1998-06-05: One evening in Salzburg
Hi together,
I would like to share with you a nice evening I had here in Salzburg.
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18:30, I go by bicycle up to the Festung Hohensalzburg (fortress), a very monumental castle of the Middle Ages. There is a special exhibition of "Daily life of the Middle Ages". The person in medieval clothing at the entrance made this exhibition. I have a good conversation with him, he is a peculiar man. Lenny Vries grew up in a Dutch Colony in South America, when he was 18 he went to Holland . He was thinking about the medieval time for his whole life. So, now he has two life, he says, his present life and his medieval life. I can see it on his clothing.
He has a cute rat as a pet. It walks up on my arms to my shoulder. He takes the rat back. It is very clean, licks and cleans itself.
An old man with gray hair and long beard came to us with his dog. The Dutch person gives him a book to read. The old person lives in the castle, he is an artist and maintaining the castle. He looks like the old man on the cover page of the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. He talks like him too. He said as a joke that he could cut the neck of the rat with his swords very easily, while he was laughing at the replica sword where the rat was standing. I told him that it is amazing how the Japanese could make Katana made of very high grade steel with such primitive facilities. The old men replied, nowadays people are much more primitive then in old times, today's people are empty up here, totally empty, while he was pointing to his brain. A deer has more value then men, because it doesn't have greed for more money, it doesn't kill. If you give up the greed for money, if it is not important for you, then you start to live. At that point money will come automatically too, like it was proven to myself.
He continues, people cut trees easily, even though trees can heal people. Up here on the castle we have two locations with energy. One is between the big tree and the church. I ask him if he can feel the energy. He says, yes up here to my fingers. I ask him if I also could feel it if I am there, I ask him if we can go there now, so he can show me. He said, by now the energy is weakened, because many people walk by and receive some of the energy. At this time of the day there is no more left, one has to be there in the morning from sun rise up to when the sun is about 30 degrees high in the sky.
I go inside to see the exhibition, the primary purpose why I came up here in the beginning. Not to say that the encounter with the old man is not important, on the contrary, it is the highlight of today.
The exhibition is very dark, made so by purpose to give the feeling of how it was in these times. There are many life size puppets showing how people lived. Small plates explain each situation in German, English, French and Italian. There is the smith, the carpenter, farmers, the tanner, an inn. There are candles and there is medieval music and sounds from the smith, I am overwhelmed with the atmosphere. This is the past of my ancestors, this is where I started as a European. I feel it strong because I have been away in Asia for such a long time.
The description of good manner at the inn was rather informative: You should not spit, you should not shout if you don't like the soup, use your finger or shirt if you have to clean your nose, ...
There is also an armory with many replica weapons. Lenny Vries made them all by himself. They look kind of handmade, not the quality of real weapons. But this doesn't matter, it is the atmosphere that matters.
I talk to him some more. Previously the old man said that Lenny doesn't make much money, may have a hard time. Lenny plans to buy a 40 meter boat with two decks to have a floating exhibition. With this boat he plans to go on the European water channels from city to city. Nice plan. I propose him to go also to Japan. He said that would be interesting, but that it needs money and connections. I tell him about Haus Tenbos in Nagazaki. He knew about this big "European Disney", because some friends go there every year to carry Dutch cheese. I tell him that this would be a perfect place for his exhibition. We exchanged addresses. I plan to contact Kume-san because he knows the manager of Haus Tenbos. His name is Lenny Vries, Fregatstr. 11, 1826 Da Alkmaar, Holland, 072-611-370.
I walk around the fortress, I feel the air, it is so intense. I go to the spot with energy, but I couldn't feel it, like the old man predicted. I go upstairs in the main building, there is a classical concert. I listen to the music from the hall way. I watch a beautiful sun set before I take the bicycle home.
