Pictures from Germany - Singen

Hello again. Bilbo here, reporting from my office-away-from-home in the lobby of the Holiday Inn here in Singen, Germany.

I've spoiled you the last few days with pictures of the beautiful places we've been visiting. Today, you're stuck with Singen. It's not a bad town as places in Germany go, but not nearly as picturesque as many other towns we've visited. You can see some pictures of the world's ugliest sculpture that I posted on our last visit here, and if you're one of my Facebook friends, you can see some pictures of the beautiful Stadtgarten (city garden) in my photo collection there. But after the World's Ugliest Statue and the Stadtgarten, there really isn't much to see here. Read on to learn what's left...

The full name of the city is Singen am Hohentwiel. The Hohentwiel is a huge volcanic plug that rises above the city, and has a large fortress sitting on top of it. Many years ago, on my first visit to Singen, Agnes and I hiked up to the top and visited the fortress ruins. I still have those photos somewhere, but they're not here. You'll have to do with these:

This is a photo of the Hohentwiel from the balcony of Agnes's parents' apartment ...

This is a bit more atmospheric photo, shot from - of all places - the parking lot behind the apartment building. The crucifix in the foreground is part of a memorial dedicated to those who were killed in the bombing of Singen on Christmas Day, 1944 ...

Since we were last in Singen back in 2009, a new ugly statue has been added to the city's SkulpTour. It's not as ugly as the Paradiesbaum (Tree of Paradise) statue featured in my post from back at that time (linked earlier in this post), but it's close ... and it's right across the square from the hotel and next to the Rathaus (City Hall) ...

Here's a detail of the fellow at the top of the center pedestal ...

I don't know what's worse ... the statue, or that somebody in the city paid money for it.

I'd like to write more, but last night was a late night and tomorrow will be pretty long ... we'll be going to the opening-night dinner of Agnes's class reunion, and I'll need to be well-rested so that I don't embarrass her. It's not easy being a trophy husband.

Have a good day. The next post probably won't go up until Sunday, because tomorrow night is the dinner and Saturday is an all-day feasting and boat ride on the Bodensee with the reunion crowd. No telling what shape I'll be in when all that's over.

More thoughts, then, later. Hang in there.

Bilbo