More Warnemunde

A few more images of Warnemunde, Germany….

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They were working on the streets in this part of town, hence the white barriers.

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I love the design on this florist shop.

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This place is looking a little rough, but I like the wrought iron railing.

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For some reason this doesn’t look like a casino to me.

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I’m guessing these boats are emergencies. I liked the red and white against the blue sky.

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The Baltic Sea. I always thought of it as ice cold. We didn’t go in the water, but there were plenty of people enjoying it.

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Once again we had perfect weather.

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We left at sunset, so I was able to get a shot of this boat during “Golden Hour.” I’m so glad we got to see Rostock and Warnemunde.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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Warnemunde, Germany

Warnemunde is a seaside resort located in former East Germany and a district of the city of Rostock. The city was founded around 1200, and was a small fishing village for centuries. In 1323 Warnemünde was bought by the city of Rostock to protect the city’s access to the Baltic Sea.

According to Wiki, the population is around 8,400.

I’m not sure how to describe Warnemunde. It’s kind of like a beach town, but with really interesting architecture. Nothing like Southern Bavaria where I lived and worked when I was younger. I guess it’s influenced by the surrounding countries. I’ll just let you look and decide for yourself….

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Really wish our McDonalds could look this good. They recently renovated one near us and it looks awful.

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I’m pretty sure we had ice cream here and it was good.

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I never see hollyhocks in California, so had to take a picture of this one. Did anyone else make dolls out of them in childhood?

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Loved this place…the colors, the brickwork, everything.

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More on Friday. Hope your week’s going well so far.

{carole}

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Happy Mothers Day

It’s Mothers Day on Sunday in the U.S., so here’s a “Mother of Pearl” rose for all the moms out there….

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Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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Mint Condition

I found the sweetest vintage teacups and saucers in an antique emporium a while back. The price was right, so I grabbed them. Shades of mint, pale blue and pink with a touch of gold.

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The flowers were a surprise.

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Hope your week’s going well so far.

{carole}

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Warnemunde Sunset

We arrived in the port town of Warnemunde, Germany, at sunset. So glad we were on the best side of the ship for this.

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You can see a bit of the town on the right.

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That little orange boat on the left? I’ll have a photo of that in full sun in a later post.

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This is where we finally docked. It was great to be able to just walk off the ship and explore the town. I’ll cover that in a subsequent post.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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Jacaranda Time

The Jacaranda trees are in bloom now, a little early. I looked at photos of them from two years ago and they were taken on May 25.

We’ve been having a lot of windy days lately, but I was worried about missing the blossoms, so I ventured out the other day:

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I had to stand and wait for the wind to subside and then quickly take the photo before the wind gusted again. Even with a fast shutter speed, bokeh looks wonky if the wind is blowing hard.

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I moved around a lot to get different perspectives and different-colored bokeh.

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The seed pods are a little strange, aren’t they?

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Viewed closely, the blossoms remind me of bluebells.

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I took these shots around 5:30, so the sun was starting to dip.

Hope your week’s going well so far. I had to take Rocky to the vet because he seemed to be in pain. His back is acting up, so the vet prescribed muscle relaxers and painkillers. Hopefully this is temporary, but Rocky is 17. He hasn’t lost his mental acuity, though. I tried hiding a tiny pill in his treat and then cheese, and he figured it out every time. Will try peanut butter tomorrow…wish me luck.

{carole}

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Travel Scan: Prague, Astronomical Clock

Writing about the astronomical clock in Rostock, Germany, made me think of the one in Prague, so I scanned this image:

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This clock was first installed in 1410 and is composed of three parts: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles” or “Apostle-go-round,” with the Apostles and a figure of Death (a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions for each month.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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Rostock, Part II

Back to Rostock. 🙂

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The city library was constructed in the late 15th century and is an example of medieval residences in Rostock.

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The colors are so well-coordinated.

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At the end of the street you’ll find City Hall. Yes, it’s pink. City Hall was built between 1270 and 1290 (!) as a two-story gabled house with a vaulted cellar, which was also used as a market in the Middle Ages.

Across from City Hall, Neuer Markt (New Market)….

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That church on the right? Marienkirche or St. Mary’s Church, built in 1472 and one of the few buildings to survive the Allied bombing in World War II.

Here is a painting by Egon Tschirch of the church with the city in rubble:

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Google image

The church was saved due to the courage of the tower attendant Friedrich Bombowski and his daughter Ursula who put out fires from the bombing.

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Inside, you’ll find an amazing 15th-century astronomical clock showing daily time, zodiac, moon phases and month. At the very top, every hour the apostles cross before Jesus for a blessing before entering into eternal bliss, and the last, Judas, is shut out. You can watch the “apostle-go-round” on this Youtube video:

I’ve only seen one other astronomical clock, in Prague, and find these creations beautiful and mind-blowing.

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Under the clock, a calendar which is valid until 2017.

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A Baroque organ with 5700 pipes. The church was under renovation, hence the white sheeting on the left.

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The gilded High Altar.

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This stained glass window is 85 feet (26 m.) tall, making it one of the largest single stained glass windows in Europe. It depicts “The Day of Judgment.” The window survived World War II in various states of disrepair and was restored between 2003 and 2008. It now has a protective glazing.

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Outside, in the former churchwarden’s house, Marientreff Café.

Warnemunde is the seaside part of Rostock and where our ship was docked. I’ll cover that in a future blog post. It exceeded my expectations too.

Hope your week’s going well so far.

{carole}

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Rostock, Part I

The city of Rostock, Germany, joined the Hanseatic League in 1251. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the biggest city of Mecklenburg.

As I mentioned in a previous comment, I didn’t realize Rostock was in former East Germany (GDR or DDR) until a few days later. I’m kind of glad I didn’t know, because it exceeded my expectations. Living in West Germany years ago, I noticed that the DDR was not looked upon very kindly.

I was amazed that some parts of the medieval city wall had survived:

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The city was bombed heavily during World War II, so it’s even more surprising that the wall still stands.

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Kröpeliner Tor, one of the surviving medieval city gates.

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The gate is 180 feet (55m) high.

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A tiny glimpse of the city. I couldn’t wait to photograph those pastel buildings.

But first, a brief stop at the University of Rostock.

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The institution was founded in 1419, making it one of the earliest universities in Europe.

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It was the fifth university established in the Holy Roman Empire.
According to Wiki, Albert Einstein and Max Planck received honorary doctorates on November 12, 1919. This made the University of Rostock the world’s first institute of higher learning to award this honor to Einstein.

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Beautiful details throughout.

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This is the beginning of Kröpeliner Strasse, a shop-filled, cobblestone pedestrian street with the lovely pastel buildings.

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Love the architecture they chose to rebuild with. Dutch Renaissance?

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Some roses along the way.

We were able to duck into a bäckerei/cafe for just a few minutes so I could take these shots:

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I took the bicycle photo next to this cafe.

More on Tuesday. 🙂

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

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This Is Jeopardy

After we had lunch at the Farmers Market in L.A., we went to a live taping of Jeopardy! I have wanted to watch a taping of any show since I was a kid, and we are total Jeopardy nerds.

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One of the sound stages near the Jeopardy set.

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Just outside the studio.

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Heeere’s Alex. Or rather, a cardboard cutout. We weren’t allowed to bring “real” cameras on the set, but I had my iPhone and they let us take photos in the hallway.

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Some of the thirty Daytime Emmy awards the show has received.

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This guy kind of ran the show. He told us when to clap and when to be quiet during the taping. We were told to not whisper the answers because there were microphones above us that could pick up everything. My husband and I couldn’t resist whispering a couple times, but didn’t get kicked out. 🙂

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We had to climb stairs to get to the studio audience area.

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After I took this I got a gentle reminder that photos of the set are not allowed. It doesn’t show much, so that’s probably why they weren’t that perturbed. I think the chair is for Johnny Gilbert, the announcer.

The set was much smaller than it looks on TV. The camera does an amazing job of zooming in so everything looks a lot bigger. There was no cameraman blocking our view, just a camera mounted on a long metal arm that went up, down and sideways.

Alex Trebek kind of has a reputation for being (cough) “difficult,” so I was curious as to how he’d be in the live setting. He took lots of questions from the audience during commercial breaks and was surprisingly warm and friendly. Funny too. For some reason that doesn’t come across on camera.

Johnny Gilbert also took questions and was very entertaining and nice. He looked to be wearing a wig, but I had no idea the guy is 90! He’s been with Alex since the 80s. Can you imagine saying “This is Jeopardy!” for that many years? Unbelievable.

We were inside the studio for about two hours, but it seemed like one. Alex did three or four retakes when he messed up a question or didn’t like the way he sounded, but that was it. I’m really glad we went.

Have you seen a live taping? I’d love to catch Letterman before he retires.

{carole}

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