New books for this weekend part II: HHhH

Laurent Binets' Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich is a curious book - part fiction, part biography. Laurent describes how you came to write this book and takes the reader on a journey into the story of the attack on Heydrich in Prague in 1942. It's clear that Laurant loves Prague and knows it very well (as I do) and he draws a very vivid picture of this magnificent town during WWII. His quest to find to truth about Heydrich and the attack is very addicting and it was very hard to lay down this book.

New books for this weekend part I: Mes illusions donnent sur la cour

Sacha Sperling wrote a novel with a well known story: teenagers who smoke joints, use drugs, drink to much and have sex - only this time the main character (Sacha) is only 14...
In a sort "Lary Clark" picture with vivid factual descriptions he describes his meeting with Augustin, his new found friend (and lover as we discover). A stunning debut of a guy who just turned 18 and a book which you have to read till it's finished.

Hmmm...

Cars II

Very nice "posters" for the new pixars CARS - would it be nice if the whole film was in this style?

Exporting Raymond

Everybody loves Raymond, at least that's what the creator of the show thought - untill he tried to export the show to Russia... Luckily he brought a documentory camera crew with him, with a hilarious result... :-)

Time for a trip to Paris soon?

Abercrombie and Fitch is set to open its first location in France this week and to help celebrate the grand opening, the clothing store has decided to introduce Parisians to one of their favorite (and mine) traditions - shirtless male models posing outside of the store.

Luc Orient: an old love returns (to my iPad)

Greg and Eddy Paape wrote these comic for the TinTin magazine.  Luc Orient and his mentor Professor Hugo Kala work at superlab Eurocristal. Aliens come from the planet Terango. Their arch-enemy is the evil scientist Julius Argos.Now with comic viewer I can read those .cbr files right on my iPad: cool!

Eurovison song contest

I didn't watch - but I know which country would have my 12 points...

Nine Labradors in one Volvo: it fits!

Last stop: Bamberg

The famous knight on his horse in the Dom


Yep: Von Stauffenbrg lived here.

No wonder I have gained some weight during the last weeks - those Germans are mad about meat... (and chips)

Nurmberg



A lego store: where else then in Toy Capital of the world: Nurmberg?

Everyone knows Nurmberg of the WWII trials, unfortunately the court room was closed when we were there, but there is more to Nurmberg then that. It has a old inner city and the German Railway museum.

The BMW museum

Actually not a lot has changed since this W32 to the GS1200R





A couple of days in Munich without (very) old stuff, but with some technical stuff - like in the Deutsche Museum and in the BMW museum.

On the Road

Last Ludwig II castle: Schloss Linderhof


Nice setting

Opera in a cave, with the king's boat as his seat


Ludwig II memorial in the lake where he drowned / was killed / killed himself
Via a little detour through Austria we ended up in The southern tip of the German alps and found Linderhof Castle, a sort summer house of Ludwig II. It is a small replica of Versailles. It also has it's own opera house (set in a -man made- cave).

Goodbye Romantic Road!

It was a great trip - that everyone should do once in their lifetime. We are returning our trip back home: up north and west!

Ludwig II - Walt Disney eat out your heart...



Well when I mentioned earlier this week that Rothenburg ob den Tauber looked a bit like Disney World to me, I got a tweet from the Rothenburg guys mentioning that everything was for real :-)
I know, I know - but now here in Neuschwanstein I think that everybody must agree that this is the original Disney World Cinderella castle. Well... original? This to was always mend as a make believe. It is full of replica and even has a grotto chamber. What impressed me most was the very colorful interior. A pity that Ludwig II couldn't finish this Wagner dreamworld.

Fussen and a lot of Barock (and I mean a LOT of Barock)






What is Jar Jar Binks doing in this church? (and why does he have wings all of a sudden?)


We reached the most southern part of our trip here in Fussen on the German / Austrian border. We saw a lot of Barock churches today and here in Fussen things are very nice as well. Nobody is actually interested in Fussen itself, everyone who is here, is here for Neuschwanstein, which we will see tomorrow.

Augsburg








Some castles and very tall church towers (which we cannot resist to climb it seems) further we ended up in Augsburg, founded by - uh... - Augustus back in the beginning of time. It was badly damaged during WO II  of course, but nicely restored. The townhall has an amazing golden hall - where you need your sunglasses inside.

More castles, some birds and a dry pig


Falcon hunting

Owl hunting



What the F**k!??
And further south we go, through rolling landscapes and ancient towns. On our way we met a hunter who taught us some falconry. Something which was awesome to see. Later that night in Dinkelsbühl I order something in my best German, not knowing it was pork knuckle with a huge potato dumpling... Oops: it seems that my German needs some revision...