december '16: no nights dark enough.

krämerbrücke in erfurt. it's a bridge covered with medieval houses, one of the very few still existing in europe.

december is christmas light season. while i'm not really big on winter & the upcoming dim & dark days i have to admit that i really love christmas light decorations. illuminations & lighting in general are a few of my absolute favourite things. strolling on streets with beautiful light decorations or architecture that is highlighted in a special way makes my heart pound a little louder. this batch of pictures were shot on several christmas markets while i was on a home visit in early december.

tiny mulled wine booth in front of the krämerbrücke. ( krämer is an old german word and means merchant - the bridge always was merchant's territory back in the old days and still remains so in modern times ).

the river gera flows underneath the bridge. i'm still in awe of the bridge's construction and how it stems the weight of the houses after all these centuries since it was built in 1472.

the traditional big ferris wheel on the domplatz in front of the erfurt cathedral & st. severin.

it's really a sight to behold.

there was a tiny medieval market next to the cathedral ( and it was overcrowded and really not that pleasant at all :( ). i loved a few of the showcased glassware, though. a total sucker for prunted beakers.

cute cardboard houses.

the entry to the felsenkeller ( rock cave ). there's an annual christmas exhibition inside.

we didn't have a closer look, but i snapped a quick picture of the entryway. looking back i am a little bit sad that we didn't enter it :(

next few pictures are from a weimar visit. oh, i miss my beloved weimar so much. still my most favourite city in thuringia.

hanging lights.

i did not shoot a lot of pictures in weimar on that short visit, but revisited later in the month. yeah, i made a lot of homeland visits in december, haha.

we also visited a christmas market on leuchtenburg castle. if you are a reader for a bit longer now, you probably read an earlier post of mine about this special castle ( and if not, you can do so now ;) ). it was a really cozy christmas market and i really adored the atmosphere and how chilled the visitors & merchants were. would recommend this christmas market to anyone interested in more independent markets.

loved the decorations all over the place!

evening view into the saale valley.

the upper corners of these clouds were dipped with golden sunlight.

very modern interior of the castle's chapel. this really surprised me and i liked it a lot. underneath the chapel there's an old cellar in which they showcased cut-out silhouette movies of old fairytales, and my mother and me spent quite some time watching a few of these cute mini movies. they were really artful & lovely & magical and i actually didn't want to stop watching, even though we had to at some time because the market was closing its gates.

the market wasn't crowded at all which of course i absolutely was okay with ;D made for much better pictures.

cute alcove perfect for pitching up a christmas booth.

the whole market was really snug & homely and the decorations really contributed to that feeling.

a fortune teller resided behind these thick stone walls. one day, i will make the leap, just for the fun of it & get my fortune told. i don't know why, but i am a bit scared of trying out, because i don't want to know about possible misfortunes coming my way. i know, i shouldn't be thinking about it this way, but sadly i do since i'm always expecting the worst, haha.

these two singers were performing old & new christmas/winter songs and it was a true delight!

have a listen below.

leuchtenburg castle by night.

slowly had to say goodbye to this magic place.

perfect photo setting. if i only was good in portraying human beings, haha.

this was on the way back down to our car. quite a scenic walk. even though when we arrived at the parking space it wasn't so scenic anymore, because it wasn't lit at all. not really practical, but it was good for a few giggles and scares.

may '20: seeking modernism.

super pink rhododendron buds emerging! i start off this post with some flower images to appreciate and praise the time of spring, especially the month of may, which is the most abundant spring month to me personally. all the blossoms, all the fresh greens amass during may, and my heart and mind are hardly ever able to not frolick & gush about it all! for this post i am returning to one walk i did with the sole purpose to find a special mid-century villa in königstein ( which would ultimately prove to be a failure - i did find it, but i couldn't approach it properly to have a good look at it and only ever saw a tiny bit of the garden/forest side ). the whole walk was not a letdown, though, as i did find some other mid-century & brutalism gems and thoroughly enjoyed walking through the old spa town in the taunus mountains. rhododendron shrubs yield all kinds of different blossoms in myriad colours, they are easy to breed, therefore a wide variety can be found all over the wor...

july '20: lake petersdorf discoveries and a plea against genocide.

the green wild meadows of malchow's sandfeld. in the west of malchow there is a big chunk of forest that spans towards plauer see, a widely 'uncultivated' area these days, but it hasn't always been this way. in my last post i mentioned the nazi munition factory that had been built in these woods, away from prying eyes of their enemies and where they also built an external subcamp for the concentration camp ravensbrück. exactly these woods we explored on a pretty sunny day, betraying the darkness that happened around these parts. isn't it weird that there are places in this world that were built or used by dark forces and horrible regimes and you vist them 80 years later and they are the most peaceful places you can imagine? sometimes my brain can't cope with the contrast of knowing what was in the past and what the present looks and feels like. it definitely leaves me with a strange impression often, kind of like a little sting in my heart and brain that is not ...

november: thuringian forest.

the day we visited the thuringian forest near luisenthal we would also receive the death notice of my cousin. while the day in luisenthal was pretty magic - i even found a goat skull to take home for my not so fast growing skull collection - the time we got home and received the phone call of my grandmother, everything went dull. we always had hoped for him to recover - over the course of his sickness there were multiple times we'd thought he was on his way up, but that also counted for the times it was clear that the cancer was severe and probably not defeatable. in the end he fought four years, but he couldn't conquer. his constant optimism & general good will wasn't enough as his body decided to give up on him. i'm still thinking a lot about him, he was such a good natured guy, always seeing the good in everything and everyone. it's so strange to know that he's never going to be on any future family party gathering again. we discussed so many things whe...

ghost of nature.

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