Stony-faced in Belgium

Faces are an interesting photo motive, be it human, animal or, like in this case, stone.

So here a little tour of Belgium's eternal faces:

Bruges:





Leuven:

Wackennnnnn!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry! I'm sorry for having deserted my blog for the last two weeks .. but: I have a good excuse which is also the theme for this blog. From 2nd to 6th August, I was at the world's biggest heavy metal festival, Wacken Open Air!!! \m/

And although I didn't take my big camera(s) to the actual festival area (not because it would have been dangerous but because I couldn't have headbanged or been in a mosh pit while holding it... or even flirted for that matter ;-).

So anyway, I had my phone and my little Pixi (Nikon Coolpix) and want to show you some impressions in and around the concert. I didn't take pictures of the bands and gigs - same reason as above.

Here it is, Heavy Metal Town aka Wacken:


That's what you see first and foremost - the Wacken Logo in different versions:



"Hochalberne Bösesabwendgeste" (= highly silly gesture to prevent evil) or commonly referred to as "the metal gesture":




Oh yes, the metalheads..

They are: (impossible to treat)


but impossibly fun:


they headbang, mosh in pits, crowdsurf:


but like their comfort:


and are generally just very relaxed:




Oh yea, where are you from again?


I like everything that has the W:O:A logo on it, so I loooved the Full Metal Bag:


You wonder what my favourite place after the stage area was? "Wackinger Village" of course:


With games:



- wrong:
- right:
A little torture here and there ("He listened to Hip-Hop!" - "I saw him doing it!"):


and as all over the place, mead in its typical containers:


Isn't all that exhausting, you ask? You bet:

Berlin.... du bist so wunderbar, Berlin...*

I was visiting friends in Berlin last weekend and was surprised to hear that they're not rejoicing the fact that they're here every waking moment ;-).

Here some impressions.

The Quadriga on top of the Brandenburg Gate:


Underneath this monument, several epochs come together:


Remains of the Berlin Wall:


Reichstag:


And while walking around the Reichstag in the blistering heat, I was seriously considering this arrangement:


In case you didn't know, Berlin is broke - but in style:


and nevertheless isn't losing its colourfulness:

*And the title "Berlin.. you are so wonderful, Berlin" is at the same time the soundtrack to the post.

Hand down

A mosaic on a side wall of the Cologne Cathedral:

Still standing

With all the crisises, it's reassuring that the Euro is still standing...

I sit therefore I am

A statue, seen and shot in Cologne, converted to b/w - not that it was particularly colourful before ...

4711

This is the famous 4711 Eau de Cologne, the mother of all colognes and in their shop window a probably very good smelling lady ;-)

Cologne for beginners

The first image, the biggest clichée and the most famous monument of the city:

Luminale VII (the end)

Everything is bigger in a big city...

Luminale IV

One side of the river Main in Frankfurt is called Museumsufer ("Museums embankment") because obviously, it is paved with museums. This statue of light was standing in front of the Museum für Kommunikation and you have to admit that it could be a good conversation starter ;-)

Luminale II

The name of this Statue, erected in 1985 in the park between Old Opera and ECB tower is "Aufforderung" (invitation or calling). You can use your imagination to figure out what it is inviting you to... Lit in green during Luminale.

Bernd das Brot

Bernd das Brot is a grumpy character in the children's channel KIKA which is located in Erfurt, my state capital. And it is there that a Bernd monument was erected. Now I'm waiting for one dedicated to his colleague - Chilli das Schaf...

The full hour

Always at the full hour after 10 p.m., thousands of little lights start flickering all over the Eiffel Tower.
I captured this spectacle with my Nikon 2200 (in pre-SLR times), without a tripod and holding my breath...

Number 1

Here's a question to ponder over: Which one came first? ;-)

Both were seen and shot in London on the last day of the year.

Play it again, Monsieur Sax

Here we can see Adolphe Sax, inventor of the Saxophon, taking a little rest on a bench of his hometown Dinant, in the Wallonian part of Belgium.

The photo was desaturated and tinted in sepia.