Halloween and the Lohengrin Opera in Cologne

Halloween

I was invited to a Halloween party at Mechael and Anke's house. This was days before Halloween on the 31^st of October. Everyone was supposed to bring some food. This was traditionally made in Germany home parties to ease the load on the hosting house. I was invited many times to these parties but I didn't bring anything since I was told I was a guest. This time I felt that I ought to bring somthing.

Since I am in love with Lebanon and the Lebanese food that I am longing to eat, I thought of making the famous Lebanese salad "Tabouli". As easy as any salad may be, it was difficult for me to do it for the first time andin Germany where not all the ingredients may be found. I thought it is a good idea make a probation before the Halloween day. So I called my mother back in Lebanon over internet using "Skype" and asked for the receipt. Still so simple till I had to translate it into german for Mrs. Jungbluth in order to help me buy the things I need. After I looked in the internet and used my tranlator software, I managed to translate all the receipt except for bulgur. In Lebanon it is called "Burghul" and I couldn't translate it to German since I didn't have the english translation and my translation software only works from english source. So this left us with using fine Couscous and the nearest substitute of bulgur. While I was discussing the issue with Mr. Jungbluth, my workmate Klaus Dahlhaus mentioned that there is something called "Bulgur" in the "dm" supermarket in Asbach. I wasn't sure this is the wished-for "Burghul". The next time I had the chance to go to the Vorteil Center in Asbach, I ran to the nearby "dm" supermarkt and looked for "Bulgur" with Mrs. Jungbluth. But to my disappointment, I found Bulgur to be nothing but smashed Wheat corn. Next to it was rough grain Couscous, preaty much like burghul, so we bought both to try later. On the same day we went to Buchholz to order parsley for Tuesday, since we are about 10 people and in Germany it is not normal to buy a lot.

On Tuesday, the Halloween day, we starded prepairing the parsley by removing the leafs one by one in order to cut them wothout the stem. 10 parsley packs seemed a lot and took a lot to do, so even Mr. Jungbluth helped. It was a mess doing "Tabouli" for 10 persons with all the tomatos, garlic, lettus, and the damped couscous and cutting everything and mixing. With addition of salt, lemon, and olive oil, the Taouli was so delicious and ready to be served. I was so happy that all liked it and even took some home. The pictures in this album shows Anke and Elke eating it with appetite.

Lohengrin Opera

The city of Cologne is very exciting and not a normalcity compared to others. There is always and everything going on in Cologne. The first thing to mention is the Cologne beer, or what they call it in German "Kölsch", with different brands among which is the famous "Früh" which one drinks in a special place next to the Cologne DOM and it has its own myth. Since I don't drink beer, then it is not a big issue for me. In Cologne there is the famous DOM, a historic church build with an amazing architecture so high that my neck hurts when I try to look at its top. In Cologne there is also the Cologne Opera House.

I was invited to attend an opera called "Lohengrin", a very famous German opera. It was fully produced in the 1850's by Richard Wagner. Today the same opera is played again and still has its original brilliance. Mrs. Jungbluth wanted to buy the tickets, so she asked me if I am interested in watching an opera. I directly said yes since I have never before seen any opera of any kind. But then she said that it costs about 63 euros. I gulped and said "yes, ok, no problem", but thinking it is actually a problem since I don't usually pay that much to watch a classic art. But who cares, I am in Germany and it is a good experience to see an opera, which I only see on TV. After a phone call that she made, she said that the seats we sold out and we have to pay an extra 10 euros for a ticket. As usual I agreed knowing that I am stuck and it is not polite to retreat just for money (how nobel and generous of me).

After the five of us, Mr. and Mrs. Jungbluth with two friend couples and me, drove on the 1^st of November in the direction of Cologne, we started chatting about how exciting it is to see an opera, an event that seldom happens. I was given the three tickets for me and the Jungbluths since I was wearing my new suit which had a big inner pocket in the jecket. I rarely wear a suit. I bought my new suit from Lebanon some day before the 21^st of March, the day I came to Germany, and it costed me lots of money, but I am happy that I did because I like it so much. It is so "chique" and I got it with one of those pointy shoes that is used to kill a cockroach in the corner. I only wore it two times till now, once on Noah's baptism and now. I had a look at the seat numbers and they were from 222 till 224. It didn't mean a lot to me. On the tickets also was written "Lohengrin - Richard Wagner", which I didn't really memorize because I had no clue what the opera was all about. I'll just make sure that I get one of these tickets as a "souvenir".

I always take my photo camera with me so that I can remember all what I did when I visit an interesting place. When we arrived to Cologne, I started shooting. I knew that this is the only chance I have to make some pictures of the city since it was getting dark. Not much luck for having nice pictures when I am shooting in a moving car. Everything is blurry specially when it is near enough. After we found the Opera House, we parked the car in the Opera Parking. Now this was tricky because it was like a maze to get from the parking to the Opera House.

The place was simple but neat with many modern art drawings on the walls. We had a drink since we still have some time. I got water, which means in German "gas water" that I had difficulty adapting to. I though water is cheap, but costed 2 euros. The problem was I was not even thursty and it might make me wanting to go to the bathroom during the show. I made some pictures of the place and soon enough it was time to find our seats. The hall was not something that I haven't seen, while actually there is much better in Libanon. I was wondering if having pictures is allowed or not. I was encouraged by Mrs. Jungbluth since she said it is allowed, and I was also planning not to use the flash light. I took the liberty to shoot some pictures while the people in turn were taking their own places. We sat next to each other with me nearest to the seat row eadge, and the friend couples sat right behind us. This is good since I am not bothering any stranger if I deside to change my position in my seat or do any funny thing.

The lights went off and the curtains up. The stage setting was so terrific with blue and white lights, modern bridge columns resembling a castle, and a bark of an old tree, all blended by a cloud of smoke. People started coming in on the stage, slowly looking at each other and the stage setting till it was almost full. Then a chinese looking man came and started singing in a Tenor voice announcing the beginning of the opera. It was really astonishing how the voices projected all over the hall without a microphone and it filled our ears as if we were wearing headphones. It was all in German, so I didn't understand a thing, almost. The Jungbluths also said that they didn't understand everything. I thing one doesn't need to understand the language to enjoy the opera. It was simply wonderful and terrific. It is astonishing to know that a thing is still enjoyable even after about 150 years. It was successful the first time it was presented. It was played many times since then. Many took parts of its music, among which the famous "Bridal Chorus" that we hear during the bridal march in weddings. The performance of the players was so profound and penetrating. The choice of characters was exceptionally intelligent so that each character exactly represented the role.

I turned on my camera during the first act to take some pictures. But the camera display was so bright that I felt it shined all the hall so that anyone can see and start looking. The hall was full of aristocrat like people. Who else usually attend such an event. So I couldn't take any picture. During the break, I started looking in the camera options to turn off the display since I couldn't do it in the hall. But no option to do that was available. So I took a business card from Mr. Jungbluth and put it on the display preventing most of the light from coming out. After the second act started, I began taking some pictures. But unfortunatly, a big lady infront of me was blocking most of the view, so I couldn't take a complete shot. The third act was the last and I really wanted at lease one complete view in my camera. So shamlessly, I positioned my camera next to the woman's head and started shooting. Before each shot I rechecked the flash as off. This made things more difficult since it was so dark that it needed a professional camera to have a good picture at low light conditions. During the break, I set the camera options to maximum night mode (ISO 400, shutter speed 1/10, Gain -2) hoping that this will allow me to have a nice picture. But unfortunatley, near the end of the show, the flash magically went off. Surely each and every one in the hall noticed that. I felt quite embarrassed since having pictures is forbidden. But after minutes another flash went off, but not from me this time, so this gave me a relief that I was not the only one taking pictures (feuw).

Now you know that it was so difficult for me to make pictures. So I hope you appriciate it.

Here is the Halloween / Opera album of this section of the Photo Album.

See also:

• Bonn Christmas Market / The Microscope 13 Dec 2006
• Lebanese Nights, Villa Hugel, and the Eudenbach Festival 23 Nov 2006
• St. Martin at Eudenbach and the visit to Cologne Zoo 17 Nov 2006
• Limburg old city DOM and Bad Ems Russian city 29 Oct 2006
• The Street Feast, Schwarzrheindorf church, and a Walk in the German nature 22 Oct 2006
• Koenigswinter / Unkel 16 Oct 2006
• Pictures from around Bocholt 04 Apr 2006
• From Beirut to Germany 25 Mar 2006
• Photo Gallery 19 Jan 2006
• [View All]