Kees' photos

In Germany, almost everyone (regardless of liberal or conservative outlook) is critical about the USA, but when it comes to weddings a secret longing for the American way of life can no longer be hidden.

This scene is from the same cloister as the funny elephant posted previously. The text underneath reads: “O quid faciunt homines mox pulveres futuri” (Hey man, what do you think you’re doing, as you’ll soon be turned into dust), the pessimistic approach to human vanity so popular during a long period of Western civilization, but rarely taken to heart.

This lady looks like a figure head, and perhaps she is, but she doesn’t adorn the prow of a ship anymore. In fact, the most remarkable thing about her is the context in which we found her:

Tonight, we had a full moon hanging over Isar valley...

The first book of the apocryphal Maccabees (I Macc.6,43ff.) describes the fight of a certain Eleasar against an elephant of the enemy. He placed himself under the monster, and stabbed it in the chest. It broke down crushing the soldier underneath. The stuff heroes are made of. In Antiquity, elephants were formidable adversaries (Hannibal’s use of them is well-known). The soldiers riding them were protected by towerlike structures built on the animals’ backs, not quite like the one on this painting, however. The elephant, too, doesn’t seem to be quite true to life.

This is among the saddest shop windows I’ve ever seen.

Enough to satisfy a big crowd of addicts...

Funny: beginning scooterists ride all kinds of makes, but eventually they all end up with a Vespa. I figured direct import was cheapest, so I bought mine at Bressanone. My wife thinks it’s a waste of money, and right she is.

Yesterday, there were thunderstorms over Germany, floodings, and hail as big as birds’ eggs. In Icking, however, we only heard some thunder, felt some raindrops, and saw impressive skies.

My mother-in-law has a small platform behind her house where she can sit and watch the ships passing by. I took her place for a while. At the time I took this picture, I hadn’t fully realized that the sun had already appeared from behind the clouds . I wasn’t as unhappy as I look, just a bit bored (the most valid reason for making selfies).

When we arrived, the weather in the Netherlands wasn’t quite as fair as we had wished, but then, all of a sudden, I had to think of the wise words of a good friend of mine. She once observed that, behind the clouds, the sun is shining ... always. You know that I’m not much of a philosopher, but this I found to be true.

If you’re conditioned to find faces you encounter them everywhere.

As seen from my study. There were thunderbolts too, but they were too fast for me.

Part of the fun of taking photographs is to prove that you’ve been somewhere. Well, this picture doesn’t exactly prove that I was in Bressanone, but Robbie clearly was. Isn’t it nice to see the Alps from the other, the right side?

This man sat at a table next to us. No, I’m not a racist, but IMHO it’s very plain to see that he is Dutch; and no, we haven’t made his acquaintance...

Saturday morning, we got in our car and reached our Italian destination a few hours later... Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, Bressanone/Brixen is utterly bilingual and, in many ways, feels more like Austria than Italy. On the other hand, we’re simple-minded, and can’t help thinking: Italy is Italy, and Italy is good. The B11 road leads past our front door directly to Bressanone: it changes its name a few times, and in and around Innsbruck you’re in serious danger of losing it, but if you keep a cool head you can’t miss it... There’s a big square in front of the cathedral, pretty crowded, people hanging around, children playing etc. (the picture suggests otherwise, but it was cropped for artistic reasons). This girl was riding her bike with such enthusiasm that I had to take a picture of her. She was darn fast, and I had to turn my autofocus off to catch her in full flight.