The weird ways of the barockians...

Playlist

Various Artists - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2018 Vols 1-52

Takemitsu - Complete Solo Guitar Works

Sandcatchers - What We Found Along the Way

Red Planet with Bill Carrothers - Red Planet with Bill Carrothers

Wishbone Ash - Blowin' Free: An Introduction To Wishbone Ash

Nina Hagen - Irgendwo auf der Welt

Roy Ayers - Coffy (OST)

Various Composers - Music from Renaissance Portugal

Wishbone Ash - Blowin' Free: An Introduction To Wishbone Ash

Arovane & Porya Hatami - Organism

Alice Cooper - The Sound Of A [EP]

The Ventures - Walk Don't Run

Prins Thomas - Principe Del Norte

Various Composers - Best of British - Modern Masterworks Commissioned by BBC Radio 3

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - The Best Of - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

Various Artists - 101 Northern Soul Anthems

Taylor Swift - Fearless

Nina Hagen - Angstlos

Yet another glorious day...

..and, of course, breakfast on the balcony, our last one...

A walk to the bus...

...and to the railway station for the six minute journey to Rastatt...

  

A walk from Rastatt station to the baroque old town...

...and its palace - built by Louis William, Margrave (Marquis) of Baden, the imperial general in the Habsburg-Ottoman War known popularly as Türkenlouis - modeled on the Palace of Versailles...

A quick look in...

...with a view to returning this afternoon for a tour...

Into the town...

...and a seat and some refreshments in the market square...

The Exec Producer balked at my choice of hot milk but it was yumtastic...

A walk around the old town..

...and back to the market for lunch - sausages of course...

Then, to Schloss Rastatt for the tour...

...with the very knowledgeable Katja...

The palace is designed to be ever more opulent the higher you go...

The ground floor...

...the stairway...

...the first floor...

...the main hall...

...including original mirrors...

No further picture of the interior were allowed but the palace has one of the largest collections of porcelain in the world and Katja gave us some fascinating stories as to the goings on in the palace over the years - including the strange habit of the important inhabitants sitting in the middle of their bedrooms taking a shit in a commode whilst carrying on normal conversations (and indeed eating) with their underlings and advisers...

Ah the old days...

Eventually, due to a lack of heirs, Rastatt was abandoned by the gentry for Karlsruhe and the town stood still in time, affording us a unique insight into the baroque way of life...

Fascinating stuff...

Post the tour, we exited via the military museum...

This, Napoleon's death mask...

The origins of the Iron Cross...

Anne...

...needed a seat...

She was a bit wobbly...

That's better...

The town as it was...

Art fromm the Great War (aka WWI, in retrospect only of course)...

Back to the market square, the market having gone...

...for my best drink of the trip, Weissbier with banana...

oh yes...

To the Modern Art Gallery at the old Fruitmarket the Fruchthalle...

Where they gave me a book on the gallery, written for its opening in 1993 - this year it is celebrating its 25th anniversary...

As usual with art gallery pics, there will be too many for Anne - and I'll let the pics do the talking...

Young kids were enjoying the large Anselm Kiefer, which has been in the gallery since it opened...

The Exec Producer was not quite as impressed as the kids...

Each of these "Kabinett"s is the size of an LP sleeve...

I was surprised to see a portrait of Mr CBQ in one of the smaller items on display...

I particularly liked this concrete piece...

Out and noted Can's very own Krautrock supermarket was directly opposite the gallery...

Ice creams from the gallery ice cream parlour were very much enjoyed...

...before a final walkabout...

...and back past the palace and through its gardens...

...to the station...

...and on to Karlsruhe for a second visit, where this was found at Saturn for ten of your European Euros...

More walking...

To the botanics...

...and...

...bier...

...into town past the palace in the evening...

...where games of boules were in full swing...

To L'Osteria for dinner, served by a Big Bang Theory's Penny lookalike who was too fast moving to be pictured...

It seemed the pizza might be big...

It was...

One of the few times I've been unable to finish a pizza...

A tram back to the station...

...and the trip home...

Another good day - sad to be going home tomorrow...

Today's artwork, "Bier in the Sun"...

Highlight of the Day : Rastatt...