Greetings from the Franziskushohe, my friend Hermann’s cozy hotel on a snowy hillside overlooking Lohr, Germany…an idyllic little village where Snow White supposedly lived. My wife tells me that Snow White is a French fable, not German, but apparently the people of Lohr think otherwise. The town doesn’t seem real to me, but you can blame years of movie-going for that. Lohr looks like a Hollywood version of what a German village is supposed to look like. Writer/producer Matt Witten, who is teaching here with me this week, had exactly the same impression.
Right now it’s about 11 am here (2 am back home in LA) and I am sitting in the dining room at a table by the window, watching the snow fall, working on my fifth Monk book and sipping hot Earl Grey tea. (Jet-lagged must have wallopped Matt, because he still hasn’t emerged from his room). If you’d told me a year ago that I would be here right now, I wouldn’t have believed it. I’m trying to get in as much uninterrupted writing as I can before tomorrow when the "students" (professional writer/producers, screenwriters, directors, and at least one actor) start arriving from all over Germany and the real work begins.
Welcome back to Germany, Lee.
As far as I know Snow White could be called a European fairy tail. It is pretty well known all over the continent. Referring to wikipedia.org the best known version of it was written by the borthers Grimm.
I hope you’ll have a good time here in Germany and that you are not suffering Jet-leg this time!
Ute
That town so looks like a Universal backlot. All you need is Boris Karloff and some angry villagers.
Remember to enjoy yourself while you’re over there.
Snow White is probably best known in the US in the version set down by Charles Perrault, which was later eviscerated to become Disney’s version. As Ute noted, though, there are Snow White and Rose Red tales across Europe; the Russian variation is particularly grim (even grimmer than Grimm).
Maybe there’s a reason that Hollywood always makes German villages look a certain way.
Just a theory.
Mark
Sweden? Germany? My grandparents of my father, would always tell me stories of those to countries. It may be a dandy fairy tale to those that never get a chance to see Europe, but through the eyes of my grandparents, their cherished stories of a lifetime.
Enjoy it there as you can, Lee. Perhaps Monk could experience a taste of Germany or Sweden?