Dawn in Germany
I flew to Athens today to visit Marina and Socratis. Good Friday was a good day to fly to Athens because everything, but the airport, was closed in Germany.
Besides finally meeting Marina and Socratis in person, I made a couple of new canine friends as well.
Marina’s mom’s yellow lab
Hera
It was raining in Geel this morning
You can’t have my cake or eat it either, Niki!
You can’t eat the Eurasian Magpie, either…
Or the Eurasian Collared-Dove…
Or the Eurasian Jackdaw..
Or the cute Common Chaffinch!
“What? Are you just going to let me starve?”
Herman took me to aother old church this morning.
There were several of these locked, grated grottoes around the outside of the church with lighted votive candles inside them.
A man driving a small utility truck filled with lighted votive candles in the back stopped and said hi to us and explained to Hermin in Flemish that his job was to keep the candles lit. He had done it for ten years and loved the job.
Nike was watching for us to return from his bed in the garage.
I got back in the late after noon, and returned the rental car. Then we went straight from Enterprise car rental to Trivia at the Irish Pub. There were a couple of Golden Retrievers that came to Trivia Night. The white one really like me, and I had to pet it most of the time. It would put it’s head in my lap when I stopped petting it.
Tristan snuck a picture of me petting the dog. We are not supposed to use phones while a trivia round is in play.
Dawn
Koi in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern
Not coy
Amine in the Japanese Garden in Kaiserslautern
“I’m being coy. Can I have a Koi?”
Common Shelduck
Bar-Headed Geese
Eurasian Moorhen
Last night
The Archer
The underside of a Eurasian Green Woodpecker
“The Woodpecker is way out of my reach!”
Eurasian Blackbird
Portraits of famous dogs in an Italian restaurant in Landstuhl
“Famous dawgs in Landstuhl? Not cool! Fool!”
Moon made an appearance between rain showers this evening.
Dawn
There’s a shooting range we walk by before entering the forest.
Die Bar ist geöffnet
Geh am Sonntag schießen, trink
Geschützgewehre zielen
Speaking of Karlsberg beer, the Karlsberg Brewery is in Homberg.
Under the ruins of the castle on the hill above Homberg is a sand mine.
With hard hats on our heads, we descended into the sand mines. In Italy truant children were turned into donkies and sent to work in the salt mines. I wonder if truant children were sent to work in the sand mines in Homberg.
Homberg residents took refuge in the sand minds during bombing raids on homberg in WWII.
Atlas purrfurs the yarn mine. Sand mines are for other purposes in the cat world. Photo by Tristan.
Lots of low ceilings. The tunnels were much darker than in the photos.
Homberg
Atlas: “Blanket caves are so much more comfortable than sandbox tunnels!” Photo by Tristan.
Dawn
We drove to the Black Forest to day and went to the Treetop Walk, and the Open Ait Museum that is buildings from the 1700s with different periods from the 1700s onwards.
Tunnels over a kilometer in length along the way
Enrance and walk to the Treetop Walk.
I started my exercise tracker when we started walking up to the Treetop Walk
It snowed on us all the time we were at the site.
On to Gutach in the snow to see the Open Air Museum
Black Redstart on the roof of the museum ticket office, gift shop and restaurant.
Had to take a Black Forest Cake break while in the Black Forest
Sunset
Atlas
We went Dampfwalzen (steamrolling) around Mannheim today.
We rode the train in the rain
Nextdoor to Mannheim
We went to the Techno Museum. We started on the top floor with old stuff and worked our way down to modern stuff. I’m not going in order with my photos.
A White Stork flew by with sticks in its beak
A Wankel (rotary engine) motorcycle.
One of the museum staff teching a group of high school students how to make paper
Punchcards used to program looms were the inspiration for using punchcards to program computers. I used punchcards for my COBOL programming classes in the 70s.
One of the layouts for a poster.
Tristan and I both made posters. They are still rolled up, so I will have to photograph them later. The staff member started off showing how to make lead letters that are used in printing presses. He gave Tristan the W that he made. Then he showed us how to make black ink prints.
A lith-block for making lithographs of a kitty.
A half-track motorcycle that did great wheelies, based on the photo.
Say watts?
Speaking of wheelies, the peddling paparazo wasn’t able to do a wheelie on the watt generator bike, but he hit 759.5 wattss, maybe more. His average for 90 seconds was 450 watts.
A yellow-legged gull flew overhead while we were walking to the modern art gallery.
Little Boy Blue tuned into a golden angel
The water tower on the way to the modern art gallery
Walk like an Egyptian Goose
Pinguins filled with helium move around as visitors walk around them.
An orb that lit up and slowly swirled as people approached it.
A multimedia installment with lots of movement in the darkness and loud noises
I related to this installment
ICE, ICE Baby!
Atlas: “I’m worn out from all your photos!”
Freyja and I went on a long walk in the forest this morning.
There was lots of fungus among us. I believe these are called polypores.
There are so many trails, it can drive you nuts!
I could hear birds chirping, woodpeckers pecking, and what sounded like an owl, but I couldn’t find a single bird in the forest full of trees.
Our walk
Freyja was worn out
Atlas was putting on the cute, again
We went to an Irish pub own by a fellow from Romania for St. Patrick’s Day dinner.
Speaking of fungus amongus, the band played “Proud Mary” and “La Bamba” as part of their moldy oldies repertoire.
Paddy on bass. Herr Elton John on drums. Herr Traditionell spielen, singen und auf der Gretsch richtig Gas geben.
What was funny about the band is that it brought back memories of when I played in garage bands in the mid to late 70s. Way back then, we had to know three songs to play in clubs, for weddings, and special events: “Proud Mary”, “Brown-Eyed Girl”, and “La Bamba”. We didn’t stick around long enough to see if they played “Brown-Eyed Girl”.
The menu included Irish stew
Roast in wine sauce and mashed potatoes or
Shepherd’s Pie or Lamb Shank
and Apple Pie
Bis morgen! Tschüss!
The snowpack on the Rocky Mountains is sparse.
If it weren’t for the clouds, I might have seen Dundee, Scotland. The map on the plane said Dundee was below us at that point.
The mainland. I believe we were starting to fly over the Netherlands.
Restaurant at the castle in Landstuhl
The neighbor’s chickens
Atlas
A tat of a cat named Atlas
Pink was the theme at the Gimmeldingen Mandelblütenfest
Despite Freyja blocking the way, we rode the train to the Gimmeldingen Mandelblütenfest (Almond Blossom Festival).
Atlas thought it looked like fun
On second thought…
Graffiti along the way
Vineyards, almond trees and towns around Gimmeldingen
There were a lot of people, kids, and dogs celebrating the Almond Blossoms.
Roasting salmon on planks
There were all kinds of food and drink available as we strolled along the roads
Mandelblütenfest Chicken
This is an interesting building. It seems like a place for pilgrims to stay.
Castle at Frankenstein through the train car window.
Wheelchair or Rolser access?
Tristan Pointed out this really cute chapel…
…looking over Landstuhl from the Schlossruine Nanstein Castle
Landstuhl
Atlas thinks the chapel is cool, also!
Knight in the pavers
Fountain with a Camino de Santiago symbol
The oldest houses in Landstuhl are from around the 16th century.
Atlas wants to hire the maid on the van.
On to Ehemalige Festung Homburg
Homburg
With castle ruins comes more tunnels and stairs
A scratching of the 250-million-year-old ichthyosaur remains they found in the limestone in 1968.
The sign says it’s dangerous. I had to check it out. When I stepped on the floor and started to sink in the much, I decide the sign was not kidding.
Another danger sign
Where I would have come out if I have ventured past the muck
Atlas eared me that I was a wimp for not going through the dangerous tunnel.
I came across a wheelbarrow on a landing looking for the restroom at an Asian restaurant. I got confused. It could have been from jet lag, the Dragon Fruit drink, or the pole dancing. It’s hard to say.
Atlas giving me an ear up for getting lost trying to find the restroom at an Asian restaurant.
Off Center & Not Even 