Year: 2023



Elbe flood – road closed
31. December 2023

Elbe flood – road closed

New Year’s Eve walk to the Dömitzer Bridge including high water sight seeing. Near Kaltenhof a small road is closed, which leads across the Elbe meadows to the Elbe and used to serve as a link to the temporary ferry landing stage before the Dömitzer motorway bridge was built.

It is quite an unsettling feeling to stand in the Elbe and feel the force with which the water of the Elbe flows past. And if you look closely, you notice how the water level continues to rise slowly but steadily.

fly agaric
11. October 2023

Fly Agaric

It’s fall. And in the fall, mushrooms sprout from the ground – like mushrooms that sprout from the ground. Here is a particularly beautiful fly agaric.
8. October 2023

Johannes Brahms Statue Lübeck

Very close to the Lübeck University of Music you can find a statue of the composer Johannes Brahms. The bronze figure was created by the sculptor Claus Görtz and shows Johannes Brahms walking, more or less relaxed, on the southern bank of the River Trave. His right hand is holding his hat and pointing into the air, as if he has just had an idea for a new composition. And legend has it that Johannes Brahms is said to actually have had ideas for new compositions on his various walks – including along the banks of the river Trave.

Dannenberg Skyline
7. September 2023

Dannenberg Skyline: St. Johannis, Waldemarturm

View of the Dannenberg ‘skyline’ from the new bridge at the school center: the church tower of St. Johannis Church in the middle, the Waldemar Tower on the right and the Alte Jeetzel in the foreground.

Dömitz Bridge Details: Isolators
27. August 2023

Dömitz Bridge Details: Isolators

The newly opened skywalk now offers completely new views – here, for example, of a technical detail of the bridge: Insulators attached to the bridge arches. Behind it, the dike – and on the horizon, a storm is brewing.

The Dömitz Railway Bridge
27. August 2023

Dömitz Railway Bridge

View from the end of the Skywalk on the Dömitzer Bridge – or Dömitzer Railway Bridge, which was newly opened in August – to the further course of the bridge in the direction of Dömitz on a Sunday in August.

Berlin Street Art: El Bocho: 'Berlin is Yours'
8. August 2023

El Bocho: ‘Berlin is Yours’

The street artist El Bocho has been active since around 1996. Many of his works deal critically with various current issues such as gentrification and surveillance. His works can be found in many major cities around the world – but El Bocho is particularly active in Berlin, especially with large-scale, often colorful paste-ups, such as this work “Berlin is Yours”, which could be admired in August 2023 at the corner of Kastanienallee / Schwedter Straße.

Paste-ups are often not very durable due to their manufacturing and application techniques. The sheets of paper are usually applied to the walls with wallpaper paste – which minimizes the risk of property damage, but after a few days of rain, a paste-up often loses its shape. Therefore, I am quite happy to have documented here for once a fairly fresh work.

The Lüchow Bell Tower, seen from Kirchstraße / Lange Straße
25. July 2023

Luechow Bell Tower – Kirchstraße / Lange Straße

The Lüchower Bell Tower seen from the intersection Lange Straße corner Kirchstraße.

The bell tower actually belongs to the St. Johannis church. The church or the nave is located a little further, around the corner in Johannisstraße and is separated from the bell tower by a row of houses.

The tower juts out a bit onto Theodor-Körner-Straße – the footpath of Theodor-Körner-Straße leads through a passage in the ground floor of the tower at this point.

Berlin TV Tower, Sunset, Spree
13. July 2023

Berlin TV Tower, Sunset, Spree

View from the Michael Bridge shortly after sunset on a balmy summer Saturday evening to the TV Tower and the Spree River.

Berlin Lietzensee
18. June 2023

Berlin Lietzensee: Water. Builings, Green

Walk along the Lietzensee in Berlin Charlottenburg: View of the Lietzensee – in the background various old and new buildings, a high-rise. And around it a lot of green.

Wendland KLP Parking
28. May 2023

KLP Parking

The Kulturelle Landpartie is somehow also always a showcase for the motorhome community. Many visitors to the KLP drive with their campers from location to location and then stay overnight in one or the other place – in their own camper van. And so you can admire every year the most diverse camper vans on the various parking lots, the village streets, in the villages, on the roadside and everywhere in between.

Flatboat in the Harbor of Harlingen, Netherlands
24. May 2023

Flatboat in the Harbor of Harlingen

Flat-bottomed ships (NL: ‘Platbodem‘) are sailing vessels specially designed for use in the Wadden Sea. A flat-bottomed vessel, as the name suggests, has a flat bottom and no keel. Instead, a flat-bottomed vessel has drop-down pulleys on the left and right sides of the boat’s exterior. Because of the shallow draft, flat-bottomed vessels can also operate in the shallow waters of the Wadden Sea and can easily dry out at low tide.

In the harbor of Harlingen you can admire a whole series of such partly historic flat-bottomed ships, which you can also rent or charter for small or larger excursions and sailing trips.

The Lighthouse of Harlingen, Waterfront
24. May 2023

The Lighthouse of Harlingen, Waterfront

In the center of the picture, the railroad line and the small train station, which actually only consists of a platform and a ticket machine. On the left in the picture you can see the waterfront, where a historic sailing ship is located, which can also be visited. On the right you can see the lighthouse of Harlingen. The lighthouse was in operation until 1998 – today you can spend the night here. However, staying overnight in the lighthouse seems to be so popular, that the lighthouse is booked out many months in advance. The view of the open must be magnificent – the price for staying at the lighthouse are too.

The picture is taken from the pedestrian bridge that connects the waterfront with the city center. Near the pedestrian bridge is a parking lot where payment/timekeeping is completely automatic: There are no parking tickets. Instead, the license plate number is recorded when you enter – and when you leave, you pay the amount due directly at the barrier.

Herengracht Amsterdam
22. May 2023

Herengracht

A fairly typical Amsterdam view of a row of houses in the Herengracht. In the tallest house is the Happy Bookieman bookshop – to the right is the Hotel Hegra. On the right you see the ‘entrance’ to the small alley Romeinsarmsteeg.

Homomonument Amsterdam
22. May 2023

Homomonument Amsterdam

A part of the Homomonument by Karin Daan, 1987, at the Kiezersgracht near the Westerkerk at the Westermarkt, Amsterdam.

The Homomonument is a public walk-in or walk-on sculpture commemorating people who were and are persecuted or discriminated for their homosexuality.

See also:

Reguliersgracht Amsterdam
21. May 2023

Reguliersgracht

View of the Reguliersgracht at sunset, seen from the Lijnbaansgracht.

Den Haag Skyline
21. May 2023

Den Haag Skyline

The skyline of The Hague seen from the intersection Koningskade (S 100) and Zuid-Hollandlaan (S 101).

On the far left you can see the high-rise Hoftoren. Due to its shape, it is also nicknamed “de Vulpen”, which means “the filler” in English. With a height of 142 meters, the building is currently the third tallest building in The Hague (as of 2023). Originally, the skyscraper was supposed to be 270 meters high – but an additional mast, which would have reached this height, was not realized. It was designed by the US architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox and completed in 2003. Currently, it houses the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

The red skyscraper to the right of the courtyard gates houses the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security (Ministerie van Justitie en Veiligheid). With a height of 147 meters, it is, together with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties) placed behind it on the right, number 1 in the list of the tallest buildings in The Hague. It is no coincidence that the two skyscrapers are reminiscent of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin – the towers were both designed by the Kollhoff architectural firm, as was the Kollhoff Tower in Berlin.

In front of the group of buildings is the Castalia skyscraper, which actually consists of two buildings and with its distinctive brick double spire is reminiscent of traditional Dutch architecture. At just under 104 meters, the building is currently the eighth tallest in The Hague.

 

Cheese Window Delft Skyline
20. May 2023

Cheese Window, Delft Skyline

A shop window at the market square near the Nieuwe Kerk – packed with big round yellow cheese wheels. Just as you might imagine when you think of a typical Dutch cheese store window.

Sheep on the Dike
13. May 2023

Sheep on the Dike

A walk along the river Elbe – a flock of sheep strolls photogenically over on the dike.

Geranium Molle
7. May 2023

Geranium Molle

Sometimes you have to look closer to discover the hidden blooms of a wild meadow. The Geranium Molle with its delicate pink flowers is such a secret highlight, for which you have to get quite close.

Berliner Dom Friedrichsbrücke Berlin Mitte
6. May 2023

Berliner Dom / Friedrichsbrücke

View of Berlin Cathedral and the Friedrichsbrücke bridge as seen from Burgstraße / James-Simon-Park. Part of the colonnades of the Kolonnadenhof can still be seen on the right. On the left in the background you can see two high-rise buildings on Fischerinsel.

Urbanhafen Berlin Kreuzberg
29. April 2023

Urbanhafen in Kreuzberg

A walk around the Urbanhafen in Berlin Kreuzberg – view from Baerwaldbrücke in east direction – on the right side in the picture you see the the Van Loon Restaurant Ship, right behind it the Urbankrankenhaus / Urban Hospital (‘Vivantes Klinikum Am Urban’), around it some swans in the evening light.

Möwe auf'm Dach, Lichterkette, blauer Himmel
9. April 2023

Seagull on the Roof, String Lights, Blue Skies

A seagull on the roof of Ribergsborgs Kallbadhus – a cute little wooden bathhouse and restaurant in Malmö, right by the sea or actually in the sea, on wooden piles.

The restaurant has two terraces. From the one terrace you have a great view towards the Öresund Bridge, from the other you look towards the Torso. Both terraces are regularly visited by seagulls, which like to sit on the roof and spy out whether there might be an opportunity to occasionally grab a tidbit.

Malmö Skyline: Torso
9. April 2023

Malmö Skyline: Turning Torso and Västra Hamnen

The Malmö Skyline: View from the boardwalk Brygga 1 (“Bridge 1”) towards the Malmö skyline and the Västra Hamnen district with the Turning Torso skyscraper. For me this is basically “The Malmö Skyline”. The boardwalk Brygga 1 leads to the wooden restaurant, sauna and open-air bathhouse Ribersborgs Kallbadhus.

SLU Alnarp Main Building
9. April 2023

SLU Alnarp Main Building

View of the historic main building of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet) in Alnarp.

Wohnprojekt Tuntenhaus, in der Kastanienallee, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg
31. March 2023

Housing Project Tuntenhaus, Kastanienallee Prenzlberg

View of the façade of the Tuntenhaus housing project on Kastanienallee in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district. Particularly striking is the admonishing lettering “Capitalism standardizes, destroys, kills”, which is visible from afar and is even illuminated at night. Find out more about the history of the house on the housing project’s homepage at www.kastanie86.net.

Masonry | Matrix