exploration makes a better world

Architecture is not the thing that knocked me out in Berlin. Probably the most historically battered big metropolis of the Western World is a relatively chaotic mix of styles, mostly modern and… construction site-ish, with oasis of old buildings in-between.
What makes Berlin special though can hardly be captured in pictures. It is in the air, [...]

Because I left home so late, I was running the risk to arrive very very late at the final destination, therefore I changed plans and didn’t stop in Leipzig any more.

When saying “Würzburg”, I had absolutely no image forming in my head. Nothin. Emptyness. Grey spot. Not even blank, grey – no idea why.
Well, it was a very pleasant surprise. The first sight after emerging from the underground parking lot was this church

in this square

from where I randomly walked along this road

and then this road,

all [...]

I heard about Hechingen from Ms. S and Mr. N, our hosts in München, who described it as an insider tip - the most famous Hohenzollern castle is at Sigmaringen, but this one, at Hechingen, is a hidden gem.
And when I saw it from far away

it reminded me of a book with germanic fairytales [...]

Since i was already at the airport, i thought of taking a quick look at the city. Asked Jane to take me to the centre, some parking closeby. And I emerged on the surface directly in the Schillerplatz, lively on a Sunday fresh fruit market.

The big church on the left turned out to be the [...]

Ottobeuren is a village in middle-of-nowhere-Bavaria. Jane found it only after we got an insider tip from our hosts in München, a while ago. Last week we checked it out again.
It’s all about the monastery. Looks quite impressive from the outside

but the bafflement comes inside, in both its height,

width

and detail.

Some hidden gem.
Stein am Rhein is [...]

On the way from Stuttgart to München we stopped in Ulm.
I knew there’s something about the church (Münster) in Ulm, but didn’t quite know what it was. On a first impression, it is tall,

very tall.

Wikipedia told us that it actually has the highest church tower in the world. (!). This one:

Satisfied, we decided to [...]

Euro2008 is over for the Romanian soccer team.
After a brilliantly executed tactical (albeit sinfully boring) goalless draw against world championship runner-up France and a sensational 1-1 against world champion Italy, after one of the most thrilling games in the competition, they lamentably failed to beat a relaxed Dutch squad to qualify to the quarterfinals.
Typical. [...]

Euro2008 (soccer, for the ones who don’t know on what world they live in :P) is in full swing this month.
Romania has survived a hard-fought game against World Champion runners-up France, 0-0. For a neutral person, quite a boring game, but from an “involved” perspective it was amazing, especially for the ones in the stadium. [...]

Starting point of the journey was Paris, surrounded by rape fields, yellow checkerboxes visible at take-off

After takeoff I fell asleep; when waking up to have a look outside, bang! Austrian Alps, probably in Tirol. Global warming, huh?

Arrived in Bucharest, but idn’t spend much time - took off immediately to the mountains,

where I realized that I [...]