For anita and franz-josef glaser the tour through the way of life was a matter of course. "We come here every year, no matter what the weather is", says the humorous couple from neighboring nordheim. According to their own statements, they feel the pure joy of life in the streets of the old town. They love the live music of different bands and the varied wine offer. In her red winter jacket, anita glaser is beaming all over: "this is a super event and the people of volkach are coming up with something great", she swarmed from the event. "If something like this is in our area, then we simply have to support it."

Like many other party guests, the glasers used the mainschleifen shuttle to get to volkach in a relaxed manner. "When we have drunk a few schnapps, we don't need a car, we go home by bus", female franz-josef glaser to appreciate the advantages of the bus feeder. "The shuttle is not only for tourists, but also for the locals. Why risk your driving license?", his wife emphasizes and summarizes the advantages of the way of life: "there is something for every generation in the matter of music." tasting the wines and enjoying the culinary delicacies is something very special for the glasers, something that does not exist in the normal everyday life of the mainschleife. "Here some top vintners offer their wines and you have the chance to taste them in a wonderful ambience."

While anita and franz-josef glaser are dancing to a rocking song by led zeppelin at the max muller winery and enjoying the good mood, margit kirch and her husband reinhard are strolling through the weinstrabe. Walking from vintner to vintner and making a fubmarsch through the wine variety of volkach are a welcome change for the vintner couple from fahr. The bad weather did not prevent them from visiting the way of life. They did not regret coming. "I love pop, beat and schlager, says margit kirch. She appreciates the variety of music that is sometimes served in the individual winzerhofen without verstarker.

Meeting many people you know
Her husband reinhard is looking forward to meeting many people he knows as he strolls through the music district. "There are people there that I haven't seen for ages." while his wife prefers the musical performances, for him the unique wine tasting is in the foreground. "Here you can get muller, silvaner, kerner, everything you can find in franconia." at the end of an exuberant tour, the kirchs are picked up by their son.

The glasers from nordheim also held their night out in high spirits. "We don't really go on vacation at this time of year, because it's nicest here in mainfranken", anita glaser swarming home from her hometown. This time it was a bit uncomfortable, but the glasers enjoyed the italian flair at the last lebensart events in the old town alleys – one more reason to take a vacation at home and let your soul dangle a bit.

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From vietnam's capital hanoi, inge and manfred wagner (both 62) from holzhausen biked through laos, cambodia and thailand to finally fly back from yangon in myanmar. They drew a thoroughly positive conclusion from their trip: accommodation and food were extremely inexpensive, and they met helpful and hospitable people everywhere. Enthusiastically they report about grandiose temples and sanctuaries.
The region is almost ideal for individual travelers, only in terms of order and cleanliness one must sometimes make concessions. Anyone who is keen to experiment in the culinary field can gain a lot of new experiences, because they eat almost everything that flies and crawls. The exotic spectrum ranges from grasshoppers and tadpoles to frogs, crocodiles, birds, rats and giant cockroaches.

In tunnels from the vietnam war

In vietnam, the wagners climb into the original tunnels from the vietnam war that have been hewn into the rocky subsoil. Here, vietcong soldiers and many civilians braved massive american bombardment. In the old imperial city of hue, the devastation caused by the war is unpredictable. Nevertheless, the citadel with the forbidden purple city is absolutely worth seeing.
Modern electric scooters are popular with schoolchildren and young people. The people mostly exude good humor, serenity and cheerfulness. No matter if rice farmer, fruit seller, gauze collector, hotel employee or dog catcher – all seem to be very content with what they are doing: happiness, contentment and cordiality do not depend on wealth.
In laos, breakfast is no longer served with noodle soup as in vietnam, but with glutinous rice, which is formed into balls with the fingers and dipped into a fish sauce. The globetrotters are awakened every day at sunrise by monastery music and monastery prayers. Monks, including many children, go from house to house in the early morning to collect alms and food. Thanks they bless the believers.

High culture of the khmer

The grandiose angkor wat temple complex impresses in cambodia. After a two-day tour of several monumental temple complexes, the franks feel like they have been beaten to death. Richly decorated stone reliefs with intricately carved figures and scenes illustrate the life of the upper class about 1000 years ago. Scattered over a vast area, in the shade of ancient tree giants or entwined by gigantic tree roots, lie countless temples and shrines – a unique testimony to the high culture of the khmer people.
Although the cyclists have already ridden through many mega-cities, the hectic traffic and the aggressive driving style of many moped drivers in bangkok give them a hard time – not for the faint-hearted! After that it is more relaxed overland, where monitor lizards cross the road in crocodile size and storks are crowded in the flooded rice fields. As the thermometer climbs above 35 degrees in the afternoon, the adventurers start pedaling at seven o'clock in the morning.
In myanmar admire the golden rock. Situated high on a mountain, the colossus weighing tons lies overhanging on its tilt as if it were about to come crashing down at the next moment. The rock is sacred to buddhists. They believe that it is kept in balance by a single hair that lies beneath it: a hair of buddha's!

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Under the twinkling stars of the cold december night, the amateur drama group, under the direction of carmen wilde and klaus wunder, puts on a play that includes all the components of the biblical story, from the angel's announcement to maria to the flight to agyptus.

The members of the amateur dramatics group come from all denominations, generations and political parties. Here children, young people, men and women play together. Already at the rehearsals – most of which take place at the train station, where the amateur actors can get used to the temperature right away – you can see that everyone is really into it.

Maria and josef
Especially maria and josef, portrayed by silke simon and karin neubeck, are very passionate about their dialogue. They think about the people of today and know about the doubts that josef also had. You make up your mind that only faith helps to overcome fears. And they come to the conclusion that people today have it easier in everyday life, but they have a much harder time when it comes to faith. The performers put all this into their play, and it is very convincing.

"We like to play here and look forward to the performances", say silke simon and karin neubeck with a sense of humility. You can see the joy in their faces. When silke simon tilts her head, she really does look a bit like the mother of god in the pictures, and karin neubeck as the energetic yet sometimes doubtful josef hits the nerve of the spectators.

The whole ensemble, from the smallest angel and shepherd up to the rumbling herod, is infected by the "stable christmas fever". Carmen wilde holds the strings in her hand and sometimes has to put the brakes on the euphoria.

Finally, it will be interesting to see how the amateur troupe will bring the miracle of bethlehem, the magic of the holy night and the biblical story to the audience.

Dates and contributors
Performances will take place on two days: friday, 7. December, at 7 p.M. In the festival square in front of the steinwiesen train station; sunday, 9. December, at 4 pm at the aparthotel steinwiesen

In addition to the amateur dramatics group, the music society of steinwiesen and the choral society of steinwiesen/nurn also participated in the performance. Pastor richard reis will perform the inauguration and mayor gerhard wunder (CSU) will give a greeting.

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Martin frost is a music transducer. The swedish clarinettist and conductor is a musician who slips with particular fondness into the role of the intrepidly curious xenophile through the fascinatingly diverse wonderland of sound.

When frost stands on the podium as a clarinet-playing conductor, as he did at the student concert of the bamberger symphoniker, no one need be afraid of modern music any more. Scrappy sounds, complex compositional structures, new tones that follow unknown rules? When it's frosty, that doesn't seem to be a problem at all. The audience listens to him spellbound, even if they don't know the music he plays or don't fully understand it right away. Frost succeeds in transferring the fascination that music exerts on him to his listeners in a seemingly self-evident way.

Driving momentum

"Retrotopia frost has given his current project an only seemingly betrayed motto. For the word-structure quickly decides itself as a combination of retrospective and utopia, of jerk and outlook. In the case of mozart and beethoven, the supposedly old music in combination with contemporary sounds does not sound old at all, but almost unhumbledly fresh.

Mozart's overture to "the marriage of figaro – frost has the bamberger symphoniker perform it with verve and sharp contours. And beethoven's often underestimated "fourth" – in his interpretation it contains driving momentum, but also vocal subtleties.

Martin frost's conducting seems like a drawing thrown into the air.

In mozart's overture as in beethoven's "fourth frost seems to be mainly interested in the lines and tension curves of music, which he traces with vibrating, sometimes almost unbendable (movement) energy. The orchestra follows its challenging conductor with coarse elan and coarse concentration.

Rugged and delicate

Exclusively modern sounds in the second part – sounds, of course, that prove that no one need be afraid of the label "contemporary. Jacob muhlrad's "angelus novus", inspired by a watercolor drawing by paul klee from 1920, unfolds a remarkable suction effect.

This music buzzes and sighs, builds up dissonances and floats away.

"Nomadia the brothers goran and martin frost have called it a joint composition – a music full of dazzling associations, full of exciting transitions and surprising connections, rugged and delicate, powerful and fragile at the same time. It is held together not least by the intensity with which frost, as soloist and conductor in personal union, connects the diverging threads.

In jesper nordin's "emerge frost transforms the concert hall at the regnitz completely into a sound laboratory – with the help of an instrument christened software, which the composer controls himself on his laptop during the first performance in bamberg.

This software translates the movements frost draws or cuts into the air, recorded with sensors, into fascinating sounds. Behind this almost disappears the fact that frost is not least a fantastic clarinettist, who explores the possibilities of his instrument in almost every direction and fascinates with tones that emerge from the silence.

Frost makes his appearance as a conducting, bilingual moderating soloist a real performance, which also captivates the orchestra. Standing ovations and a cleverly arranged klezmer dance as an acclaimed encore.

From the life of a versatile artist

Martin frost, born in december 1970 in sundsvall, sweden, studied in stockholm and hanover. Frost has already performed as a soloist with many renowned orchestras, from the royal concertgebouw orkest to the gewandhausorchester leipzig. As a conductor he led for example the oslo philharmonic orchestra, the royal stockholm philharmonic and the stuttgarter kammerorchester. He gave the first joint concert with the bamberger symphoniker in may 2014 at the vienna concert hall.

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But now the opponents are mobilizing for demonstrations on saturday. They see ACTA as a threat to internet freedom. Supporters say ACTA is important to curb copyright infringements.

This is how section 5 of the treaty deals with the "enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital environment". Each signatory state must ensure effective law enforcement and deterrence in its own jurisdiction. Internet providers should print out data such as IP addresses, which can be used to identify people in the event of death. Copyright holders can then assert their claims legally. Measures are also to be taken against the circumvention of copy protection techniques.

The 37 countries that have agreed to the agreement include the 27 EU member states, switzerland, the USA and japan. Germany had not yet signed ACTA on tuesday for formal reasons – but according to information from the foreign office, this is to be made up for shortly. In poland and the czech republic, on the other hand, ratification of the treaty has been suspended for the time being following fierce protests. "Under no circumstances can we allow civil liberties and free access to information to be threatened in any way," declared czech minister-president petr necas on monday.

Such concerns are not shared in the federal government. No call to change the current legal situation in any direction can be derived from the agreement, emphasizes federal justice minister sabine leutheusser-schnarrenberger (FDP).

Thomas stadler, a specialist lawyer in freising who specializes in IT law, agrees: "if you look at the ACTA text, you’ll find almost nothing there that isn’t already law in germany."The current discussion is often conducted in an unobjective manner. But there are good reasons to be against ACTA. ACTA thus cements "a decision on copyright law that favors rights holders unilaterally and takes little account of the common good". What is needed is a fair balance of interests.

In an interim report, the federal parliament’s internet inquiry commission also stresses "that copyright law definitely needs systematic adjustment in many places in order to maintain an appropriate regulatory framework for intangible good in the digital society". In addition to the justified claims of the copyright holders, "the general interest in the demand for creativity, innovation and the advancement of knowledge must also be taken into account". Because the interests of the publishing, film and music industries on the one hand and internet users on the other are so far apart, a reform of copyright law that could do justice to both sides seems a long way off.

"Effective protection of intellectual property also means being able to enforce the law," says doris moller, head of the intellectual property department at the german chamber of industry and commerce (DIHK), adding: "otherwise it is worth nothing."ACTA is also about the protection of industrial patents: "innovation is demanded when things are researched and patentable results are created. If they are not protected then we have a problem."

ACTA opponents like the grunen, on the other hand, feel "the air of repression and not of new, alternative causes," as stated in a resolution passed by the federal executive board on monday – with the headline: "bringing ACTA down!"The opponents are flouted by the protest movement in the USA, which succeeded in january in putting the copyright initiatives SOPA and PIPA on ice for the time being.

Net activist markus beckedahl, chairman of the digital society association and a member of the bundestag’s internet inquiry, sees a problem in the general and vague wording of the ACTA text. "When it comes to different interpretations, the question is: does the pendulum swing towards freedom of speech or towards the protection of intellectual monopoly rights??"

This is how beckedahl plans to hit the streets in berlin on saturday, when europe-wide protests against ACTA will be called for. In germany alone, demonstrations are planned in 54 cities – from aachen to chemnitz, minden and rostock to wurzburg. Among the organizers is also the pirate party, whose chairman sebastian nerz criticizes: "ACTA is another step in the wrong direction. The agreement adheres to ideas of an outdated copyright law."

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