Germany's most disturbing underpass. WARNING!! Not for the faint hearted.

Would you use this underpass? Do you dare? It's not the other side you need to fear.


It looks safe. Think you can get to the other side without incident?


Take a closer look at the lights! Click on the picture to enlarge it. How many spiders do you see?


These are Germany's best fed spiders. And they are always hungry!!


Eine grosse Spinne.


Yum, yum, yum. I pity the fly or moth that heads for this light.



What song are these lines from?

on candystripe legs the spiderman comes
softly through the shadow of the evening sun
stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
looking for the victim shivering in bed
searching out fear in the gathering gloom and
suddenly!
a movement in the corner of the room!
and there is nothing i can do
when i realize with fright
that the spiderman is having me for dinner tonight!

quietly he laughs and shaking his head
creeps closer now
closer to the foot of the bed
and softer than shadow and quicker than flies
his arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes
"be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy
don't struggle like that or i will only love you more
for it's much too late to get away or turn on the light
the spiderman is having you for dinner tonight"

and i feel like i'm being eaten
by a thousand million shivering furry holes
and i know that in the morning i will wake up
in the shivering cold

and the spiderman is always hungry...

"Come into my parlour", said the spider to the fly... "I have something here for you"

Lake Constance and its secrets.

Yes, the image is pretty. But, this lake has some secrets it tries to hide.

At the harbour, where this boat quietly rests, so does something else...

The water level has dropped over one meter in the last two months. The lake is giving up its secrets. Exhibit One: A bike at the bottom of the harbour!!

Exhibit Two: Two more bikes lying at the bottom of the harbour. People here refuse to discuss the Bikes!

Coming soon: Germany's most disturbing underpass!!

Tower of Power?

Only this past week did I noticed this tower for the first time! It was only when the leaves had fallen from the trees that it was revealed to me. I decided to take a closer look...


A short trip up a small hill past some vineyards...



Built in 1909. Overlooking the town of Konstanz and Switerland and Austria. This was the era of the Wilheiminian Empire.


Bismark. The Iron Chancellor. Is this a monument to German unity or Imperialism?


Is that a representation of Bismark or some unforgiving god of war?


This is Konstanz below the tower. If you click on the picture you can see the Alps in the distance. On most days the Alps are hidden in fog, clouds or pollution.

Konstanz, Germany: Hometown of Zeppelin

This small town in the south of Germany is the hometown of Zeppelin. Oh, but not of these eponymous gents below, who are credited with starting the progressive rock era.

Konstanz is, or was, the hometown of this guy, Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf (Count) von Zeppelin and his famous airships.

This momument below is in honour of Konstanz's famous son. I wonder though, if this town ever got the Led out?

What's that?

Gotta whole lotta Zoom...

Dussel your Dorf!

Dusseldorf is located on the Rhein just 20 minutes north of Cologne. It rates as one of the wealthiest cities in Germany. I visited back in August.



No, its not the Seine. It's a canal on the Königsalle.


Don't ask who designed this building. Does anyone know? Please post a comment to let us know.


The best way to see Dusseldort, which is not a very big city, is from the Fernseh Tower. Good to see that Toronto's CN Tower has many imitators.

Wildlife in Germany

No, this picture was not taken in France. And I wouldn't recommend cooking it up with some spices and enjoying him with a glas of wine. All summer on almost any path I tread I had to be carefull not to step on one of these fellows. Snails were everywhere it seemed. Some were as long as 20 centemeters.



This little bunny would show up every morning at 7:00 in front of my appartment window in Bonn. I could set my watch to him/her.



I need some help with this one. This picture was taken in Dusseldorf. One bird would swim in the stream collecting leaves and twigs and deliver them to its partner who was constructing this nest. Does anyone know the name of these birds? And do they taste good?



This is a not so itsy-bitsy spider outside my current apartment in Germany. Its web has a two or three meter span between two separate buildings and is about 15-20 feet above the ground. How it managed to get itself across such as distance when it was constructing its web is a mystery. And it survives high winds and rain. Such is the strength of spider silk. Perhaps one day condoms with be constructed from a genetically modified version of spider silk. Thin, strong and silky. Patent pending!

Adventures at Haribo

Haribo is the manufacturer of Gummi Bears. The factory is located in Bonn. Acting on a rumour, some of us rode out to the southern part of the city in an attempt to get a tour of the factory. We only got as far as the mega shop of Gummi Bears and related confectionary.

kraut Sandles

In the summertime the Germans like to let loose. This is reflected in footwear. Sandles are worn with socks here. If you buy a pair of Birkenstocks, first make sure you have several pairs of socks with which can complement your ensemble.

Arrival in Marburg

This is the house I am currently staying in. Can it look anymore Teutonic?


A room with a view. Well, kind of....


No sleeping in for me. The workers start making noise at 7AM!

Are these the 'United States' of Europe?

Is there a certain flag missing from this picture?
Namely, the Stars and Stripes?



What is the dirty secret about the EU?

The United States was the mid-wife to the birth of European Unity. After WWII, the Americans fully promoted the goal of political and economic reconstruction and integration in the western half of Europe. It was in the self-interest of the United States to do so.

Ideas that the EU can act independently of the United States in global affairs are overstated. Much was made of the fact Germany and France opposed the war in Iraq. It was a good call on their part, but it hardly signaled a desire to go it alone in the world. The US does not fear an independent Europe.

Check out this quote from one of the top planners of Yankee imperialism:

"A breakdown of Franco-German cooperation would be a fatal setback for Europe and a disaster for America's position in Europe."

From page 65 of Zbigniew Brzezinski's book The Grand Chessboard.

So, what do you think? Is the EU a rival or a partner of the United States?
Would a world in which the EU was more powerful than the United States be a benign world?

Ride for Heart

Take a bike ride, but only when the air is clean!





This is your blogger and some of the other twelve thousand cyclists riding south on the Don Valley Parkway. We just passed the halfway point on a 50KM charity bike ride.

Cycling is normally an activity that keeps you fit and your heart healthy. However, here in the T-Dot we have no shortage of bad air days. On days when the smog mixes with humidity it's wiser to leave the bike at home and avoid any strenuous exercise which requires you drawing vasts amounts of air into your lungs. Actually, it's best to avoid the outdoors at all on those days.

Day of protest against the wars.

Smash imperialism before it smashes us all!




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Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful


"...in a van by the side of the river."



Old Faithful in Yellowstone. And me, thinking some deep thoughts. Sometimes I'm good at that.

The joys of graduate studies.

Sorry for the delays in new postings. There are still a few stories to tell and more pictures to post of our adventures in America this past summer.

As I struggle with various epistemologies and concepts such as "performative utterances", there will be a longer break in between postings. But keep checking. Coming soon will be some pictures of Yellowstone national park.

Cheers.

A line from Johnny Cash. And, is that snow?

Reno is located in Nevada and is the poor brother to Las Vegas. You might remember the line from a Johnny Cash song, I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

And on to Utah...


No it's not snow, it's salt. This is in Utah on the salt flats. We walked out on to a small portion of it. I never actually tasted to see if indeed it was salt but I'm pretty sure it was.

America is just full of surprises, isn't it.

Lake Tahoe

We spent about half an hour on the shores of Lake Tahoe, which is located in north-eastern California, right at the border with Nevada, at an elevation of 6225 feet above sea level. It has a connection to the Godfather part 2 movie. The Corleone family had a home on this lake. This is the place in the movie where Fredo goes out in the boat with someone, says the Hail Mary, and then you hear the gunshot.