Latest news with #fairytales
Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Could a river cruise really make the ultimate girls' holiday?
The Grottenbahn — aka the 'Dragon Express' grotto railway — in Linz, seemed the type of old-school analogue fun you only really encounter in certain corners of the world these days. Inside an old fort tower at the top of the 1,768-ft Pöstlingberg mountain to the west of the Austrian city, the train's front was shaped like a huge dragon's head with wings. There was nothing 'express' about it though. Three slow laps of a circular track built into a man-made cave in Edwardian times, it chuffed out dry ice and tooted into the tunnel. Meanwhile, to the sides, a dozen tiny dioramas depicted frankly nightmarish scenes of grotesque dwarfs, giant grasshoppers and weird mushrooms inspired by Grimms' fairytales. The surreal attraction is really designed for the under-10s. Which is why two middle-aged women laughing hysterically on board — conspicuously not accompanied by any children — really stuck out like a sore Tom Thumb on a Monday in March. My pal Mill and I have been friends since we studied music together at university and lived in a flatshare for several years in our twenties — an experience neither of us could have predicted would come in handy for sharing a cabin on a river cruise ship a quarter of a century later. We'd been intending to take a trip for years, having seen each other grow across the decades via two marriages (me) and two sons (Mill). A seven-night Danube Waltz route through central Europe on the 190-passenger Viking Egil was spot-on, taking in places we'd studied during our degree: Bruckner's Linz, Schönberg's Vienna, Liszt's Budapest. A cultural holiday through four countries sliding from genteel city to city but with enough home comforts to satisfy two always-on-the-brink-of-burnout fortysomethings. The toy railway set the tone early doors. Neither of us will regret skipping Linz's fancy Ars Electronica Center in favour of howling until even our calves hurt on a novelty train. Our cruise had started two days before in the Bavarian city of Passau — the first of six on the river route — reached by flying to Munich and transferring 90 minutes by road. Even though the city was nicknamed the Venice of Bavaria, my expectations for it weren't high compared with those for other big hitters on the route, including Krems an der Donau, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. The day was grey and misty, with sombre bells pealing on Sunday morning from the city's 53 churches, as we stepped out in our group of 15 or so, for the first of the daily walking tours included in the fare. Our guide Ugar Yolci — who studied law at the University of Passau and was well versed in the city's Napoleonic and gothic history — ricocheted us around the key sights with a sense of humour. We learnt about the colour coding of shop fronts from a time when few could read: pharmacies are green, bakeries pink and breweries yellow. We wandered down a narrow lane, Höllgasse, just off the Danube to see visible tide marks on the medieval buildings from floods that subsumed the city in 2013. After the floods, many moved out of the city to the countryside. 'The city centre is very affordable. You can get a flat for £780 a month and there's a young and ambitious population here,' Yolci explained. 'But what I love about living in Passau is how safe it is. Last summer I left my bike unlocked for days outside the train station and nobody stole it. It was old, I was hoping somebody would.' On board Egil we easily got into a groove. We were up for breakfast at 7ish — part buffet with some à la carte options — and off the boat for a morning walking tour. Back for most lunches then afternoons exploring, or reading and lazing on the yacht-style Aquavit terrace at the stern. Our smart cabin on deck three also had a lounge area, big sliding doors facing the balcony and enough drawers and hangers for the incalculable volumes of Zara frocks we'd brought with us. The bathroom's underfloor heating was a welcome upgrade on our student days. • Discover our full guide to cruise holidays In the airy restaurant, with communal tables of between six and eight, we could sit where and with whom we liked. The other passengers were mostly couples and mostly Americans, with a few Brits and Canadians in the mix and dinners made for lively conversation between Republicans and Democrats. We rotated around retired folk who worked in finance in Chicago, farmers from Wyoming and a multigen family from Illinois. Meals like burgers and grilled salmon were always on the menu but, each evening, different local specialities peppered the selection according to the destination. There were marillenknodel (apricot dumplings) in Austria and halusky (savoury dumplings) in Slovakia. It all appeared like a really good neighbourhood bistro with regionally sourced ingredients and delicate presentations. Evening entertainment was high quality too. At Linz a professional violin and piano duo from the Anton Bruckner Private University performed a set of Mozart and Elgar classics, while in Bratislava, local opera singers and musicians belted out Puccini to Bizet arias. I barely felt the ship moving — at under ten years old it should be a smooth ride — but that's important when you're on a river that can twist and meander, especially through the Wachau valley. The most beautiful stretch was before Krems an der Donau, with sights like the baby-blue tower of Dürnstein Abbey unspooling on a perfectly sunny morning. At Krems our first stop was Göttweig Abbey, a ten-minute coach ride south, dating from the 18th century after a fire destroyed the medieval original. We toured the magnificent baroque building with its frescoes designed to trick the eye. As this is a working monastery, we were graciously ushered from the ornate chapel at midday for prayers, leaving plenty of time to buy wines produced by the monks in the gift shop. • More great Danube cruises Which got us in the mood for that afternoon's excursion to the winemaker Mörwald's (from £90pp). Erhard Mörwald and the winery's dirndl-donning guide Trinka Stumpfer were as sparky as their wines on board our ship: Mörwald and his family supply 100,000 bottles a year to Viking. They took eight of us on a tour around the vaulted brick cellars that Erhard built by hand. Billed as a wine tasting, it felt more like an all-dayer thanks to stealth pourings of grüner veltliner and schnapps. I left with yet another bottle of the region's zweigelt in my rucksack. One of the misunderstandings levelled at cruises is that you can't get under the skin of a place in a day, but I've never found that to be true. While I've lost count of how many times I've visited Vienna on city breaks, I'd never cruised to the Austrian capital and this trip was an opportunity to see a part of town that was new to me, accompanied by a local expert. After docking at Handelskai, in the 20th district, we joined a private ebiking tour with Lucia Zakova, who guided us out beyond the city's boundaries and into the countryside of Lower Austria (£147pp). 'It's too early in the season to go to Donauinsel on the new Danube,' explains Zakova, about what is one of the city's nudist river beaches, 'so we'll take a different route.' We chugged out to Klosterneuburg, a monastery on the edge of the Vienna Woods, for a glorious three-hour round trip with the winsome moss-green Danube always to our side. The brand new bikes, more powerful on Vienna's hills than my car, made it easy. A two-night stop in Budapest marked the end of the trip. This was the appeal of Viking's west-to-east Danube route, as it finished in a city new to us both. One benefit of staying on a river ship was not having to choose between hilly Buda or flatter Pest because Egil docked slap between the two, underneath the Szechenyi chain bridge. On the first morning we joined the group tour, for a whizz around the city via coach to the gold-frescoed joy of Matthias Church. Then Mill and I made our own musical pilgrimage, walking from the dock through the city centre, past the synagogue, to the Franz Liszt Memorial Museum, dedicated to the 19th-century composer famed for his solo piano works. The tiny, two-room museum is in Liszt's old flat where he lived in the 1880s, on the first floor of Budapest's former academy of music. Despite being a committed Roman Catholic, Franz was an absolute hound who never married, instead having two long-term romances. His daughter Cosima went on to marry Richard Wagner. • The best river cruises for solo travellers Liszt's collection of grand pianos, housed in a small space, is impressive and includes a fine walnut 'composing desk' — a table with a nifty pull-out three octave piano tucked inside — built for him by his friend Ludwig Bösendorfer, a sort of 19th-century Elon Musk. Even if romantic piano works aren't your bag, the elegant original bookcases from Liszt's time and Thonet chairs are worth a detour (£8; Our final morning, a Saturday, brought torrential rain. From the window of our cabin we could see the tempting Gellert Thermal Baths and we made a run for it, drenched before we've even got in the 36C pool. Inside, the baths were more beautiful than myriad Instagram posts could ever render, with church-like vaulted ceilings, stained glass and original colourful tiles as we flitted about from pools to saunas and steam rooms. We'd both booked Aroma massages as a treat. It was the opposite of relaxing. We spent about 20 minutes being slapped about by a Hungarian woman in a room that looks like a dental surgery but it did push out lingering knots (massage £23, entrance £23; • Best Rhine river cruises While this trip served up lots of intellectually serious moments (classical music performances, Jewish history and quirky museums) it also brought what we both needed so badly: a lot of impromptu laughs at some of central Europe's most joyously unexpected experiences. Laura Jackson was a guest of Viking, which has seven nights' full board from £1,695pp on a Danube Waltz itinerary, including flights, departing on November 22, 2026 (
ABC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Fairytales continue to inspire those who dabble in 'the imagination business'
You may have been read fairytales as a child, but centuries ago the original stories were intended for adults. As tales of warning about sexuality, violence and death, the stories were far from suitable for younger minds. Jo Henwood, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, gives the example of Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood, written in 1697. She said it was about wolves, or gadabouts, luring Versailles girls off the path, where there was no woodcutter to rescue them. "The grandmother is killed and Red Riding Hood drinks her blood accidentally, thinking it's a bottle of wine. "The wolf, as grandmother, is in bed saying, 'Take off your cloak, Riding Hood, you won't be needing that anymore; take off your dress, Riding Hood, you won't be needing that anymore' and he's just luring her into bed." Henwood said the transition of fairytales to children's stories happened later, with the release of Grimms' Fairy Tales. "The French salon stories are absolutely adult stories, and they're very subversive, but when you get to the Grimms, that's when they transform from adult stories to children's stories," she said. The first edition of The Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm was published in 1812. "They collected folklore and, realising a new market, turned them into moral tales for middle-class Lutheran children, but there's a lot of misogyny and punishment that goes on," Henwood said. "At the beginning of the 19th century you get the invention of children, that they need to be tamed, and the Grimms are very much leading that change in society." Fast forward to the 21st century and fairytales are still finding an adult audience. The Australian Fairy Tale Society joins like-minded people in conversations about the stories and their meanings, with regular book clubs and an annual conference. Henwood said the great thing about the society was that people pointed out differences in perspective and that was where creativity could spring from, coming up with something new, fresh and authentic. Author Kate Forsyth, who has penned more than 40 books blending historical fiction with fairytales, writes for children and adults. Her 2014 novel Bitter Greens, for adult readers, is an adaptation of Rapunzel and she said the fairytale's tower represented "a universal experience all of us share". "Rapunzel is a story about liberation, about the human soul that is held in stasis, is tied back and must find strength in order to escape," Forsyth said. "Our tower can be different things. It might be an unhappy marriage, it might be a job that is a toxic environment, it might be our own doubt and fear. "The tower is different for every human; that we need to escape it, is universal." However, Forsyth particularly enjoys writing for children. "They haven't lost their sense of wonder and it's wonderful to give them the gift of enchantment that can change their lives," she said. Forsyth said children in harm's way needed books that gave them hope to change their world. Australian fantasy author Isobelle Carmody, who started writing at nine and also has more than 40 books to her name, said reading could be empowering. "I was an unhappy teenager," she said. "My dad was killed in a car accident, I lived in a rough neighbourhood, I didn't get along with my mum. "So reading took me away to other places where people like me might make a difference in my world. "I wanted to be in a world where animals could talk to you, where love would last forever, where fighting for justice mattered." When retired English teacher Robyn De Mayo joined monthly meetings at the Illawarra Fairy Tale Ring, a branch of the national society, she brought her knowledge of history and storytelling with her. "I have an extensive collection of books. Whereas others have beautiful versions, I have the critical responses," she laughed. For De Mayo, fairytales are still relevant, with a modern spin. "I'm interested in how stories resonate over thousands of years and how we deal with them today, particularly the feminist aspect of taking the female characters and empowering them, of activating sometimes quite passive characters like Rapunzel," she said. Visual artist and children's author and illustrator Helen McCosker, from Thirroul, south of Sydney, started the Illawarra Fairy Tale Ring in 2022 to research stories for her art practice. Once…, her latest, sold-out show, took six years to complete and consisted of assemblages in wooden boxes, inspired by her lifelong love of fairytales. "Each assemblage has a potted story of the fairytale it was based on," McCosker said. McCosker said fairytales presented people with age-old human values that appealed to the imagination. She calls it the imagination business. "It [reading fairytales] widens our knowledge of various tales, how old they are, how there are so many versions of them, so that's been really fantastic.
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sanctuary by Marina Warner review – the power of stories in an age of migration
Marina Warner begins this dazzlingly protean book with a distinctly mundane memory. It is the 1950s, she is a young teen, and the highlight of her week is going to the Saturday morning 'flicks' with a neighbour's slightly older daughter. One particular movie scene has stayed with her: it involves a man dressed in a vaguely historical costume who is fleeing for his life. Face contorted with terror, he makes it as far as the door of a cathedral, whereupon he knocks loudly and cries 'Sanctuary!' The door opens a crack, the man slides inside, and the Saturday morning audience breaths a collective sigh of relief. Even if the plot points remain hazy – is Robin Hood somehow involved? – the underlying principle needs no explaining. The fugitive has invoked the ancient right by gaining entrance to a designated sacred space. As long as he stays put his pursuers can't touch him. From these hyper-local beginnings, Warner sets out to explore and expand what 'sanctuary' means in an age when millions are on the move around the world, chased out of their homes by environmental disaster, economic collapse, war and political oppression. It is in these grim circumstances that she proposes a new concept of sanctuary, one built not from bricks and mortar or even tents and blankets, but by tales and their telling. Over the past 50 years of her distinguished career as a cultural historian, Warner has immersed herself in liminal literature, tracing the way that fairytales, playground chants, lullabies, fables, patter and ditties manage to evade the censor, slip under the radar, and slide into conversations without attracting too much attention. Now she suggests putting these folk forms to work, using them to build bridges and forge connections between arrivants (a term she prefers to 'migrants') and their often hostile hosts. It is at this point that sceptics might ask how Warner's proposed 'commons of wonder', filled with stories of myth and magic, can possibly help with the practical needs of displaced people more likely to be worried about clean water, healthcare, a job and, above all, the legal right to remain. This is a challenge that she knows well and has spent her career confronting. Her earliest books on the Virgin Mary (1976), Joan of Arc (1981) and, especially, female statuary (the magnificent Monuments and Maidens, 1985), all made the case for allegorical forms having a powerful conditioning effect on the way that people understand and experience their own lives. She got critical flak for it, as well as a great deal of praise. Decades on she shows no signs of being abashed, insisting as strongly as ever that storytelling can function as a 'binding agent' between strangers, creating spaces for concepts of justice and coexistence to develop. As back-up she deploys the British anthropologist Alfred Gell's useful phrase 'art as agency' to underscore her belief that telling stories has real-world consequences. This won't be enough to convince everyone, yet even the most literal-minded critic must admire Warner's commitment to making things happen. In 2015 she won the prestigious Holberg prize and used her £380,000 winnings to help set up Stories in Transit, a project designed to facilitate the exchange of stories between the young people, mostly men, who daily arrive in Sicily from the Middle East, the Maghreb, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the eastern Mediterranean. What might emerge, Warner wanted to know, if these travellers and their tales were encouraged to mix and mingle? Din from Guinea, where civil strife has destroyed his family, arrived in Sicily after a two-year trek by foot across the Sahara followed by a journey across the Mediterranean in a boat. During a Stories in Transit workshop he tells a traditional tale from home called The Huntsman, the King's Son and the Enchanted Deer, a spirited mashup of politics and magic, comedy and sorrow, with one tale nestled inside another in the manner of One Thousand and One Nights. What strikes the comparatist in Warner is the way that this Guinean tale echoes animal stories from both the medieval Arab world and the even older Aesop's Fables. Still, it is not where a story has come from that concerns her so much as where it is going. Over the course of several sessions, The Huntsman, the King's Son and the Enchanted Deer develops into a promenade piece, complete with puppetry, song and animated film. From here another arrivant, this time from Gambia, takes the spirit of Din's story and turns it into something quite distinct, a comic parable with music called One for You and One for Me. Sceptics once again might worry that this privileging of fantastical and shape-shifting narratives strikes the wrong note in a world where truth has become slippery and facts are optional. But Warner is ready for them, pointing out that the world in which the arrivants live is already fictional. Rhetorically marshalled into 'hordes' or 'swarms', these 'aliens' are routinely denigrated as 'scroungers' and even 'criminals'. The official maps that tell them where they have come from and where they should go are also imaginary, continually redrawn in the wake of colonial and nationalistic carve-ups that frequently take little account of linguistic, cultural and ethnic affinities. There is another reason Warner feels strongly about encouraging the arrivants to play fast and loose with the materials to hand. At every stage in their hazardous journey they have been required to narrate their life stories to officials in particular ways if they are to be allowed to proceed to the next stage in their search for sanctuary. The dates must be right, the dangers consistent, and motives must be pure, involving escape from tyranny rather than desire for a better job. To deviate from the first telling of an account is to risk deportation. As a result, suggests Warner, in an exquisitely attuned reading of the situation, arrivants are sealed into versions of themselves that take no account of their changing feelings and experience. It is in this context that making up stories becomes vital in ensuring a form of survival that is as psychically healthy as it is physically safe. Sanctuary: Ways of Telling, Ways of Dwelling by Marina Warner is published by William Collins (£22). To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Geek Vibes Nation
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
'Hans Christian Andersen' Blu-Ray Review - Danny Kaye Brings An Iconic Storyteller To Life
Once upon a time, there lived in Denmark a young shoemaker named Hans Christian Andersen whose magical tales delighted boys and girls throughout the land. Danny Kaye 'is a delight' (Cue) as Hans, who one day journeys beyond the borders of his small village, across the sea and into the dazzling city of Copenhagen. There he encounters marvels and wonders beyond his wildest dreams…and finds the inspiration for some of his most unforgettable characters, such as The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and many more! Nominated for six Oscars, Hans Christian Andersen is pure enchantment! For thoughts on Hans Christian Andersen, please check out my thoughts on No Streaming Required: Video Quality Warner Archive brought Hans Christian Andersen back in print to Blu-Ray in 2020 after first being released on Blu-Ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in 2012. This disc is the exact one used in the original run, only brought back so you do not have to pay inflated prices on the second-hand market. The Samuel Goldwyn estate restored the film for this original release from a 2K scan on the Interpositive in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio that looks good but could likely look even better with modern restoration tools. One of the most impressive aspects of the film is the vibrant array of colors within the costumes and settings that radiate off the screen with a lovely vibrancy. Every hue appears to be fairly accurate to its intended shade. Black levels showcase nice depth with respectable stability throughout, and highlights are bright without succumbing to any blooming. The restoration appears to have eliminated most dirt and damage for a clear picture. There do not appear to be any dastardly digital anomalies such as compression artifacts, banding, or other such nuisances. The level of detail and clarity is in fine shape with a faithful amount of natural film grain intact, yet there is a bit of softness at points due to coming from an Interpositive. We would love to see a 4K restoration in the future, but this disc holds up well enough. Audio Quality The Blu-Ray comes with a pleasant DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio mono track that captures the material without issue. The star of the show is the music, and this track executes these elements with care. It balances the soft vocals with the accompanying dance numbers and music with great clarity. Dialogue comes through clearly with nothing overshadowed by competing elements. There are spectacular moments when the track is bustling with all of the competing elements, but the fidelity never comes up short. Warner Bros. has provided a strong presentation that avoids signs of age-related wear and tear. Optional English (SDH), French, and Spanish subtitles are provided. Special Features Theatrical Trailer (2:43) Final Thoughts Hans Christian Andersen is an amiable movie musical that takes a fictionalized look at the life of an iconic storyteller as brought to buoyant life by Danny Kaye. The narrative is understandably kid-friendly given the tales that he wrote, but there is a lack of complexity given to his struggles that falls in line with so-called biopics of the time. That being said, the glossy approach to the narrative does yield some entertaining numbers and some fine performances. Warner Archive has re-released a Blu-Ray featuring a pleasant A/V presentation but not much in the way of special features. Recommended Hans Christian Andersen can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers. Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray. Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
The Sun
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Top European theme park that mums say is better than Disneyland shows off new Wes Anderson-style hotel
A TOP European theme park is welcoming a new premium hotel that looks like it's out of Wes Anderson's world. Dutch theme park Efteling will be opening a new hotel this summer called the Efteling Grand Hotel. 6 6 6 The theme park is already well known for its fairytale theme, with one TikToker - The Travel Mum - dubbing it "better and cheaper than Disneyland". The new addition to the attraction will be the first hotel located within the theme park itself and will open on August 1. The hotel will be themed around a traditional grand dame hotel with stories woven into the design throughout, appearing like a Wes Anderson story. There will be digital check-in, valet parking and luggage handling, upon arrival. A bellhop and Efteling's two princesses will guests in the lobby, where the air will also be infused with the hotel's signature fragrance. The hotel will be spread across seven floors offering 140 rooms and suites, with a total of 644 beds. The biggest room will be able to host six people. The hotel rooms will also overlook the park with different views of the Aquanura water show the House of the Dive Senses entrance, the Fairytale Forest or the Pardoes Promenade Lane. All of the rooms include breakfast at Brasserie 7 and half an hour of early access to the park before it opens to the public. Other features of the rooms include each one having an Efteling Grand Hotel fairytale book. Inside Universal Epic Universe with incredible thrill rides and amazing food The lower ground floor of the hotel will have a swimming pool - availabel only to hotel guests - with spa facilities including a steam room, sauna and massage room. There will also be a multifunctional serenity room where guests can unwind, pray or meditate. The hotel will have two restaurants with Brasserie 7 located on the ground floor and Restaurant-Bar Mystique on the first floor. While Brasserie 7 will serve up a range of classic dishes - which include seven 'magical' ingredients such as princess tears and snow from Mother Holle - Restaurant-Bar Mystique will offer a more premium dining experience. 6 6 Each table will be decorated with edible decorations and the restaurant will be open to the public, as well as park and hotel guests. Café Biscuit will also be a part of the hotel, where baristas will serve coffee and the signature Grand Hotel biscuit. Plans have also been revealed for incredible new 240-room hotel with huge swimming lake, golf and spa near to iconic racetrack. Plus, a huge new Premier Inn will open near major airport and will be the largest of its kind in the north of UK. 6
