Linked with Simply Lines.
Tag: Germany
Reflection
Linked to Simply Reflections.
It is not a mosque
“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.”
Aldous Huxley
This is the Red Mosque in the palace gardens of Schwetzingen in Germany. The mosque was built in 18th century and is today the last surviving of similar constructions that were en vogue in Europe then. It was never meant as a place of prayer but rather to illustrate the common search for principles of reason in the spirit of enlightenment. Hence, the words written on the walls may or may not be correct in Arabic, their origin lies rather in Western culture or in how the West perceived Oriental culture.
Although it is a wrong image of a foreign culture, it was done with good intentions and the means and knowledge available at the time.
Incidentally, although it has nothing to do with Islam as religion, it is one of the most popular spots for wedding photographs by Turkish and Arab couples in the region.
Linked to Travel with Intent where you can find more photos inspired by the Huxley quote.
Circles
This is linked to Simply Circles. Circles in a church window in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
Looking up
Linked to Simply Looking Up. I was looking up at a look out point over the river Neckar, in Ladenburg, Germany.
River surfing
During lunchtime surfers queue up and wait their turn to surf on the standing wave in the Eisbach, a man made side arm of the river Isar in the middle of the city of Munich.
Linked to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: water.
For more watery photos, click here.
2000 years of outhouses
This is the remains of a toilet facility built by Romans in a villa rustica in the Odenwald in German. When it was built it was most probably not an outhouse as such but now it is as open as anything.
This is from more than a millenium later, in the ruin of a castle in Handschuhsheim near Heidelberg. Since it has no direct water access (unlike the Roman facilities) it was a lot less hygienic.
This now is from the 21st century: plastic and with a slightly humourous sign.
Finally, for my private satisfaction. The poster of a local wannabe politician with a sign that shows where I think he belongs.
Linked to Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: bathrooms, outhouses and port-a-potties.
Letters and numbers
The letter S. I could not find out what it has to do with “Taunus” (a region in middle Germany) underneath.
Tempo limits written directly on the street, 20 being a low number so that pedestrians are safe and can look at the pretty houses.
The old orangery in the Günthersburg park in Frankfurt is a leftover from times gone by. Today it is a park with a wonderful playground at its centre.
Linked to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: letters and numbers.
“Two souls, at least, reside within my breast!”
The (almost) accurate quote from Goethe’s Faust describes it best. There is this side of me, enamored by the rolling hills of the Odenwald,
and then there is the other side, that loves the excitement of the city of Frankfurt with its highrise buildings and modern side of living.
And this is the compromise, I guess. A view from one side of the Upper Rhine valley, where I live, all the way across to the hills of the Palatinate (Pfalz), with the twin cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen on either side of the Rhine in between. The distance from the Odenwald to the other side is about 50 kilometres at this point.
This is linked to A Photo a Week: View.
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