Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Another good birthday...

Playlist
Brian Eno - The Ship
Various Artists - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vols 17 & 18
New Order - Brotherhood
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Deep Purple - Burn
Trevor Rabin - Can't Look Away
John Wetton - Chasing the Deer OST
Pink Floyd - A Collection Of Great Dance Songs
Magazine - The Correct Use Of Soap
Roxy Music - Country Life
Beyond - Crawl
Icehouse - Crazy [Single]
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
Various Artists - Da, Da, Da, Das War Die... Neue Deutsche Welle
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - DAF
UK - Danger Money
Various Artists - Das Bleiben Hits
Crazy Wisdom - A Death Junkie's Last Peep Show EP
Deep Purple - Deep Purple Anthology
Uriah Heep - Demons And Wizards
Kiss - Destroyer
Dio - Diamonds: The Best Of Dio
Various Artists - A Different Kettle of Fish
King Crimson - Discipline
Various Artists - Disco Discharge: Euro Disco
The Cure - Disintegration
Gordon Lightfoot - Don Quixote
Hawkwind - Doremi Fasol Latido

Happy birthday to me...


Given it falls on the 4th of May, my birthday is often sunny...


Bircher muesli for breakfast today...


Then, on to the Zacke railway to take us up the hill...






...to Degerloch, from where a bus was taken to Echterdingen...


...for a further trip through the lovely countryside...



The guy behind us was muttering (in German) "not another selfie..."



Let's hear it for the goats...


After a longer than expected journey, we arrived in Tübingen, where one in three of the population is a student...


Due to its lack of industry, it escaped the allied bombing raids of WWII intact...















After much walking about and admiring the buildings of the old town (and the purchase of a couple of birthday books)...


...it was time for a sit down, a sandwich and some refreshment...



..under the gaze of a strange wee man on a bike...


Down to the river Neckar...






The pics above were taken from the island in the middle of the river, around which tourists (not us) are taken in punts pictured above and below...

The island sports an excellent avenue of trees...



...and provides superb views of the old town...







...and ducks...





...and specially housed pigeons...



Off the island, over the river...



...and in to the old town again on a tourist information inspired walkabout...


The gates to the house where German poet Friedrich Hölderlin was looked after for many years during his mental illness



Many of the buildings are occupied by the University...




...even parts of the impressive castle...







...which also holds this head of Augustus, washed up after a flood in 1994 - it's from what is the largest known statue of the Roman Emperor - the rest of the statue is missing...




The whole thing was 10.5 meters (34.5 ft) tall - around the height of a two storey house...


Also featured in the castle are ice age sculptures, thought to be the oldest known art in the world...


Not content with that, DNA was first discovered here too, kind of - in 1869 Nuklein was isolated - look it up why don't you...



A blackbird serenaded our walk around the gardens...


...with their views of the town...




...and fire hydrants...




Back down the hill...






...for well-earned ice cream...


...followed by more walking about...





This wee chum spotted guarding a second hand shop...













Eventually, our legs gave out and beer was required...


...as Spiderman looked on...


A family of ducks floated by on the canal outside the pub...


...much to the delight of punters and staff...


..a passing dog took an interest, ending the feed...



Not sure if this was the same blackbird as before...


A good rest...




...before a walk to the bus station for the trip "home"...


King Crimson and Udo Lindenberg will soon play...


A quicker journey back ensued...






This is probably my favourite pick of the day...



We were soon back at Degerloch...



...for the train trip back down the hill...





...to Marienplatz and...


...the hotel...


Out for tea and these enterprising kids sold me some almonds for a high profit...


Italian tonight - a  very tasty mixed salad...


...followed by pizza...


..and then a walk home in the dark...



Some further ice-cream was, of course, necessary...


...but we did not have any more drinks...


The view from the office this evening...


Another good birthday...

Highlight of the Day : Birthday trip...

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