Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

From Rothenburg

This town is sooo cute and neat, it's unbearable. Almost like Neuschwanstein, except Rothenburg is not fake and features torture chambers.

From Rothenburg

We made the 2 hr drive from Regensburg on Easter Monday, the weather was sunny and crisp. Finding a parking spot was no issue, and the city centre is so small you can easily walk everywhere.

What is most peculiar about this place is the abundence of towers and gates, ringing the city. Makes you wonder how many people they needed to be on the lookout.

From Rothenburg

The Criminal Museum had an awesome collection of "shaving blades" (for the extra close shave) and other "accessories" of the middle ages. If you got into trouble in those days, you really were in trouble...
I might get Rosa one of these comfy lounge chairs:


In any case - this place is absolutely awesome. We'll come here again, when the weather is not as cold and when Rosa doesn't have to carry so much stuff anymore...


KML on Google Maps (download KML here).

Cheers, Matthias

Regensburg on Google Earth & Google Maps

Some of you may have seen my little Google Map of Regensburg - mapping points of interest with the Google Maps API. It's a bit tedious to use and requires quite a bit of Javascript coding.



In the meantime Google has enabled several other methods to create and publish your own map. One very easy way is to use Google Earth to map your points of interest, save them in a KML file, publish and link that KML file on Google Maps.

Here is my first try:
1) the raw KML file from Google Earth
2) the linked KML file on Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://tour.regensburg.googlepages.com/regensburg_test.kml


Cheers, Matthias

Adlersberg - Palmatoranstich

I'm amazed I'm still able to post this entry to the blog.
A couple years ago I wouldn't...

From Adlersberg - ...

Okay, first I'll have to explain what "Palmatoranstich" is.
Every year, on Palm Sunday (a week before Easter) there is a big festival on the outskirts of Regensburg (Adlersberg), celebrating the tapping of the barrels with Palmator-beer.
In any case, this annual traditional fe4stival is one huge drinking event. Lots of police and a few ambulances stand by for the usual casualties. Just like the Oktoberfest, don't be surprised to see a few folks completely plastered. Sometimes there's a few brawls too, but normally just some drunks hurting themselfes when they fall flat on their faces.
This Palmator beer actually tastes like s**t, but after a glass you typically don't care anymore.

Adlersberg is a traditional bavarian beergarden, very popular in the summertime with bikers and everyone else trying to escape the city.

Adlersberg is actually an old monastery, with old cellars and basements, ruins of long forgotten days. In the summertime the courtyard is used as a beergarden.

Next year we'll see whether we can get a free ride back into town with one of these:

So, if you're in Regensburg on Palm Sunday you HAVE TO make your way up to Adlersberg - and joing these traditional festivities.

From Adlersberg - ...

Cheers, Matthias

Burning Bridges...

I always try to avoid "burning bridges" - but some dutch captain did just that.

From Regensburg - Burning Bridges

Last Thursday (March 13th) he was passing through the Regensburg river locks, when his onboard crane collided with the bridge and ripped a gas pipeline. The ensuing fire burned for a while, and managed to weaken the steel enough to damage the bridge.

It's amazing how much the bridge has dropped. Initially they thought the bridge would collapse any moment. That's not the case, but the city will have to tear this one down and build a new one.
To make matters worse, no boat can pass until the bridge is torn down. (Would be really bad if the bridge collapsed when a boat passes through... So right now there mus be dozens of boats waiting on either side.

I'm not sure who's car this is - looks like it was a little too close to the fire.


Cheers, Matthias

Deutsches Museum Munich

From Deutsches Mus...

A great place to spend a Sunday in is the "Deutsches Museum" (German Museum) in Munich. It's a huge place, with exhibits covering airplanes, mining industry, computers, glas making, natural sciences, music instruments and much more.

From Deutsches Museum

Here you can see the red painted triplane, like the one flown by the "Red Baron" during WWI. Also shown are a few Messerschmidt fighters from WWII...
This reminds me of a joke:

A World War II pilot is reminiscing before school children about his days in the air force. (Joke best delivered with a good thick accent)

"In 1942," he says, "the situation was really tough. The Germans had a very strong air force. I remember, " he continues, "one day I was protecting the bombers and suddenly, out of the clouds, these fokkers appeared.
(At this point, several of the children giggle.)
I looked up, and right above me was one of them. I aimed at him and shot him down. They were swarming. I immediately realized that there was another fokker behind me."
At this instant the girls in the auditorium start to giggle and boys start to laugh. The teacher stands up and says, "I think I should point out that 'Fokker' was the name of the German-Dutch aircraft company".
"That's true," says the pilot, "but these fokkers were flying Messerschmidts."

From Deutsches Museum

This museum is HUGE - make sure to take some water bottles and snacks with you, and don't forget your hiking boots.

Cheers, Matthias

No More Smoking!!! Hooray!

After many years of heated discussions Germany finally implemented some new strict laws against smoking in public places/restaurants. Awesome! After enjoying smoke free restaurants in Ontario I wasn't used to the smoke anymore. Quite a few times Rosa and me left a restaurant because of it.

It's quite interesting how the discussions are repeating in every country. Yes, business does go down a little, and yes, there's new customers coming out now so that business even picks up. Yes, declaring your pub to be a "Smoking Club" is a nice attempt, just like some Canadian bar owner had a heated school bus on his property (because smoking in cars isn't banned).



Cheers, Matthias