Impressions of Istanbul -Part 1

Our hotel.

A house down the street from our hotel.

The view from the roof of the hotel.

Boats queuing up for loading.

The view from the back of the hotel.

Our most frequently walked street.

Turkish delight.

Goods baled to go...where?

Cats.

Valens Aqueduct

Wednesday Market

Display of old pharmacy tools.

A spice market.

Another spice market.

At the market -beans,

colourful vegetables,

fish,

A store selling only buttons.

Another selling only strands of precious and semi-precious stones arranged in no order I could fathom.

Another outdoor market.

.Beautiful lights.

Stairs with each step having a different rise -quite the sensation when both climbing and descending

Frost Warning

 Dragging out all the old shorts and blankets remind me of playing forts when I was little. 

Rowing on the Inn

On September 4 we got up early and drove to Rosenheim to go rowing with these two lovely fellows.
The Inn is a very fast, cold river with a high clay-sediment content making the river look silver; quite magical.

We also we in a type of boat we had never rowed before - a quintuple (or pentadruple if you prefer). It's a heavy boat so it rests on a two-wheeled cart.

Quite necessary since it's a long walk up the dike and over to the river.

They also have a sculling eight -an octuple? I would have really like to have tried that one. I love rowing an eight, but hate sweeping!

A (blurry shot of a) triple.

Our intrepid crew.

Oar washing station. The rubber mat keeps the oars from skittering away and the pegs on the top of the door prevents them from falling over.

Rowing trophies. This stretch of the Inn has many beaver.

Even The Geek's breakfast sausage was rowing themed -port-and-starboard end crimps.

The bridge on the Inn as seen from the Autoban. We rowed to this bridge and back.

Impressions of Bavaria and Salzburg

View of the Alps.

Tiny chapels everywhere.

Old fountains (Salzburg).

The Salzburg Dom.

Fortress Hohensalzburg in the upper background

Thousands of padlocks on the bridge over the Salzach.

The mountain is 'hollow'. The doors on the right instruct you to watch for emerging cars.

The metal doors near the top of the picture are the entry way to shafts where cars are stored.

Houses built into the side of the mountain.

A really big tree

Every town had this 'occupation' tree. Any town that had a butcher seemed to have a pig as its target animal. And the pigs are portrayed as being quite gullible. This pig is being petted while the butcher holds an axe behind her back. On another one I saw, the pig was smiling up at the butcher as he was bringing an axe down on the pig's head.

Colourful produce.

Lederhosen bathing suits

Chiemsee (way in the background)

Typical Bavarian house.

A 'sample' (as the menu put it) of Bavarian meats and cheeses. If this was a sample, I would not have wanted to see the meal version.

The Alps at sunset.

Sausage display.

Frankfurt city hall (taken at sunset on a cloudy day. It doesn't really look so goth).

The Monstrosity in the Garden

I am referring of course to this;

This is a wild amalgamation of the grape vine and pole beans with a few morning glories who crept in when I wasn't paying attention.

 A combination of this years heat and wet weather contributed to the grape vines growth spurt. And it has been severely pruned twice this summer- just think where it would be if it hadn't. 

At least the beans have finally started flowering. 

You can see the bean blossoms superimposed on a morning glory. 

The morning glory is also snaking along the ground too. The petunias are almost the same purple as the morning glory.

Roma VFs are Wimps

Of all the tomatillo varieties in my garden, they are the only ones with blossom end rot.