On the occasion of...
Other than Germany having an election last weekend, which more or less turned out as I expected it would, I was kept busy during the last three days by turning forty. (Today was the day of writing thank you notes for cards, presents, flowers etc. Somehow there are always more of these when one passes a decade...) The actual birthday was yesterday, but the party was on Saturday-till-Sunday, and Saturday was also the day I dragged my hapless victims, aka the birthday guests, through my beautiful hometown, Bamberg. The weather was gorgeous, and this means you get a few pictures.
That's a former mill, now a hotel called Nepomuk. And various victims guests. The Bamberg tour was optional, I hasten to add, and also because so many volunteered I didn't do the explaining; Mr. Knobel, a friend of the APs, painter and licensed tour guide did.
The Böttingerhaus. Which was a town palace build by one of the first non-nobles in baroque times to make it to the top of Bamberg wealth and society, Philip Böttinger, which pissed off the nobles to no end. They promptly ridiculed him for having comissioned ornaments of the kind that had impressed him in Austria on a trip; only in Austria these were exclusively used in churches. Böttinger ignored the ridicule and spent more money on beautiful buildings.
A part of the Alte Hofhaltung, which was the imperial residence. Cathedral in the background.
And now you get a glimpse at Little Venice. Which isn't just how we Bambergians call it; we also have the gondolas to match.
One of these days I must do a really thorough pic spam of my hometown, but it won't be this day. Instead, here's 40 years old me, courtesy of the Aged Parent whose camera was rather flattering:
Back in Munich now, and not exactly feeling any different. I'm still in the process of catching up with what everyone else was doing, except for the dear lj friends who ware at the party and thus accounted for. :)
That's a former mill, now a hotel called Nepomuk. And various victims guests. The Bamberg tour was optional, I hasten to add, and also because so many volunteered I didn't do the explaining; Mr. Knobel, a friend of the APs, painter and licensed tour guide did.
The Böttingerhaus. Which was a town palace build by one of the first non-nobles in baroque times to make it to the top of Bamberg wealth and society, Philip Böttinger, which pissed off the nobles to no end. They promptly ridiculed him for having comissioned ornaments of the kind that had impressed him in Austria on a trip; only in Austria these were exclusively used in churches. Böttinger ignored the ridicule and spent more money on beautiful buildings.
A part of the Alte Hofhaltung, which was the imperial residence. Cathedral in the background.
And now you get a glimpse at Little Venice. Which isn't just how we Bambergians call it; we also have the gondolas to match.
One of these days I must do a really thorough pic spam of my hometown, but it won't be this day. Instead, here's 40 years old me, courtesy of the Aged Parent whose camera was rather flattering:
Back in Munich now, and not exactly feeling any different. I'm still in the process of catching up with what everyone else was doing, except for the dear lj friends who ware at the party and thus accounted for. :)