Lunch--Omani-Style

Today I was invited to tour the Bait Al Zubair Museum in Mutrah, just off the corniche. A ladies' group met at the museum, was given a tour, then treated to lunch.

This wrought iron gates lead into the first courtyard. Note the colorful oryx standing guard over the courtyard!

Right in front of these gates hangs a picture of His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos. This is the current Sultan, who brought modernization and infrastructure to his country. He ascended the throne in 1970; there was only one paved road in all of Oman at that time. He is honored by hanging his picture all over the country--on roadsides, inside buildings, offices, shopping centers, and more.

The front entrance to the museum and the
ladies with whom I attended the luncheon.

The foyer of the museum is decorated in traditional Omani style with stained glass and typical Omani weaponry.

This is a dome with inset stained glass--very popular and used in most Omani
buildings--homes, shopping centers, and some businesses.

The museum is a tribute to Omani heritage and origins of their clothing, jewelry, and weaponry. We got a brief lesson in the different tribal areas of Oman and how the tribes are differentiated by their clothing. While cameras were not allowed inside the museum, the back courtyard contains re-created Omani buildings.

Example of how merchants used to display wares for sell in their souk stall.

Another use for palm trees--hanging your water jug!

Dhow, or Omani boat replica

This is one of our guides explaining this miniature of an actual Omani mountain village
and how water is captured and used to supply the entire area.

I liked how they were able to pull their boats inside a wall for protection just outside the fort's main walls.

After the tour, we were served lunch in an exhibit hall of the museum. Note the artwork hanging on the wall as well as the traditional Arabic seating. I can honestly say I'm glad I don't have to sit on the floor to eat all the time!

Waiter serving Omani fruit drinks--watermelon juice or a ginger lemon juice

The ladies at my table--sitting on cushions on the floor. Hummus, bread
and salad on the table. Salad served like this is a real treat!

It has been a wonderfully unique experience to meet women from all corners of the earth. Today there is a mix of women from all continents!

And last but not least--the multi-color, unique oryx statues that adorn all of the outdoor courtyards at the museum. I really took a liking to them! So, hope I'm not boring you with all the different shots I took of them!

A Night at the Opera

Not quite the same as A Night at the Museum, but we had a girls' night out at the opera for the season's opening performance and saw "The Barber of Seville." The production was very good, and we had a good time. The Royal Opera House Muscat is a grand and luxuriant edifice.

To prepare for our visit to the opera, Wanda and I took a short tour a few mornings before the performance. The exterior of the building is all marble, and in the early morning humidity and sun, can be quite intimidating with glare and heat--but the walkways, arches, corbels, and doors are worth the trek!

The marble inside in the foyer is Carrara, the wood is from Burma and hand-carved by Omani craftsman on-site. The marble in the ante-room where they serve refreshments is Omani marble, mined just a few miles away.

Stairway post--marble

Carved ceiling

Marble base of pillar is cut as an Omani fort

Inlaid wood table in the foyer

Our guide for the daily tour

A unique feature of the Royal Opera House is this sound-
proofed room between the entrance hall and the theatre.
It mutes any sound so that the silence inside the theatre is
not interrupted if anyone leaves or enters during a
performance.

A few of us met for dinner beforehand at the attached Opera House Galleria. Here we are posing together during the intermission.

Formally and traditionally dressed ushers
posted at each entrance.

Another usher on the right, fellow attendees

Hope you enjoyed the "Night at the Opera!"

Never Again--remembering the past at Dachau

We spent an entire day in the village of Dachau, just outside Munich. Dachau is, of course, infamous for the concentration camp built by the Nazis on the outskirts of the village. Its first purpose was to house inmates who were considered "enemies" of the Nazi state--mostly non-Jews, especially in the beginning. It became the "model" that all other concentration camps were built after. The village itself was charming, but because of the history of the area, it is not that well-visited as a tourist site. However, we really enjoyed our time in the village.

My goal in this post is to communicate visually the starkness of the concentration camp, but it is impossible to visually convey the atrocities committed upon fellow human beings here. Contrast the bleakness of the camp with the picturesque scenery in the village; it is hard to reconcile the two. Yet, still today, the residents of the town still deal with their "legacy", and some find it hard to cope with. The people who looked the other way, or ignored the atrocities, or pretended they weren't happening--these people were their parents and grandparents. This post is not to be "enjoyed" per se, but to be reflective, to not forget, to remember....NEVER AGAIN.

Memorial at front of camp; five languages of "Never Again"

Sculpture erected in front of one of the buildings to memorialize victims of
the camp. The sculpture is representative of people who flung themselves on the
 electrified barbed wire fence rather than return into the camp at the end of a work day.
Bodies were left on the fence as they decayed. Survivors chose this particular
representation because it so poignantly depicted the desperate circumstances
 of the camp that men would choose this gruesome death to the slow,
daily torture inside the camp, day in and day out.

The Barracks

Road into the camp between the barracks. Inmates were often forced to pick
up dropped, dead, or yellowed leaves that had fallen from the trees as part
of their "clean-up" duties around the camp at the end of a long forced
labor work day. Inmates received a starvation diet and only
 4-5 hours of sleep a night. The rest of the
day was filled with chores, demeaning tasks, and forced hard labor.

View through a window in the barracks. Each of the foundation markings outside of the
window represent a former location of a barracks. The original structures have been destroyed.

There are at least 12 rows of barracks along each side of the trees, with hundreds of men housed in each one.
Only men were imprisoned in Dachau according to the camp rolls, except for seven women
who are listed on the rolls,  probably serving in forced prostitution for the guards
and "rewards" for inmates who ratted out fellow inmates.

Re-constructed bunk beds inside the barrack. As the war drug on, inmates were
forced to share two men to a space, sleeping head to toe. 

The "Bunker"

If you were sent to this building--the "Bunker", you were certain of execution. This building
 was reserved for "special" enemies of the Third Reich. 

View inside of a cell.

Door to a cell--missing the bars.

Bars on a cell door.

View through a peep-hole on a cell door.

Another wing of the Bunker building, with an additional set of security doors.

The Grounds

Guard Watchtower

Former electrified fence with moat--making it impossible for prisoners to reach
 the electrified fence from inside the camp.

View of one of the many churches placed around/inside the camp after the war......

Crematorium

Exterior of building

Gas chambers added in 1942, but never used

Crematorium ovens

Our English-speaking tour guide--an architect in real life--volunteers her
time to give tours. She has spent countless hours on her own to research
the history of this camp. As part of the "punishment" of the German
people, she was forced to stand in the roll call area of the camp for
 hours as a child so that the children would learn what it felt like.
This has been done for years, and I felt sorry for her pain. She, too,
is sorry for what her ancestors and countrymen had done here.
She gives tours as a way to help educate others and to give back,
in a way, for the harm that was done long before she was even born.

The Village of Dachau

Summer palace for monarchs in Munich

View from summit of summer palace towards Munich

View of Dachau church from the summer palace.