Some Urban Exploring

Somewhere on the outskirts of a town in south-western Bavaria: Two old factory buildings, given up and left to their own devices. Every morning there are a few joggers or dog owners passing by on their morning walk. Meanwhile, behind the fence, nature is slowy claiming back the place and canvasses for graffiti sprayers can be found everywhere...

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Nördlingen - The Walled City

Somehow time seems to have stopped in this small, circular town. Swabian Nördlingen still is completely surrounded by its medieval walls - but while most other historical cities grew vastly beyond their former borders, there are still fields and pastures just beyond the gates here. And inside its walls the town is giving off a special charme of times past, attracting afficionados from lots of different countries. There are even quite a few visitors from Japan, even though some of them have very special reasons...

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Travelogue: Bavaria (1)

Time to continue, here's a summary of the first week in Bavaria. I was mostly passing rural areas and there were quite a few local traditions and quirks I probably would have missed if not for this slow-paced way of traveling.

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Killing Dragons Bavarian Style

Hell yeah, a giant robot dragon!

Furth im Wald, a small Bavarian town close to the border of Bohemia: A mighty dragon is awakening from its sleep to bring chaos and death upon humanity. It needs a brave hero willing to oppose the gruesome beast! This is happening every year around here, for more than five centuries already.

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Travelogue: Bohemia

So finally here's the first travelogue post. I was already on the road for about two weeks when I had the glorious idea to take notes, but fortunately I'm snapping photos all the time. They're a good memory aid.

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Fun with Czech

Czech - not only is it dolled up with áll kíndš of fůnný střeakš, it also might sound pretty hard to pronounce if you're not used to Slavic languages. So for the ultimate experience here's ten Czech tongue twisters, kindly read to you (and translated) by a native speaker. Feel free to try it yourself!

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Prague at Night and Day: A World City Awakens

The Wenceslas Monument at Wenceslas Square. Mouseover oder tapping to switch on the light!

Yup, that's him.

What to do when you're arriving late at night in Prague and none of the hostels even got a free spare bed for you? Just stay awake. When daytime's rush is over, most oft he typical tourists are sleeping and just a few cheerful night owls are around: That's the perfect time to explore such a city and its landmarks. After that you can calmly observe its awakening in the morning. A good idea, really. In retrospect I'm actually glad I didn't find a place to sleep.

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Shopping in Czechia

Today: A post about getting your rations in Czechia spiced up with a little price comparison to Germany. I'm surprised myself that it's possilbe to write about this topic.

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Bones

Second day and I'm ending up in a tomb already.

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And here I go.

Well then, I'll be cycling around for a while from now on and on the road I'll be blogging about it. First day's over already and there's nothing special to report yet, but there has to be some kind of introduction post I guess. Here it is. 

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Knocking Down the Maypole

Ah, right, that was something I still wanted to write before the cycling begins. Well then, finally here's the third post of the Lusatia series. Today there's even traditional clothing and dancing!

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Watch the Weed Grow

 
Today I'm bringing you a short video: Many weeks in just a few seconds.

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Erecting Maypoles and Burning Witches

Okay, let's have have a look at some other Sorbian traditions. On 30th of April Lusatia is welcoming the merry month of May with bonfires and maypoles. Both traditions don't have any clerical roots and they're prevalent in other regions of Europe as well – however, the maypoles around here are especially tall and sometimes, on top of a pile of brushwood, a witch gets burned...

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Dresden Flooded: A Direct Comparison

Dresden on a nice summer day... today a year ago the scenery looked quite different. Try moving your mouse over the picture! If you haven't disabled javascript it should switch to the flooded version. On a smartphone or pad just tap the pic and to go back the normal version afterwards tap some empty space besides it. I've got a few more like that...

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Happy Election Time feat. the PARTEI

Originally I intended to keep political contents away from this blog, but who cares. It's propaganda time! 'Cause it seems I've finally found a political party that boils my political interests down to an essence - and yes, they're actually on the ballots. Ladies and gentlemen: Die PARTEI.

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The Sorbs and Their Easter Cavalcade

Ever heard of the Sorbs? They're a people here in Eastern Germany who got lots of own traditions and even speak a separate language. Yet even though they've been living here for ages, barely anyone outside of Lusatia - that's their home region - knows about them. In spring I've been there a few times to see some of their traditions. I'll tell you about them. Today's tale is about some classy gentlemen wearing frock-coats and top hats who ride about the villages while singing fancy songs.

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