Tag: Germany

A place with a view

93 town

This is Günzburg, just over 100 km to the south of Rothenburg where Nancy took her photograph.  Click here to go to her A Photo A Week Challenge and find other photos featuring towns or cities.

Wie ein bunter Hund

bunter Hund

When the far-right party AFD started to agitate people against refugees in the autumn of 2015,  many people in our town started to stand up against them. They rallied behind the  slogan Weinheim bleibt bunt – Weinheim will stay colourful, meaning that diversity was welcomed.  Very soon a symbol was created – that of the colourful dog.  The reference is to a German saying when somebody is known all over town that he stands out like a dog of many colours.  

For A Photo a Week: colourful.

More colourful photos can be found here.

There can only be one.

89 skull a

Actually, there are, as you can see, at least three.  I saw the above sculpture on a tombstone in an exhibition for graveyard designs. While I think it’s cool I wonder if anybody chose this as an actual tombstone.

89 skull b

Is DEATH crying?

Eintracht Frankfurt

I took this picture with my phone.  I keep telling myself that I have to go back to this mural with a proper camera.  It is near the home of the Frankfurt football club “Eintracht” – where else?

For One Word Sunday: skull.  More skulls can be found here.

Come blow your horn

No, I’m not Frank Sinatra but feel free to take your pick. The choice of horns is yours:

Post

The sign of the hotel “Adler-Post” in Schwetzingen.

Post

Less ornate but rich in contrast, the restaurant “Post” in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.

Nachtwächter

A mural in Bensheim – night watchmen carried a lamp, a hellbarde, and a horn.

83 f horn

Passing on the knowledge to the next generation.

83 b horn

A magnificent set of horns on this he-goat.

83 c horn

And a more whimsical set of horns on this cow,

A horned theme for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge.  More horny photos can be found here.

999

I am watching you …

from a the distance …

81 a distance
The skyline of Frankfurt am Main, Germany
81 b distance
People on the beach near Bamburg Castle
81 c distance
Lake Brienz in Switzerland

For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: in the distance.

More removed photos can be found here.

999

 

Feeling blue – in a good way

83 blue a

I don’t know if that exquisite blue flower was the blue flower of the romantics but it could be.  It can be found next to fields (hence its common name “Wegwarte” in German, which could be translated as “watcher on the path”) but Common Chicory has practical applications in ersatz-coffee making.

83 blue b

In the blue yonder with a blue balloon.

83 blue c

The side entrance of the restaurant known as “Blue Monkey” (“Blauer Aff“).

83 blue d

For One Word Sunday.

More blue photos can be found here.

Rising from the ground like a skyscraper

80 a unusual

80 b unusual

80 c unusual

80 d unusual

Kronenhochhaus Westend 1

Frankfurt and its business and banking district is the closest we come to skyscrapers in Germany.  No comparison to really high buildings the world over but impressive enough if you walk around them on ground level and look up.

For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: unusual perspective.

For more perspectives, click here.

999

 

A displaced giant

80 old a

Cedars were not really winter hardy in Germany (this might be changing, unfortunately for the overall climate), so large, old cedar trees are exceptional.  The oldest and largest cedar in Germany is found in Weinheim, in the southwest.  It was planted around 1720, has a width of 27 metres, a height of 23 metres and a trunk circumference of 5,20 metres.  Over the years, it had a number of visits from tree doctors and so far, it is going strong even though it has suffered from the dry summer this year, as have other old trees in the area.  For years, there was a toy rocket stuck in its upper branches, the loss of which pained me greatly.

Here it is on the left, with the tower of the castle (now the townhall) in the background:

80 old b

For One Word Sunday: old.  More old photos or photos of old things and possibly people can be found here.

Sea of stones

In the Lautertal, a valley in the southern part of the state of Hesse in Germany, is the “Felsenmeer” or sea of stones.  The geological processes which created this natural phenomenon happened almost 400 million years ago, over time erosion laid bare these boulders.  Romans quarried them, and there are about 150 work pieces left from these times which were left behind.

75 rocks 1

75 rocks 5

perforiert

75 rocks 2

75 rocks 3

For Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: rocks, boulders, stone.  More rocky and stoney photos can be found here.