ALEXANDERPLATZ: NOVEMBER, 4 1986 DEMONSTRATION

Alexanderplatz, Berlin (1881)

Today, The Bonds have continued visiting Berlin. They've gone to Alexanderplatz in the downtown of the city. This square is a neuralgic place of Berlin, witness of the history of the capital.

Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest.

Originally a cattle market outside the city fortifications, it was named in honor of a visit of the Russian Emperor Alexander I to Berlin on 25 October 1805 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia. The square gained a prominent role in the late 19th century with the construction of the Stadtbahn station of the same name and a nearby market hall, followed by the opening of a department store of Hermann Tietz in 1904, becoming a major commercial centre. The U-Bahn station of the present-day U2 line opened on 1 July 1913.

More information: The Culture Trip

Its heyday was in the 1920s, when together with Potsdamer Platz it was at the heart of Berlin's nightlife, inspiring the 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz  and the two films based thereon, Piel Jutzi's 1931 film and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 15½ hour second adaptation, released in 1980. 

Alexanderplatz, Berlin (2016)

About 1920 the city's authorities started a rearrangement of the increasing traffic flows laying out a roundabout, accompanied by two buildings along the Stadtbahn viaduct, Alexanderhaus and Berolinahaus finished in 1932 according to plans designed by Peter Behrens.

Alexanderplatz has been subject to redevelopment several times in its history, most recently during the 1960s, when it was turned into a pedestrian zone and enlarged as part of the German Democratic Republic's redevelopment of the city centre. It is surrounded by several notable structures including the Fernsehturm, TV Tower, the second tallest structure in the European Union.

More information: The Berlin Wall

Alex also accommodates the Park Inn Berlin and the World Time Clock, a continually rotating installation that shows the time throughout the globe, and Hermann Henselmann's Haus des Lehrers. During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, the Alexanderplatz demonstration on 4 November was the largest demonstration in the history of East Germany.

Berlin Demonstration, November 4 1989

Ever since German reunification, Alexanderplatz has undergone a gradual process of change with many of the surrounding buildings being renovated. Despite the reconstruction of the tram line crossing, it has retained its socialist character, including the much-graffitied Fountain of Friendship between Peoples, Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft, a popular venue.

Many historic buildings are located in the vicinity of Alexanderplatz. The traditional seat of city government, the Rotes Rathaus, or Red City Hall, is located nearby, as was the former East German parliament building, the Palast der Republik, demolition of which began in February 2006 and has been completed. The reconstruction of the Baroque Stadtschloss near Alexanderplatz has been in planning for several years.

The world will always need revolution. That doesn't mean shooting and violence. A revolution is when you change your thinking. 

Jose Mujica

THE BRANDENBURG GATE: A WONDERFUL SIGN OF PEACE

Brandenburg column and Parisian place, 1930

The Brandenburg Gate, Brandenburger Tor in German, is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, and one of the best-known landmarks of Germany. It is built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.

It is located in the western part of the city centre of Berlin within Mitte, at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building, which houses the German parliament, the Bundestag. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees, which led directly to the royal City Palace of the Prussian monarchs.

It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791. 

More information: Berlin.de

The Brandenburg Gate was not part of the old fortifications, but one of 18 gates within the Berlin Customs Wall erected in the 1730s, including the old fortified city and many of its then suburbs. The gate consists of 12 Doric columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two on each side. Atop the gate is a Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses. 

Napoleon in Berlin by Charles Meynier

The gate's design is based upon the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, and is consistent with Berlin's history of architectural classicism, first, Baroque, and then neo-Palladian. The gate was the first Athens on the River Spree by architect Carl Gotthard von Langhans. The capital Quadriga was sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow.

The Brandenburg Gate has played different political roles in German history. After the 1806 Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon was the first to use the Brandenburg Gate for a triumphal procession and took its Quadriga to Paris.

After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation of Paris by General Ernst von Pfuel, the Quadriga was restored to Berlin. It was now redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for the new role of the Brandenburg Gate as a Prussian triumphal arch; the goddess, now definitely Victoria, was equipped with the Prussian eagle and Iron Cross on her lance with a wreath of oak leaves.

More information: History.com

When a much larger Berlin was partitioned after World War II, the central borough of the city fell into the Soviet sector, adjoining the British sector at the Brandenburg Gate.

The fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989

Following Germany's surrender and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a joint effort. The holes were patched, but were visible for many years following the war.

Vehicles and pedestrians could travel freely through the gate, located in East Berlin, until the Berlin Wall was built, 13 August 1961. Then one of the eight Berlin Wall crossings was opened on the eastern side of the gate, usually not open for East Berliners and East Germans, who from then on needed a hard-to-obtain exit visa. On 14 August, West Berliners gathered on the western side of the gate to demonstrate against the Berlin Wall, among them West Berlin's governing Mayor Willy Brandt, who had spontaneously returned from a federal election campaigning tour in West Germany earlier on the same day.

More information: Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate

Under the pretext that Western demonstrations required it, the East closed the checkpoint at the Brandenburg Gate the same day, until further notice, a situation that was to last until 22 December 1989. The wall was erected as an arc just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin. 

During the post-war Partition of Germany, the gate was isolated and inaccessible immediately next to the Berlin Wall. The area around the gate was featured most prominently in the media coverage of the tearing down of the wall in 1989, and the subsequent German reunification in 1990.

Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered not only as a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace.

Ich habe es noch in diesem Sommer: Berlin wird leben, 

und die Mauer wird fallen.

I wrote it down again this summer: Berlin will live and the Wall will fall.

Former major of Berlin and chancellor or Germany Willy Brandt at the West Berlin city hall Rathaus Schöneberg, on November 10th 1989, one day after the first East-Berliners passed the border between East and West-Berlin.

THE BONDS ARE IN BERLIN: ICH BIN EIN BERLINER!

Spittelmarkt, Berlin (1909)

After having a pleasant flight from Barcelona and had listened all the security instructions, The Bonds have arrived to Berlin this afternoon. They're hosted in the Adlon Kempinski Hotel near the downtown of the city. They are visiting the city in this moment and enjoying the night life.

Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.6 million people, Berlin is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about 6 million residents from more than 180 nations.Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. 

More information: Red Town Hall

First documented in the 13th century and situated at the crossing of two important historic trade routes, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417–1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945). Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989) and East Germany territory.

Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of a unified Germany.

John F. Kennedy in Berlin, 1963

Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media and science. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination. Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics.

More information: Rare Historical Photos

Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues and is host to many sporting events. Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.

Berlin is still going through a transition since the Cold War, both in 

what used to be East and West Berlin. I can still sense the confusion and the struggle for identity there in the streets. There's a pulse to it. 

Diane Kruger

LASS UNS GEHEN: PREPARING THE TRAVEL TO BERLIN

The Grandma in The Capuchin' Convent, Sant Boi

Today, The Bonds have continued their English classes. They've revised the articles, the imperative, some prepositions of time and the creation of nouns from a verb to a gerund form. 

More information: Gerunds

It has been an interesting day. Irene has returned of her secret mission and David is working in a new film. After talking about the importance of the order of Capuchin in Sant Boi and its influence in the saga of Star Wars, The Grandma has explained a personal experience that joins her with Princess Leia Organa, the fictional character of this saga whose real actress, Carrie Fisher died recently.

Next, The Bonds have created a little post following the sacred rules of writing: cohesion, adequation & coherence.

More information: Imperatives I & II

Everybody has a personal and funny story to share and this is very important for our training because we want to start to prepare our final goal. This is the reason because of The Grandma has asked to her family to think about it.

Finally, The Bonds have started to prepare their next travel to Berlin. They've created some interesting plannings. The Grandma is going to read them and create the last planning with the contributions of all the family. Eli Bond is going to be our guide and Mariona Bond is going to be our translator.

Dear family, we're ready to leave the city. Prepare your suitcases and be punctual tomorrow. Our private plane is waiting for us. Let's go to enjoy Berlin! 

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; 

and suddenly you are doing the impossible.  

Francis of Assisi

THE BONDS, A NEW HOPE...

The shield of Bond

This morning, The Grandma has met her new family: The Bonds. 

After MJ, the Bonds' boss, had given all the burocratic orders, they've started to organize the family, the jobs and their nationalities without Irene who is in a secret mission.

A nationality is something very interesting because offers to you a community, a culture and some manners but nothing more significant that your surname. 

More information: Surnames

Every surname is a full demonstration of culture, origins and history. Then, we've been talking about the Saxon Genitive and the order of adjectives.

More information: Forebears surnames

The Bonds are sixteen different people with different needs but now they're sharing the same objective. After practising some definitions and revising the international ABC, they've decided to travel to Berlin to spend this Xmas holidays. Tomorrow, they'll prepare the travel.

More information: The Order of Adjectives

This afternoon, The Grandma has received some terrible news. Princess Leia Organa has decided to travel far away our Galaxy. We'll miss her a lot because Leia Organa is an icon of our childhood and Carrie Fisher has been a great example of dignity and a great support to people who suffer some kind of mental disorder.

May the force be with you, dear Carrie!

My extroversion is a way of managing my introversion.

Carrie Fisher

THE BONDS: THE FAMILY WHO CAME IN FROM SANT BOI

Selfie near the Church of Sant Baldiri in Sant Boi

Today, The Grandma finishes her current posts in this logbook. From now, she's going to write about her new family: The Bonds. 

Tomorrow, The Grandma is going to be in Sant Boi where she's going to meet her new family: sixteen new members.

From tomorrow, December 27 until March 7, The Grandma will share her new family affairs here and she will explain their adventures everyday. 

Welcome to this new family. Lots of luck and tons of effort to offer in this new project. Welcome to The Bonds and thousands of memories about The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes and The Poppins. You're an eternal part of The Grandma's story.

More information: The Official James Bond 007 Website

Come on Bonds, the History is waiting for us!

 I don't regard James Bond precisely as a hero, but at least he does get on and do his duty, in an extremely corny way. 

Ian Fleming

THE STREET OF SOULS: A MYSTERY IN SANTS, BARCELONA

Souls Street in Sants, Barcelona

The Grandma is in Sants, a suburb of Barcelona. She's visiting a special street with an incredible story that wants to share with you: Souls Street.

The Romans founded the Colony Iulia Augusta Faventia Barcino between 15 and 13 BC and planned all the city inside and outside. They wanted to know which lands they were going to control and keep but to do it they needed a large net of roads to allow them the total control of the city. They profited some roads which were Iberian probably. 

One of this roads connected the little colony with the Via Augusta. In the western part, crossing the Raval in Avinguda Mistral direction, this road arrived to Hostafrancs and Sants and was named Camí Ral during the Middle Age.

During 1344, a big cross was built in this road and some years later, the cross was covered naming the real suburb Creu Coberta. The road continued crossing a place named the Inforcats a name with a Latin origin, inforcatos, that means crossroads, and obviously, this name demonstrates the different directions that you could take: Martorell, Sant Boi and Llobregat Delta.

More information: Historia de Barcelona

If you continued across Creu Coberta and passed near the current church of Santa Maria de Sants, the road arrived to one of the most mysterious streets nowadays in Barcelona: el Carreró de les ànimes (the street of souls).

The Grandma in Souls Street

This street took this name because there was a little cemetery of animals in the past. It seems that appeared soft lights that floated on the air. This is a real phenomenon with some scientific theories but there's still a little controversy. Some theories say that these fires appear thanks to the rot of the organic materies that produces the oxidation of the phosphine and the methane gas, other say that the real cause of those lights is a phenomenon caused by the natural phosphorescence of the calcium salts of the bones.

The popular voices created the legend of these fires saying that they were the souls of the deads that appear to the mortals.

Some years later, in the 20th century, on the wall of a private house in 260, Sants Street, there was a tile that announced the presence of these souls from the purgatory which were consumed by the seven capital vices.

Nowadays, the street of the souls keeps its magical structure and it's one of the most lovely and appreciate places for the neighbours who live sadly how the new constructions are changing the suburb and how the City Hall is not interested in the idea of keeping and promoting the history of the suburb, a history that is an homage to the past generations and a great proud for the neighbourhood.

THE SONG OF THE SIBYL: THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT

The Grandma in the Airport of Strasbourg

The Grandma has finished her travel on The Orient Express. This morning she has arrived to Strasbourg where she has taken a plane to Barcelona, via Palma.  

The Orient Express continues to Paris, Calais and London but The Grandma has returned to Barcelona because today is Christmas Eve and she has a meeting in the Church of Sant Gervasi i Protasi in Bonanova in Barcelona. She's going to listen The Song of the Sibyl sung by Maria del Mar Bonet.

The Song of the Sibyl, in Catalan El Cant de la Sibil·la, is a liturgical drama and a Gregorian chant, the lyrics of which compose a prophecy describing the Apocalypse, which has been performed at some churches of Majorca in Balearic Islands, Alghero in Sardinia and some Catalan churches, in Catalan language on Christmas Eve nearly uninterruptedly since medieval times. The Song of the Sibyl is also sung in Naples in Campania and Marseille in Provence. It was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO on November 16, 2010. 

More information: UNESCO

Several versions, differing in text and music, exist:

-Latin Sibyl, from 10th-11th century, which incorporates fragments of The City of God (XVIII, 23) by St. Augustine.

-Provençal Sibyl, from the 13th century, reflecting influence of troubadour poetry.

-Catalan Sibyl. The latest and most ornamented version. Incorporates popular traditions of Balearic Islands. Refrain of this version is sometimes written for three or four voices.

Delphic Sibyl by Michelangelo

The author of The Song of the Sibyl is unknown. The prophecy was first recorded as an acrostic poem in Greek by bishop Eusebius of Caesarea and later translated into Latin by Saint Augustine in The City of God. It appeared again in the 10th century in different locations across Catalonia, Italy, Castile, and France in the Sermon contra Judeos, later inserted into the reading of the sixth lesson of the second nocturn of matins and was performed as an integral part of the liturgy.

This chant was originally sung in Latin and under the name of Judicii Signum, but from the 13th on, versions in Catalan are found.

These early Catalan versions of the Judici Signum were not directly translated from Latin. Instead, they all come from a previous adaptation in Provençal, which proves the huge popularity this song must have had in the past.

More information: The Song of Sibyl in Barcelona

Amongst the Catalan texts which come from this common root, there is a 14th-century Codex kept in the Archives of the Majorcan Diocese, which was rediscovered in 1908. Oral transmission and the lack of written scripts has caused the various old texts in the vernacular to suffer many modifications over time, which has led to a diversity of versions.

The Song of the Sibyl was almost totally abandoned throughout Europe after the Council of Trent, held in 25 sessions from 1545 to 1563, declared its performance was forbidden. Nevertheless, it was restored on Mallorca as soon as in 1575.

The Grandma in Sant Gervasi i Protasi, Bonanova

Originally, The Song of the Sibyl was sung in a Gregorian melody and, as it can be seen in the codex previously mentioned, the musical accompaniment that was played in Majorca, with the exception of some variations, was the same documented in other places across the Iberian Peninsula. Today, it cannot be ascertained when The Song of the Sibyl was sung to this Gregorian melody, but most likely until the 16th or 17th century. 

Oral transmission of the song caused, as it did with the text, the birth of different variations and models. The interest this chant produced amongst early Musicologists and Folklorists of the 19th century led to the transcription of the different known versions of the song. The versions still played nowadays take these transcriptions as model.

More information: History Learning Site

In the Renaissance, the Gregorian melody of the Song was set to polyphonic music by various composers, a common practice during that period. Two of these works, both for four voices, can be found in the Cancionero de la Colombina, a Spanish manuscript from the second half of the 15th century. The text in them is an abridged version of the Song, in the Castilian language.

The song was originally sung by a Presbyter, although this figure was later replaced by a boy. Even though the Song is supposed to be sung by a Sibyl woman, prophetess, for many centuries women were not allowed to sing in church.

Maria del Mar Bonet & Lautaro Rosas

Today, in most temples in which the song is interpreted, it is still sung by a boy, although in some cases it is sung by either a little girl or a woman. In the performance, the singer walks up to the Altar escorted by two or more altar boys carrying wax candles. Once there, the singer greets the crucifix, turns around, and begins the song. The song is sung a cappella and in a solo voice. In some churches, organ music or either modern choral interludes are introduced between one verse and the next.

The costume used to perform the song is rather similar in all churches, at least around Majorca, where it is performed. It consists of a white or coloured tunic, sometimes embroidered around the neck and the hem, and usually, a cape, which is sometimes replaced with a second tunic. The head is covered with a cap of the same colour. The singer holds a sword in his hands, which is held erect during the whole song. Once the song is over, the singer draws a cross in the air with the sword, turns around to the crucifix once again, usually bows, and afterwards is escorted away from the altar by the same boys.

More information: Maria del Mar Bonet

The song starts with an introduction, the melody of which differs from the rest of the song. In some performances, the song ends with the introductory melody as well.

The text is not standard, but late Medieval Catalan. Some verses are attributed to the 14th-century Mallorcan writer, Anselm Turmeda, who translated into Catalan the Judicii Signum, Book of the Final Judgement, on which the composition is based.

A Catalan version was recorded by Maria del Mar Bonet in 1979 on her album Saba de terrer, and by the vocal ensemble Obsidienne in 1995. 

 Great fire from the heaven will come down;
seas, fountains and rivers, all will burn.
Fish will scream loudly and in horror
losing their natural delights.

The Song of the Sibyl

0836656565: CLAIRE FONTAINE PHONES PÈRE NÖEL!

Saint Nicholas of Myra

Claire Fontaine wants to talk about Santa Claus, his origins and his tradition around Europe and The USA.

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or simply Santa, Santy in Hiberno-English, is a legendary figure of Western culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved good or nice children on Christmas Eve, 24 December, and the early morning hours of Christmas Day, 25 December. 

The modern Santa Claus grew out of traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra, the British figure of Father Christmas, the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, himself based on Saint Nicholas, the German figure of the Christkind, a fabulized Christ Child, and the holidays of Twelfth Night and Epiphany and their associated figures of the Three Kings, based on the gift-giving Magi of the Nativity and Befana. Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Wodan, who was associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.

More information: Saint Nicholas Center

Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra, now Demre, in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. 

Claire in the Church of St Nicholas in Moscow

In continental Europe, more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.

The remains of Saint Nicholas are in Italy. In 1087, the Italian city of Bari mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Saint. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was conquered by Italian sailors and his relics were taken to Bari where they are kept to this day. A basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave. These were collected by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and taken to Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors, and children to pawnbrokers. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.

More information:  Sinterklaas in Amsterdam, Netherlands

During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on the 24 and 25 December. 

Claire in the Church of San Nicolò al Lido, Venice

So Saint Nicholas changed to Santa Claus. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas has been propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. 

Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.

Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. 

More information: Santa Claus Village, Arctic Circle-Rovaniemi

He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer. 

Santa Claus and Coca Cola

His physical appearance was variable,with one famous image being John Leech's illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens's festive classic A Christmas Carol (1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.

In the Netherlands and Belgium the character of Santa Claus has to compete with that of Sinterklaas, Santa's presumed progenitor. 

Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch and Père Noël in French, where you can phone him to the free number: 0836656565.

More information:  The Coca Cola Company

Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising, White Rock Beverages had already used a red and white Santa to sell mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923. 

Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people only once a year. 

Victor Borge

JOE COCKER: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Joe Cocker

Today, The Grandma is still visiting Vienna. The Christmas Markets are very popular in the city and she's buying some presents, especially, music and books. In a little old stand, The Grandma has bought an exclusive single of Joe Cocker's With a little help from my friends. Two years ago, in a day like today, Joe Cocker left us but we continue enjoying his beautiful music and his broken voice.

John Robert Cocker (20 May 1944–22 December 2014) was an English singer and musician. He was known for his gritty voice, spasmodic body movement in performance and definitive versions of popular songs.

Cocker was born on 20 May 1944 at 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield. He was the youngest son of a civil servant, Harold Cocker, and Madge Cocker, née Lee. According to differing family stories, Cocker received his nickname of Joe either from playing a childhood game called Cowboy Joe, or from a local window cleaner named Joe.

More information: Joe Cocker Official Site

Cocker entered the big time with a groundbreaking rearrangement of With a Little Help from My Friends, another Beatles cover, which, many years later, was used as the opening theme for The Wonder Years.

Joe Cocker's single cover

In 1982, at the behest of producer Stewart Levine, Cocker recorded the duet Up where we belong with Jennifer Warnes for the soundtrack of the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. The song was an international hit, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and winning a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo. The duet also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Cocker and Warnes performed the song at the awards ceremony.

 
In 1993 Cocker was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male, in 2007 was awarded a bronze Sheffield Legends plaque in his hometown and in 2008 he received an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. Cocker was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list.

More information: Up where we belong wins Oscar, 1983

While performing a concert at Madison Square Garden on 17 September 2014, fellow musician Billy Joel stated that Cocker was not very well right now and endorsed Cocker for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before impersonating the singer in a take on With a little help from my friends.

Cocker died from lung cancer on 22 December 2014 in Crawford, Colorado at the age of 70. The two remaining living ex-Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, were among those who paid tribute to the singer, while Cocker's agent, Barrie Marshall, said that Cocker was without doubt the greatest rock/soul singer ever to come out of Britain.

 I have one message for young musicians around the world: Stay true to your heart, believe in yourself, and work hard.

Joe Cocker

F.SCOTT FITZGERALD: THE LOST AMERICAN GENERATION

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

The Grandma is in Vienna. She arrived on The Orient Express and today she has been visiting the bookshops looking for a special book: The Gran Gastby. After walking across the downtown of the Austrian capital, she has found the book and she wants to talk to you about its author, F.Scott Fitzgerald.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896–December 21, 1940) was an American novelist and short story writer, whose works illustrate the Jazz Age. While he achieved limited success in his lifetime, he is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the Lost Generation of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender is the Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote numerous short stories, many of which treat themes of youth and promise, and age and despair.

More information: History.com

Born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to an upper-middle-class family, Fitzgerald was named after his famous second cousin, three times removed on his father's side, Francis Scott Key, but was always known as plain Scott Fitzgerald. He was also named after his deceased sister, Louise Scott Fitzgerald, one of two sisters who died shortly before his birth. Well, three months before I was born, he wrote as an adult, my mother lost her other two children... I think I started then to be a writer.

His father was Edward Fitzgerald, of Irish and English ancestry, who had moved to St. Paul from Maryland after the Civil War and his mother was Mary McQuillan Fitzgerald, the daughter of an Irish immigrant who had made his fortune in the wholesale grocery business. Fitzgerald was the first cousin once removed of Mary Surratt, hanged in 1865 for conspiring to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Fitzgerald died of a heart attack. Fitzgerald's body was moved to the Pierce Brothers Mortuary.

More information: Open Culture

At the time of his death, the Church declined the family's request that Fitzgerald, a non-practicing Catholic celebrated for his risqué and provocative Jazz Age writings, be buried in the family plot in the Roman Catholic Saint Mary's Cemetery. Fitzgerald was originally buried in Rockville Union Cemetery. 

Fitzgerald died before he could complete The Love of the Last Tycoon. His manuscript, which included extensive notes for the unwritten part of the novel's story, was edited by his friend, the literary critic Edmund Wilson, and published in 1941 as The Last Tycoon.

 After all, life hasn't much to offer except youth, and I suppose for older people, the love of youth in others. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

VIENNA & CLASSICAL MUSIC: THE CITY OF DREAMS

The Grandma in Vienna, Austria

The Grandma has arrived to Vienna, the capital of Austria, this morning. She's travelling on The Orient Express. Vienna is an incredible city and The Grandma wants to share her visit with you.

Vienna, Wien, is one of the nine states of Austria. Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had 2 million inhabitants. 

The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Apart from being regarded as The City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the world's first psycho-analyst, Sigmund Freud. 

More information: Vienna / Wien City Hall

The city's roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city, and then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.

The Grandma waiting the tram in Vienna

Evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the frontier city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north. One of the earliest references to Vienna is from the Jewish historian, Josephus, who recounts that the king of Judea, Herod Archelaus (ca. 23 BCE–18 CE) was banished to the city of Vienna in Gaul by Caesar.

Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman or Koloman, Irish Colmán, derived from colm dove is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil was Bishop of Salzburg for forty years, and twelfth-century monastic settlements were founded by Irish Benedictines. Evidence of these ties is still evident in Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery, once home to many Irish monks.

More information: About Vienna

In 976, Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March, a 60-mile district centering on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria. This initial district grew into the duchy of Austria. Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube eventually encompassing Vienna and the lands immediately east. In 1145, Duke Henry II Jasomirgott moved the Babenberg family residence from Klosterneuburg to Vienna. Since that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty.

The Grandma in Saint Stephansdom, Vienna

In 1440, Vienna became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasty. It eventually grew to become the de facto capital of the Holy Roman Empire (1483–1806) and a cultural centre for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. Hungary occupied the city between 1485–1490.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman armies were stopped twice outside Vienna. A plague epidemic ravaged Vienna in 1679, killing nearly a third of its population.

In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna became the capital of the Austrian Empire and continued to play a major role in European and world politics. 

More information: The History of Vienna

In 1938, after a triumphant entry into Austria, Austrian-born Adolf Hitler spoke to the Austrian Germans from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg at the Heldenplatz. Between 1938 and the end of the Second World War, Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin as Austria ceased to exist and became a part of Nazi Germany. It was not until 1955 that Austria regained full sovereignty.

The Grandma in a Christmas Market in Vienna

On 2 April 1945, the Soviets launched the Vienna Offensive against the Germans holding the city and besieged it. British and American air raids and artillery duels between the SS and Wehrmacht and the Red Army crippled infrastructure, such as tram services and water and power distribution, and destroyed or damaged thousands of public and private buildings. Vienna fell eleven days later. Austria was separated from Germany, and Vienna was restored as the republic's capital city, but the Soviet hold on the city remained until 1955.

The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955. That year, after years of reconstruction and restoration, the State Opera and the Burgtheater, both on the Ringstraße, reopened to the public. 

More information: UNESCO World Heritage Centre

The Soviet Union signed the State Treaty only after having been provided with the political guarantee by the federal government to declare Austria's neutrality after the withdrawal of the allied troops. This law of neutrality, passed in late October 1955 and not the State Treaty itself, ensured that modern Austria would align with neither NATO nor the Soviet bloc, and is considered one of the reasons for Austria's late entry into the European Union.

Vienna is a handsome, lively city, and pleases me exceedingly. 

Frederic Chopin