Pictures from Germany - Konstanz

Hello again from my usual late-evening spot in the lobby of the Holiday Inn in Singen, Germany! It's been a long day, but a very nice one ... we caught the regional train at 1:00 PM, and met up with our endlessly patient and wonderfully knowledgeable tour guides - Agnes's cousin Anna and her daughter Lea - for a walking tour of the beautiful border city of Konstanz. Once again, the weather was fantastic and we had a great afternoon exploring the city, which lies directly on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) and straddles the border between Germany and Switzerland. Here are a few of the 153 pictures I took in the three hours we were there (that's about 50 pictures per hour, or a bit under one per minute ... I'm slipping).

We start off with two pictures of buildings along the edge of the Bodensee ...

And ...

At the harbor was a huge statue of "Imperia" that slowly turned in a circle to watch over the boats ...

According to the plaque on the base, the statue is nine meters tall, weighs 18 tons, and was sculpted by Peter Lenk, inspired by a story by Honore de Balzac about the Konstanzer Konzil. In her right hand, she holds a caricature of the Pope, and in her left, a caricature of the Emperor. Just above her and to the right is a zeppelin, flying from the nearby zeppelin station and museum at Friedrichshafen. Here is a closeup of the statue that shows the figures in her hands ...

... and here is a better view of the zeppelin ...

We decided we just have to have a ride in one of those on our next visit!

We enjoyed lunch at a cafe near the lakeside promenade, and then we set off to explore the rest of the town. How could I not enjoy an afternoon in the company of three such beautiful ladies ... ?

The city of Konstanz is full of beautiful old buildings, many of which have been lovingly restored and proudly show the year of their original construction. They feature the same ornamentation and beautiful murals that we saw in many of the older buildings in Tuebingen and elsewhere in Germany. Here are a few examples ...

I want some cool gargoyles on my gutters at home ...

And finally,

In addition to all the other things I learned today from Anna and Lea (who lived here for five years as a student), I now know that:

1. A "Reusche" (as in the image above) is a woven fish trap; and,

2. The name of the city is pronounced "KON-shtants." I was actually pronouncing it correctly without knowing what I was doing.

I wanted to get a photo of the front of the Rathaus (City Hall), which is covered with beautiful murals of events in the history of the city, but the street was too narrow and the building too tall for me to get a decent picture. This is a photo of the interior courtyard, which is almost equally beautiful and is, according to Lea, a popular location for weddings ...

As it happens, Lea has some experience with this courtyard, having sung in an opera performed on an elevated stage which would have been directly above the spot where I shot this picture. The ladies in this family are enormously talented, and I bask in their reflected glory.

Well, I'm afraid that's got to be enough for now. It's nearly 11:00 PM, I'm bushed, and Agnes's parents will be expecting us early tomorrow morning. These relaxing vacations are going to be the death of me yet.

Have a good day. More on our travels and adventures in Germany tomorrow. For those of you who are my Facebook friends, there will be more pictures posted once we get home.

Bilbo

Pictures from Germany - Tuebingen

Yesterday, I told you about our visit to the Roman Open-Air Museum ... today's travel report is about our visit to the beautiful university town of Tuebingen. As before, Agnes's cousin Anna was our tour guide, and did a wonderful job of showing us the sights of a very lovely city. Here are a few highlights...

This was our first view of the old part of Tuebingen, taken from the bridge over the Neckar River. We had perfect weather for the visit and the obligatory picture-taking ...

The town is built on hills that rise up from the Neckar, and the narrow, twisting streets and alleys show it ...

We hiked all the way up to the top to visit Schloss Hohentuebingen, an old fortress which now belongs to the University of Tuebingen and is largely used as a museum and for offices and classrooms. Here's the approach to the main entrance ...

Agnes and I manning the battlements. Photo by Anna, who takes a mean picture as well as being a world-class tour guide ...

An atmospheric shot taken within the castle walls ...

Looking out over the rooftops of Tuebingen from the castle ...

On the way back down from the castle, we wandered the streets and ended up at the main square. This is the beautiful facade of the city's Rathaus (City Hall) ...

And this is an example of the sort of architectural decoration you find all over in the older parts of German cities ...

Anna told us that the year-round population of Tuebingen is about 30,000 souls ... but it swells to over 80,000 when classes are in session. Happily, we visited during the holidays and were able to enjoy the city without too much crowding. This appears to be one of the ways the students who remained in town enjoy passing the time - sitting on the wall above the Neckar, watching the boats (and the tourists) go by ...

And it was such a beautiful day, I couldn't resist taking this picture of a beautiful young lady being rowed down the river by her lucky suitor ...

I actually took 226 pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them. Trust me ... it was a wonderful day, and the remaining pictures just add more proof.

We're now in Singen, visiting Agnes's parents. Tomorrow, we're taking the train to the border city of Konstanz for the afternoon, where we'll hook up with cousin Anna and her daughter Lea (whom we haven't seen for several years) for an afternoon of sightseeing along the shores of the Bodensee (Lake Constance) and around the city.

More about those adventures tomorrow.

Have a good day. More travel updates coming ...

Bilbo

Pictures from Germany - The Roemisches Freilichtmuseum

Hello from the lobby (where free Wi-Fi connection is available!) of the Holiday Inn Express in Singen am Hohentwiel, Germany. We came down this afternoon by train from Reutlingen, arriving at about 2:40 PM, checked into the hotel, spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening with Agnes's parents, and are now catching up with the world before we head to bed.

Last Friday we visited the Roemisches Freilichtmuseum (Roman Open-Air Museum) in the town of Hechingen-Stein ... as I wrote in Saturday's brief post, it's a reconstruction of a first-century Roman town that once stood on the site, and is utterly fascinating. The site was discovered in the early 1970's, and the archaeological study and reconstruction of the town are still ongoing. Here are a few pictures:

This is a view of the main villa, mostly reconstructed, from the front:

On most of the site, the reconstruction consists at this point mainly of partially-rebuilt wall lines, as you can see in these two photos ...

And,

This picture shows how the Romans heated the stone and tile floors of some of the buildings ... furnaces in various locations around the site heated air that circulated under the false floors to warm the stones ...

Inside the main villa, several rooms have been reconstructed as displays to show how life was lived in the time of the Romans. I, of course, especially liked the kitchen display ...

Also interesting was this display, showing a combination office and lady's sitting room ...

Agnes's cousin Anna was serving as our tour guide, and took a picture of us with the Roman spokesmodel for disarmament, ha, ha ...

And, of course, being an old guy who always makes sure he knows where the next bathroom is, I managed to find the latrine ...

You can't see it very well on the picture, but this is actually an ingenious arrangement that diverted running water from a nearby pond through channels that carried waste away from the settlement.

On the whole, a historical site well worth visiting if you ever find yourself in the area.

And now it's bedtime. Tomorrow, I'll try to post some pictures of our visit to the beautiful university town of Tuebingen.

Have a good ... uh ... night. More travel reportage tomorrow.

Bilbo

Hello from Germany!

Hello, Dear Readers, and greetings from the beautiful city of Reutlingen, Germany! Just a quick note to say:

1. We arrived safely and are being well cared-for by Agnes's cousin Anni and her husband Volker.

2. Up 'til yesterday evening it was beastly hot and humid. Yesterday while we were out visiting the Roemisches Freilichtmuseum (Roman Open-Air Museum, see #3 below), it was 37 degrees celsius. When I got up this morning it was 11 degrees celsius and pouring rain. It is now (about 2:15 PM as I write) only up to 14 degrees. Tomorrow should be hot again. Sigh.

3. Yesterday we visited the Roemisches Freilichtmuseum in the town of Stein. It's a reconstruction of a first-century Roman town that once stood on the site, and is utterly fascinating. I have lots of pictures and will post some later, when I can use my own computer (long story).

4. We'll be here in Reutlingen until Monday, when we leave by train for Singen to visit Agnes's parents. I'll probably be able to post more regularly once we get there and are in a hotel with Wi-Fi service.

Hope everyone is well. All our friends on the East Coast, good luck with Hurricane Irene. Keep your heads down and your guard up.

Have a good day. More thoughts later.

Bilbo

More Great Moments in Editing, and See You Later...

Today is the day we leave for our vacation in Germany. It's now 6:00 AM, our daughter will pick us up to take us to the airport at 10:00 AM, and we haven't started packing yet. This ought to be interesting...

In the interest of saving time, how about we just look at a few more great moments in editing?

You may have heard about the 5.8 earthquake we had here in the DC area yesterday. It was a little exciting. And did you know that ...

I've just got to have this recipe for the next office picnic ...

Or maybe I'll just order up a few of these ...

Or perhaps some nice antipasto ...

You just can't trust a reporter's promises sometimes ...

I hope someone can solve this mystery ...

You'd have thought they'd plan for things like this ...

I just knew this whole diversity thing was getting out of hand ...

The way things look to me, there are a lot of people on the march against this problem ...

And finally, If I'm ever pulled over in Kandy, I hope I can convince the officer to just make me try to walk a straight line ...

And that's how it is for this Wednesday morning here in Disneyland-on-the-Potomac. Since we'll be on the road for the next while, I may not be able to post every day, but don't give up! Keep checking back periodically, and I'll get things back to normal ... or whatever passes for normal ... when we return.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Images That Sum Up My Mood

I'm in a flying hurry this morning because I need to get to work early, and still have lots of other things to do that are less fun than blogging, so this will be a little short. I'll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise.

Here are two great images I found online within the last week. One sums up my opinion of our elected reprehensives ...

...and the other expresses my dread of the upcoming 2012 election season, in which President Obama, in whom I am sadly disappointed, will likely run for reelection against a Republican selected from a field that includes luminaries like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry:

You'd think that out of a population of more than 312 million, we could come up with better candidates than these.

Tomorrow, we'll be leaving for our vacation (and not a day too soon, I can tell you). Be sure to come back tomorrow to help me celebrate.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Free Entertainment for Life

You may have seen this article by Bob Greene on CNN.com - Free Entertainment for Life. If not, go back and read it. There's nothing like a bit of good news on a Monday.

Mr Greene reminds us that, in spite of all the bad economic news around us and the falling-domino demise of large bookstore chains, we'll never run out of books to read ... for free, no less. That source of free and endless entertainment is the local library.

We sometimes forget, in this era of flashy displays of the newest novel by the latest hot author, that people have been writing books ... good books ... for centuries. They're all out there, waiting for us to find and enjoy them, and many (if not most) of them are available from our local libraries.

It will be argued, of course, that many libraries aren't really free ... that we pay for them with our taxes. I would argue in response that I can't think of a much more worthwhile use of those tax dollars. The vast selection of books available from even the smallest local library gives us a measure of escape from the steady drumbeat of bad news. You don't need 3-D glasses or a grossly overpriced ticket to enjoy them, and if the power goes out, so what? - the ink is still there on the page, ready to be read and savored at any time, again and again.

There are older books that I have enjoyed so much that I've read them over and over again. Here are just a few I could recommend to you:

The Kapillan of Malta, by Nicholas Monsarrat - the wonderful and intriguing history of the island of Malta, told by a humble country priest as a series of stories to entertain and encourage people cowering in bomb shelters during the dark days of World War II;

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - liked the movies? Read the books. The writing style is a bit heavy, but the imagery makes the story come to life in your mind;

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens - a great novel by a great author nowadays often denigrated as one of those "dead white males" who should be ignored in favor of newer, more "representative" writers; and,

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle - terrific "law and order" entertainment without the least need for DNA analysis, forensic anthropology, or any of the other hallmarks of modern detective fiction.

All of these books and millions more are available at or through your local library. As we look at ways to cut government spending, wouldn't it be a tragedy to ruthlessly slash the funding for one of our greatest treasures for public education, learning, and entertainment?

What are your favorite books, new or old? Uncle Bilbo wants to know. Leave a comment or send me an e-mail, and we'll share the recommendations in this space.

Reading - it's the last of the simple, free pleasures of life. Protect and enjoy it.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Better Late Than (Bleeping) Never

Those of you who came looking for this post early this morning (or at the equivalent time wherever you are) were probably disappointed to find today's post not there. It happens. I slept this morning until the unheard-of hour of 7 AM, then got up and took Nessa for a walk, then drove to Panera to shoot something for breakfast, and just as we were sitting down to breakfast, our daughter called to invite us to a grandchildren-sitting opportunity which lasted well into the afternoon. Then we had to run errands, and then I had to get my hair cut, and then ... well ... it's now almost 6 PM, and if I don't get this written now, it won't get written at all.

So...

There was a very timely and interesting op-ed article by Kathleen Parker in this morning's Washington Post that I thought I'd share with you. It was titled "Land of the Bleeping Free" in the print edition, and "What's Wrong with These Bleeping People?" online. The topic, as you might have guessed, is the prevalence of very loud and exceedingly vulgar speech in public ... so prevalent that I saw this sign in Virginia Beach a while back:

In the interest of full disclosure, I will note that I am not above cursing like the proverbial longshoreman on occasion ... but I tend to be selective of those occasions. I would never dream of launching a top-volume salvo of "f-bombs," or using "m-f'ing" in place of every second adjective, particularly in public and especially where young children are within hearing. If you need a symbol of our diminished standards of civility, common decency, and basic education, it's tough to find a more noisy and offensive example than the language of many young (and, okay, not-so-young) and thoughtless boors nowadays. Ms Parker writes,

"Good behavior is nothing but good manners, simply consideration of others. Recently out of vogue, manners get hauled out the way most people attend church — at Easter and Christmastime. But manners aren’t just gray-haired pretensions practiced by smug elites on special occasions. They are the daily tithes we willingly surrender to civilization. An “MF” here or an “FU” there might not constitute the unraveling of society, but each one uttered in another’s involuntary presence is a tiny act of violence against kindness, of which we surely could use more."

And, because I couldn't have said it much better myself, I'll just end it here.

Have a good day. More thoughts - hopefully, on time - tomorrow.

Bilbo

P.S. - I'm reminded of the old New England adage that says, "If you're going to break the silence, be sure you can improve on it."

B.

Cartoon Saturday

And another week swirls down the ol' drain ...

The military wing of the radical Hamas movement in Gaza has announced it is ending its de facto truce with Israel - oddly enough, it's rationale was that "There is no truce with the Israeli occupation under the continuation of committing massacres against the Palestinian people without justification," leading one to wonder if massacres with justification would be okay; in a show of international sportsmanship, basketball players from a Chinese military team and Georgetown University brawled during a goodwill game in Beijing; a new tropical storm - Harvey - is forming in the Caribbean; and Wall Street has tanked yet again.

I know you want good government, a booming economy, and a ban on dumbass political ads during the upcoming election season, but you'll have to settle for Cartoon Saturday.

We lead off this week's selection of cartoons with the mandatory terrible pun ...

To get this one, it helps if you've seen The Sound of Music ...

Two cartoons playing on the same theme ...

And,

Reminds me of our freezer here at home ...

This one is very funny ... if only symbolically ...

A reminder that we're approaching another season of high-minded, straight-talking, issue-oriented, political campaigning ...

And another one on that theme ...

The latest plan for fixing the economy ...

And finally, when all else fails in your attempts to make sense of the current social, economic, political, and religious insanity ...

It's going to be a busy weekend here in the Bilbo household: today is our granddaughter Leya's fourth (gasp!) birthday, to be celebrated with a pool party at her swimming school, and then Agnes and I need to start packing and making the final arrangements for our trip to Germany, which starts this week.

I'm going to need a drink.

Have a good day and a great weekend. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo