Villa Montecchiello is so well situated that by car all towns of Val D'Orcia are within easy reach, each with its peculiarities making it hard to say which one is the most beautiful and interesting.

Castiglione D'Orcia is a very old and precious town. It was a fortress, dominated by the Aldobrandeschi in the 1^st century. From the park next to the fortress ruins situated atop a hill, there are marvellous vistas dominating the whole town, the nearby Fortress of Tentennano and Monte Amiata. It makes true pleasure.
The little streets of Castiglione D’Orcia are made of cobblestones and in the heart of town there is an original and pretty square, known as Piazza Il Vecchietta, an artist of the 15th century that as many other humanists of the Renaissance in Tuscany , was a prodigy in painting as well as in sculpture and architecture.
In the square I was visiting the town hall that extends from one side to the other of the square, creating an emblematic atmosphere. Besides I visited the Romanesque Church of Santa Maria Magdalena and the Renaissance Chiesa di I Santi Stefano e Degna, considered the most important in town, as until recently it housed sacred masterpieces by Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti, today under restoration in Siena.
In the meanwhile, I got terrible hungry, so after visiting the shops and handicrafts galleries of town, where very tasteful and affordable specialities are sold, I took a car and head for a restaurant that the very charming owner of one of the shops had recommended. You cannot imagine how enchanting and polite the people I am meeting here are¡
The restaurant is "I tre Rioni" and is situated in Campiglia D'Orcia, a very little nearby village.
It is an elegant Bed and Breakfast, with a restaurant where to eat superlatively.
I eat pecorino salad (an exquisite typical Tuscan sheep cheese) with pears and rucula, and after that a very tender veal escalope with authentic aromatic and delightful forest mushroom ("funghi porcini"), all of that accompanied by a very fresh and excellent white wine: Collazzi Bianco di Montepulciano. After the dessert and coffee, the maitre invited me to drink a drop herb acquavite, a strong liqueur yet of a very delicious flavour.
I left the restaurant so pleased, not only because of the liqueur...but for the food had been stupendous and the relationship quality/price is very fair. I spent €35 including tip.

Bagni San Filippo is a very little and pretty town with a one-of-a-kind scenery, because of the whitish limestone deposits surrounding the thermal baths. They were already very prestigious in the Ancient Romans epoch and were restored in the 16^th century, under Cosme I Medici’s orders. In the "La Mandragora" by Maquiavelo there is a passage devoted to them (another book to read in Monticchiello after dinner).

This town has five springs of sulphurous waters of important curative properties whose temperature reaches 52º C. There are endless options of spa hotels chosen by the Italians and foreigners to enjoy healthy and relaxing holidays.

The following foreigner will be me, loaded with books and good music...emerging from water fresh as a daisy. Wait and see how some good writer includes me in a novel.

Sylvia

Shoes and Clutch update

Nowadays, I love to collect Alexander Mcqueen pieces which they were designed before his tragedy. Yes, I'm still sad for what happened to him whenever I think about it. He was truly a genius.
This clutch is from the pre-fall 2010 collection and I'm lucky to have it. I purchased it at the store 4510. The clutch was sent to our apartment in Portland while we were there last week. I adore the clutch. When I flew home from Portland, I decided to carry it in my carry-on. Guess what? When I went through the security gate, they didn't allow me to carry it on! It's considered a brass knuckle; a weapon. We waited about 15' for their meeting to see if they would allow me to carry it on. It was so serious. I was so nervous and I was so thankful that they all agreed to let me carry it on. It's hilarious how a clutch could be a weapon. Actually, I understand their point. A happy ending.

These are brass knuckles.

My new addition to my shoe collection: Givenchy boots. I love the stitches and how they look old and dusty.

Another addition to my shoe collection: Alaia boots. They're so comfy.

These two pairs of Proenza Schouler shoes in the pictures below are in my wish-list. I'll be so happy if I have one of them :)

Thank you everyone for visiting and your comments. Wishing you all a fabulous day!! Big hugs...Hanh :)

Budapest Jewish summer festival celebrates its Bar Mitzvah

Part of the festival in 2009. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Adam Lebor in Budapest writes a nice piece in the Economist online about the annual Budapest summer Jewish culture festival celebrating its 13th edition -- its bar mitzvah, so to speak.

The festival opened last night with a magnificent concert by the Boban Markovic Orchestra, the world's best known Serbian gypsy brass band ensemble, in the Great Synagogue on Dohany Street in downtown Pest. The synagogue, which holds 3,000 people, is the centre of Jewish life in Hungary. The synagogue was built in the mid-19th century in a neo-Moorish style and has been beautifully restored to its former glory. Playing to a packed house the orchestra kicked off with a rousing rendition of "Hava Nagila", probably the best known traditional Jewish song. The thumping Balkan beat soon had even dowager grandmas clapping along. The Boban Markovic Orchestra is the latest in a long line of renowned musicians to perform here: a century ago both Franz Liszt and Camille Saint-Saëns played the synagogue's organ.It was an interesting choice to open a Jewish cultural festival with a Serbian gypsy band. Partly because of their shared history of persecution, Jews and Roma often feel a kind of kinship. But despite the glorious life-affirming emotion of hearing "Hava Nagila" inside the synagogue, there was a poignant aspect to the concert, for this corner of Dohany street is a haunted place. The small Jewish cemetery behind the main hall houses the remains of perhaps 2,000 people who died of sickness and starvation during the winter of 1944-45 as the Hungarian Nazi Arrow Cross ran wild and the Red army steadily advanced, until the ghetto was finally liberated in January 1945.

On Monday, the festival features a presentation of Zsido Emlekhelyek, the Hungarian edition of my book Jewish Heritage Travel. I'm due to give an illustrated talk about Jewish heritage in Europe.

Rose Schierl: Bali Island of Odalan

Photo © Rose Schierl-All Rights Reserved
Here's the work of Rose Schierl; the second participant of the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ to send images to post on this blog.

Rose has been photographing since 2005, and only gone digital two years ago. She hasn't gone through any formal photographic education per se, but attended various short workshops, and those set by Arizona Highways. Rose won an award at a juried show for one of her photographs in 2009. She's also an accomplished diver, and before the photo expedition was on a diving vacation for a couple of days in the north-west of the island.

So far, it appears the fire-walkers at the end of the Kecak dance performance we attended in Ubud was a favorite subject for the group members. Rose managed to capture one of them kicking a blast of glowing embers (above).

Photo © Rose Schierl-All Rights Reserved
One of the shoots I organized during the photo-expedition was at the house of a wayang kulit (shadow puppet) master, where we were treated to a private performance The wayang kulit is an extremely important vehicle of culture, serving as carrier of myth, morality play, and form of religious experience rolled into one. Here, the master is moving one of his shadow puppets during the performance.

Photo © Rose Schierl-All Rights Reserved
Here's a Balinese villager who was attending a night odalan in Bitra village. The temple anniversary was one of the most interesting we've been to during the 2 weeks photo-expedition. Not only did it involve the requisite day-time religious prayers and offering in an exquisite forest setting, but it included performances of Barong and Arja dances.

Photo © Rose Schierl-All Rights Reserved
Rose captured a dancer during an evening Legong performance at Ubud's palace. The performance included various dances, such as the Gabor, Baris, Kraton and the Taruna Jaya.

New Canon D60

It's all over the blogosphere...Canon announced the EOS 60D, a sort of “replacement” for the 50D. According to the reviews, the 60D body is plastic, and uses SD cards instead of the CF.

It's certainly built for video. It has a pop-out, tilt-and-swivel rear screen which, even if it's Canon’s first on an SLR, would just drive me insane. Video can be shot at different sizes and speeds. 1080p is available at 24p, 25p or 30p frame rates.

According to WIRED's Gadget Lab, its 18MP sensor (like the LCD panel) is the same as in the 550D or Rebel T2i, its AF system comes from the 50D and the 63-zone exposure meter comes from the 7D. So it's dubbed the "Frankencam".

It will go on sale in September for $1,100 body-only.

Santa, I have no interest.

Matt Allard Captures Geishas

Matt Allard is a Team Leader- Cameras for Aljazeera International based out of Kuala Lumpur covering Asia/Pacific and the sub continent, and has produced a movie documenting the changing culture of geishas. Due to the world financial crisis, even well-entrenched traditions have had to adapt in Japan, as elsewhere, and geishas in Kyoto have had to follow suit.

Matt used a Canon 7D, 5Dmk2 and 7 lenses to shoot this assignment. The lenses used were a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II, 50mm f1.2, 135mm f2, 24-70mm f2.8, 100mm Macro f2.8, 16-35mm f2.8 and a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. All interviews were shot on the 70-200mm. All the audio was recorded on a Zoom H4N using either Seinnheiser radio or shotgun mics. It was edited using FCP and ran on Aljazeera English on the 19th August 2010 around the world.

Also from Matt Allard is this movie depicting the same modern day girl transforming into a Geisha in Kyoto, Japan. It was made using a Canon 7D and a 5D Mark 2 using a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro and a Canon 16-35mm f2.8. The ambient light and the angles used by Matt are just perfect...the colors are beautiful.

Via DSLRrnewsshooter.com

My Work: Bali Cockfights

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
We were fortunate to encounter a number of cockfights during the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™.

I say fortunate because, while cockfights are gruesome and certainly bloody, they offer glimpses into a tradition practiced on the island (and elsewhere in the world) for ages. All animal rights activists and many other lay people consider it a horrible blood sport which ought to be banned. In Bali, cockfights are known as tajen, but have been forbidden since 1981 since it's considered gambling. Notwithstanding, it continues to be practiced as a ritual to expel evil spirits, and feverish gambling by bebebotoh (always men) is the norm when it occurs.

The area where the cockfight occurred was full of men, who were engaged in gesticulating and yelling their bets according to the color of the roosters. In the middle of the circle formed by the crowd, the bebebotoh were stroking their prized roosters, preparing them for the fights. Others were tying razor-sharp spurs to the birds' legs, while others were busy carving up carcasses of those that had been vanquished.

There seemed to be a sort of hierarchy. A older man, dressed in better quality clothes than the rest of the throng, was sitting very calmly in the midst of the frenetic betting activity, taking it all in. He clearly was a main player of some sort here. I couldn't tell whether he participated, or whether he was the "banker". He may have been a wealthy gambler who joined these cockfights to satisfy his passion.

My movements were restricted, as the men were in no mood to allow anyone to obstruct their view of the cockfights. However, I managed to photograph at will, and recorded some raw ambient sound, which includes the crowds yells and bids.

The roosters' demise is quick...the "combat" is short lived and takes about a minute or two for one of the roosters to fall. Thereupon, it's carried away and eviscerated to be consumed later.

As a side note: I often witness similar rituals; some secular and others religious, and I always try not to pass judgment on the practice. While I personally consider cockfighting to be cruel (as I do of bullfighting), I also respect the right of the Balinese (and others) to practice it, especially when it has a religious significance. Unfortunately in this case, it was all unapologetic gambling.

Having said that, I found the atmosphere electric and compelling, and I am at work on an audio-slideshow of the two cockfights I've witnessed in Bali this time. It will include the one I've described above, and another which was part of a melasti on a beach.

VII's Seamus Murphy: Phoenix Afghanistan

“Photography is part history, part magic.”
-Seamus Murphy

Here's a multimedia piece published by VII The Magazine with stills and audio by Seamus Murphy titled Phoenix Afghanistan.

Seamus began photographing in Afghanistan in 1994, and for two decades, he has worked extensively in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and most recently America on an ongoing project during what he calls “a nervous and auspicious time.” His accolades include six World Press Photo Awards.

Phoenix Afghanistan compares photographs of life in Kabul from 1994 to photographs in 2010. You'll notice that the 1994 photographs are in black & white, whilst those of 2010 are in color, thereby enhancing the contrast between the two eras.

I wish I hadn't found found the narrative by Seamus to be so stilted...he was probably reading off a sheet of paper rather than having a conversation or reminiscing aloud. Same like good photography, compelling narration is a difficult skill to learn, and requires training.

Hungarian edition of Jewish Heritage Travel presentation

The new Hungarian-language version of my book "Jewish Heritage Travel" -- Zsido Emlekhelyek -- will be featured during the book bazaar of the annual summer Jewish festival in Budapest.

I am scheduled to give an illustrated talk about the book on August 30, at 4 p.m., in Gozsdu Udvar.

Come one, come all!

Bucharest -- World of Yiddish Festival

Entering Bucharest's Choral synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Bucharest will be the scene of a World of Yiddish Festival next week. It starts Sept. 2 and culminates on Sept. 5, the European Day of Jewish Culture.

The program includes performances, lectures, exhibits, concerts, guided tours, conferences and more:

Thursday, September 2

10.30 - The State Jewish Theater
Official opening of the Festival - Press conference
12.00 - The State Jewish Theater
From the ”Green Tree” to Broadway - Conference – Moderator: Director Harry Eliad
The Yiddish Theater in Romania (Director Harry Eliad)  Jewish Music in Theater productions (Eng. Adrian Cuperman)  Why do we need a Yiddish theater? Director Andrei Munteanu)  From Iași to New York (Director Radu Gabrea)
16.30 - The “Union” Cinema
“And they faded out like the wind…” – the story of the Barasheum Theater
Documentary - Presented by Director Radu Gabrea
19.30 - The State Jewish Theater
The Fools of Helem by Moishe Gershenzon
The State Jewish Theater
Friday, September 3

10.00 – Jewish Community Center
The Shtetl and its world - Conference – Moderator: Director Erwin Șimșensohn
The Shtetl culture in Romania (Prof. Dr. Liviu Rotman)  The Jewish Bukovina (Dr. Emil Rennert – Austria  Rediscovering Yiddishland in Romania (Dr. Simon Geissbühler, Switzerland) Chassidism and Hesychasm: landmarks, origins, connections (Dr. Madeea Axinciuc) The mural painting of Moldavian synagogues (Dr. Măriuca Stanciu)
16.30 - The “Union” Cinema
Itzic Manger
Documentary – Presented by Director Radu Gabrea
19.00 - The Great Synagogue
Kabbalat Shabbat
Saturday, September 4
10.00 – Jewish Community Center
Yiddishland - Conference – Moderator: Dr. Aurel Vainer
Yiddish language – past and present – from mammelushn to art (Dr. Harry Kuller)  Yiddishland: culture and political identity in the Yiddish media at the end of the 19th century in Romania (Drd. Augusta Radosav – Cluj) The Yiddish language – a source of moral support during the Holocaust (Dr. Lya Benjamin)  Memories about Yiddish, from a Shtetl (Dr. Aurel Vainer)
16.00 – Jewish Community Center
Mammelushn - Conference – Moderator: Dr. Jose Blum
Translations into Romanian from the Yiddish classic literature (Dr. Camelia Crăciun)  Peretz- a great Yiddish writer (Ghidu Brukmaier )  From La Fontaine to Eliezer Shteinberg (Writer Carol Feldman)
19.00 - The State Jewish Theater
One Man Show "Alein ist die Neshume rein" - “Alone, the heart is pure”
Yaakov Bodo & Misha Blecharovitz - Yiddishpiel Theater - Israel
21.00 - Green Hours 22 Club Jazz Café
Vienna Klezmer Band (Austria)
Sunday, September 5 – ““The European Day of Jewish Culture”

11.00 - The Romanian Peasant Museum
Hakeshet Klezmer Band (Romania)  The Hora dance group (Romania)  Mames Babegenush Klezmer Band (Denmark)
17.30 - The Romanian Peasant Museum
Mazel Tov Klezmer Band (Romania)  Preβburger Klezmer Band (Slovakia)
20.30 - Jewish Community Center
One Woman Show
Yiddish Experience
Maia Morgenstern & Radu Captari

Visiting the Great Synagogue from Bucharest – September 2,3,5, from 10.00 to 17.00 h.
Visiting the History Museum of the Jews from Romania – September 2-5, from 10.00 to 18.00 h
Contact: www.festival-idis.ro * contact@festival-idis.ro

European Day of Jewish Culture -- Sept. 5

Synagogue, Radauti, Romania. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The annual European Day of Jewish Culture is coming up -- this year, it's Sept. 5. This is the 11th edition of the "Day" -- I was present at the meeting in Paris in 1999 when it was decided to sponsor an international, cross-border Culture Day, broadening the effort that had already been under way in the Alsace region of France since 1996.

Organization is at the local level, but each year a different general theme is chosen to more or less link events, which this year are said to be taking place in nearly 30 countries -- though programs for only 16 countries are listed on the web site.

Italy remains perhaps the most enthusiastic participant, with events in some 62 locales, including many places where no Jews live.

The theme chosen this year is "Art and Judaism." Events focus on:

- Different kinds of art: paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, literature, music, films, theatre
- Different artists: painters, sculptors, writers, actors, composers and performers, directors
- Different periods: ancient, medieval, modern, contemporary
- Others: patrons of art, collections
- Art applied in religious ceremony or in everyday life

You can see the program by clicking THIS LINK

Kim McClellan: Bali Island of Odalan

Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
Kim McClellan is a third-time repeat participant in my photo~expeditions, having joined Bhutan: Land of Druk Yul Photo~Expedition ™ in October 2009, and the The Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition ™ in January 2010 before returning with a trove of images from the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ last week.

Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
Kim is a professional photographer (as well as working for the SBA in DC), and graduated from the Washington School of Photography in January 2001. She's passionate about international travel photography, and her work was featured in juried exhibitions and shows in the Washington DC Metro Area. She's well-known for her work in fashion, glamor, and classical figures.

Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
During the Bali photo-expedition, Kim worked on transitioning from the more staged style of glamor photography to the more fluid style of travel-photojournalism, which is the core objective of my photo workshops. Her photographs here demonstrate her progress in that transitioning.

Photo © Kim McClellan -All Rights Reserved
The first photograph was made during a private ceremony preceding a cremation. Cremations in Bali are occasions for gaiety and not for mourning, since it represents the ceremonial burning of the dead to liberate their souls to be free for reincarnation into better beings.

The second was made at the holy temple of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, which is a major water temple on Bali, and one that protects Bali from evil spirits from the north west. and where constant ceremonies were being conducted when we were there.

The third is of a melasti on a beach on Bali's north east shores. Melasti is an important purification ceremony when temple devotees in Bali go to its beaches, carrying their temple effigies and where the cleansing rituals occur.

The fourth photograph was made during a Kecak & Kris Trance dance in Ubud, and shows one of the dancers in a trance walking barefoot on glowing embers.

My Work: Balinese Elder With Dog

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
What people may or may not tell you is that some of the best photographs out of the many one makes during a photo trip are serendipitous, and the opportunities to make them occur when one least expects them.

Here's one of my favorites so far (and I've only looked at two of my image folders...a mere fraction of the over 10,000 photographs I've made during the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition) of an elderly Balinese woman returning to her traditional home after having emptied her basket of the morning offerings.

We were driving to one of the many temple ceremonies, and I suddenly saw the woman walking slowly towards her house. I immediately asked Komang to stop our van, and our second car also stopped. I reached for my cameras, and squeezed a few frames using the 70-200 lens, while the woman was quizzically looking at the two vehicles full of photographers, aiming their lenses at her. She never smiled...but just stood there, regally, probably muttering "Mad bule (foreigners in Bahasa)".

Unknown City Beijing

Writing about the cruises that begin in Japanese ports, I found an interesting name of a city in China: Beijing. I've never heard about it and wanted to learn more. The first information I've seen in internet was a collection of photos of a couple of travellers with the explanations under every photo. So, I knew many interesting things.

The couple visited Forbidden City, the largest palatial complex in the world. There is a Temple of Heaven built without any nail or beam inside the complex. The Emperors prayed to have good year and waited for signs of good auspices on Chinese New Year there. You can see the Emperors in the procession every year even today. Sure, those are only shows to attract visitors but it has to be interesting to see, I think.

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The next point of the itinerary of the couple was Tiananmen Gate, than they visited cooking courses for foreigners hold directly in the street. Imagin how interesting it is! I've never heard about such invention in other touristic places.

There is one of the largest and most important in the world Buddhist temples there, Lama Temple of Geluk School, where there are many treasures very important for every Buddhist; and there is a Chinese Muslims' Mosque (Niujie Mosque). I was surprized to read about it, I did not think there are even Chinese Muslims! And the building is interesting too, it comes from 996.

It's possible to visit Yuanming Yuan, ruins of the Old Summer Palace (ah, all royalities had summer and winter palaces!).

Do you like works of Franch architect Paul Andreu? Very beautiful airy buildings all over the world. There, in Beijing, you can see his Center for the Performing Arts.

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And there are Beihai Park, a royal garden, Happy Valley, an amusement park, Beijing Zoo, where there are pandas and other rare Chinese animals, 798 Space Gallery a place for contemporary arts. You can visit Beijing Planning Exhibition and walk over the relief models of the city, the world's largest steel structure -the National Stadium, and surely the Great Wall.

Wow, but will it be enough a shore visit to see all these interesting places?

I was very curious: where is this city? And from the next site I learn it's... Peking!
By the way, did you know that Peking is one of the 4 historical capitals of China? Every dinasty had own capital: Beijing, Nanjing, Chang'an and Luoyang.

And to make this more inviting for you: if you look for cruise discounts and want to embark on October 25 , it will cost you only... you will not believe... a third part from the normal price of the cabin... And Ocean view? Have you seen the oceanview cabin price???

St Tropez

One of the favorite parts of St Tropez was that walking around the Port of St Tropez. There are a lots of nice boats, yachts, stores, restaurants...The sunset at the port was so beautiful.