Well, Hello There!

Hello friends, family, and bloggers ~

Life has been fabulously full with lots of interesting and fun work projects, hikes in the Scottish Borders, concerts (from the Royal Chamber Orchestra to Rupert Jeffcoat), social events, Latin dance classes, dates with a handsome husband, lectures on archeology housed in the British Museum, travel planning ...... and the list goes on! Please excuse my absence from the blog, but I'll be back soon with updates!

x Ashli

N.T. Wright at University of Edinburgh

This past Friday I had the opportunity to hear N.T. Wright, perhaps the brightest and most well known New Testament scholar, speak at the University of Edinburgh. His paper focused on Romans 2-4, and his main argument was about the instrumentality of the people of Israel in God's covenant. Wright claims that Paul, the apostle and author of Romans, affirms that the creator God is committed to rescuing the created order through Israel, and that the role of the Messiah coming to earth was to extend that covenant to the Gentiles. Wright is an absolutely brilliant mind and incredibly articulate speaker. He graciously accepted criticism after the paper from Professor James Dunn and fielded questions from the audience in a very pastoral and compassionate manner. Overall, it was the bee's knees to hear Professor Wright!

If you want to learn more of Wright's thoughts, here's an excellent website with links to some of his articles and lectures.

Visit to a Gestapo Prison

We've been to some pretty museums -- l'Orangerie in Paris, the Academy in Florence, the British Museum in London. This was not one of them. Instead, it was ugly and sad, but necessary. 

 At the El-De Haus in Cologne, the above prison cell would hold up to 30 prisoners at a time. Only intended for two or three at a time, their holdings swelled as the Nazi's power and reign grew. On the walls of the cell, you can still see the etchings of prisoners -- messages cataloging who was there and the atrocities committed against them.

The El-De Haus in Cologne is a former gestapo prison that's been converted into a museum to document both what had gone on in that actual building and the actual progression of Nazism in the city of Cologne.

While the two floors in the basement are preserved as the prison, the floors above ground have been converted into space that tells the story of how Nazi Socialism took hold in this area of the Rhineland.


After World War II, this house was used for other civic purposes -- but mainly as an office for pensioners to come and collect their checks. 

This is the El-De Haus. Strangely inconspicuous.

Can you imagine if you had been imprisoned and tortured here, and then years later had to come collect your pension check in the exact same spot? This allegedly happened.

It was not until the 80's that the truth of what went on in this building was revealed and and opened to the public.

Now it houses important pieces of history, such as the above propaganda put forth during World War II.


 Below is one photograph that caught my attention:

 The sign atop of the destroyed bakery quotes Hitler as stating, "Give me five years and you will not recognize Germany again."

Sadly, I'm sure so many saw this as very true.

In Case You Haven't Heard ....

Matchbook launched last night! I've already been flipping through this online magazine, and it is so fun!

Happy Saturday Morning!

Happy Saturday friends! I hope you are all up to fun stuff today.

My sister loves She & Him, so I have to share this fun video of them. Enjoy!

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Isn't Zooey Deschanel brilliant?

Go Forth. Jam Out. Be Happy.

Newton Faulkner - Gone In The Morning

If you're located outside of the UK, you can listen to the song here.

And We're Back!

MBA and I are back from the Rhineland. We had a great visit to Cologne and Bonn. The Germans in that area are strikingly friendly.  It was so refreshing for people to look me in the eye on the street and return a smile. I loved it! And so many people would just start speaking to us in German. I then had to spit out something that sounds like this: "schpeeken English?" Not only did most people do a great job of responding in English, but they were also a jovial lot and joked around with us. So fun! 

Once my camera cord is returned (it went missing somewhere in Washington Heights, Manhattan), pictures will be posted. In the meantime, here's a brief run down of our visit:

Night 1
Arrive in Cologne
See Dom Cathedral at Night -- brilliant!
Dinner at XII Apostles -- total European ambiance & delish food

Day 1
Tour Dom Cathedral - largest gothic cathedral in central Europe and most visited tourist attraction in Germany
Visit the former Gestapo Prison and Nazi Socialism Museum -- stark, sobering, but very interesting
Stop by bakerie for yummy treats
Wonder Old Town
Dinner of pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes at Peter's Brauhaus

Day 2
Catch train to Bonn
Walking tour of beautiful Bonn (see birthplace of Beethoven, University of Bonn, and many other 18th century buildings)
Return to Cologne & wander through the Dom a bit more
Stop for Currywurst -- "God's gift to man" according to the shop owner
Wander Old Town a bit more
Catch flight back to Edinburgh!