Sun 02.Nov.2025
Bratislava SK
Vienna AT
Nuernberg & Plauen DE
Live Greek music on a Sunday night; blazing bouzoukis add warmth to the now-chilly evening.
Today feels like the turning point of the seasons. Only a few visitors on the streets, darkness by
5:30pm, tea with dinner instead of a cold drink.
A break tonight from the cascade of Rhodes pictures.
(There are still plenty of those, they'll be back next time.)
Tonight we flash back to last Spring, and the remaining images from
Central Europe.
Bratislava, SK
A cemetary near my apartment. Good for a quiet contemplative walk.
The medical school garden, open to the public, and popular. It probably originally
grew herbs used in medieval medicine.
A Georgian & Ukrainian restaurant, near the University. The Georgian language appears to
have its own (rather exotic) alphabet.
Traditional Georgian and Ukrainian cuisine.
The Ukrainian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet (like all the Orthodox countries - alphabet goes
by religion in these parts). This Slovak sign describes Georgian and Ukrainian dishes.
Two former restaurants used to occupy this leafy part of the Old City moat. Now the city
library operates a public reading garden.
Vienna AT
Welcome to Vienna, Senyor!
At the Art History Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum) the museum itself is a
work of art.
I came to see their collection of Pieter Breughel the Elder - particularly the
brain-boggling
[Construction of] The Tower of Babel. For being so complexly detailed, the actual painting is
surprisingly small. (144 x155 cm). I had been expecting some wall-size canvas like you'd find in the
the Prado. But no, the Dutch masters didn't work for kings - they needed to sell to merchant and middle-class patrons. So Mr Breughel's intricacy is all the more remarkable.
Nuernberg DE
Egalitarianism:
Banana peel meets curry wurst.
The Gideons strike again!
The heart of Nuernberg, crossing the river Pegnitz.
This just has to be the most-photographed scene in the city.
Plauen, Saxony, DE
A new Indian restaurant. I don't remember much about the food, but it made a colorful
picture.
At the local mall - a former fountain turned into a kiddie play area.
The valley of the White Elster river. Classic upper Saxon countryside.
The medieval malting house, now re-furbished as a bar /
cafe / entertainment venue. Now they sell beer instead of making it.
Entertainment venue? You betcha. This band did the improvising with rock music that Grateful
Dead-heads love so much. And did it very well indeed. Knocked my unsuspecting socks off, so to
speak.
That's it for the flashback. Next: Back to Rhodes.