A new city

Written by
My first impression of Dresden, after walking around the old city center was a bit different from what I now think of the city at the end of a sightseeing tour day. The well restored “Frauenkirche” and other monsterenous buildings built in sandstone and often decorated let you think you are in a different time. But after a bit of reflection, one recognizes that most of these buildings where badly destroyed in the second World War and have not been maintained during the DDR. So Read More +

Observations

Written by
What one can see at the museum “Runde Ecke” is really a bit devastating. Of course one has heard or seen reports about the DDR Stasi (Staatssicherheit). But seeing the mini cameras taking up to 470 pictures and how they have been hidden in clothes or accessories is a different story. There were even specially constructed machines to open letters and seal them again. On the microphone and listing front, they of course also had quite small devices. Not really a big thing today in Read More +

Stop Over at Leipzig

Written by
Well actually Leipzig would also deserve a real visit. But it just did not fit into my schedule. As I did not had to travel too far today from Bamberg to Dresden, though a stopover at Leipzig of roughly six hours was easily possible though. At first I tried to discover the center of the city on my own – accompanied by a bunch of Wikipedia articles, which my smartphone nicely ordered by the current location. But to get some background information, I took the Read More +

A Nice Summer Residence

Written by
Just for about 3 months each year, the “Schloss Seehof” was actually used as the summer residence of the regents of Bamberg. Quite obviously hunting was more important at this place, than managing the city. At least the subjects on the paintings in the various rooms available for a guided tour now, mostly show hunting scenes or hunting related motives. That guided tour was actually held just for me alone as it’s a bit end of season and there where no other guests around. For Read More +

Like in France

Written by
When I saw the “Michael” in the “St. Michael” monastery, the figure as it was posed reminded my on the same figure at “Mont St. Michel”, on the north coast of France. Of course it is no surprise that the figure features the same symbolics, but just out of my memory, the two figures in these two places really looked identical. But maybe it is as simple as the statue was created by the same artist. As I learned some hours ago in the Dome, Read More +

Old Prunk

Written by
From the outside, the “Neue Residenz” looks just like a government building, which in fact it is today for the most part. On the inside the approximately rooms, which are still left in their original state, such as the “Kaisersaal”, make you feel like you are in an old castle. The “Kaisersaal” was actually never used for a “Kaiser”, it just had to be been build in case his majesty ever decided to come to Bamberg. It’s a quite a large room, with a very Read More +

Guided Tour Through Colorful History

Written by
As the buildings in a city hardly speak for themselves, I decided to join a guided tour. I was a bit shocked to see that 80 other people had the same idea. That would get a a difficult tour. But luckily, the tourist office expected that many visitors and the crowed was split in four convenient groups. As the guide of our group was herself just returning from her holidays, she was quite motivated to explain us the various places. And instead of a one Read More +

Giants at Last

Written by
My very last touristic destination on this three week trip became the “Muir Woods National Monument” just a bit outside of San Francisco. They were named after John Muir a Pioneer in protecting nature. The red wood trees have been preserved here in a small an relatively hidden valley. The oldest of these trees are around 1000 years old and therefore have seen many episodes in human history. But they not only get very old, but also very big. They can reach a hight of Read More +

In the Zoo

Written by
(Almost) no travel without at least one visit in a zoo. So the San Francisco Zoo came to my travel itinerary. While I would have preferred a visit at the San Diego Zoo, this one was a bit closer and I anyway traveled enough. Expecting nice an warm weather, I dressed a bit summer like. This was a bit too optimistic, I have to admit. Anyway, the stay at the zoo was nice and relaxing. And finally I could also see a Grizzly from very Read More +

Different Geology

Written by
After seeing quite some impressive formations built by sandstone, which was created by deserts, beaches, mud etc, I today saw massive mountains created in a total different way. The big formations, such as the half-dome, at “Yosemite National Park”, which stand out very impressive and may go up as much as 1.1 km from the valley floor, where built as magma cooled down. No apart from that quite relevant difference, there are also some remarkable similarities between the formations created in Yosemite and for example Read More +