Visiting Dresden, Germany

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

A happy surprise for this tourist.

Dresden is as interesting for the visitor as any city in Europe.

Best of all, there are very few tourists here compared with Prague or Budapest.

Like many English speakers my age, I first learned of Dresden from Kurt Vonnegut’s book. The author was in Dresden during the devastating and controversial Allied firebombing of the city that left it in ruins.

Vonnegut survived the attack by hiding in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse, hence the name of his breakthrough novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).

It’s grim. Bombs killed approximately 25,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and destroyed most of the major buildings.

Dresden 1945. Facing south from the town hall (Rathaus) tower.

I had low expectations on arrival, mainly wanting to connect to nearby National Park of Saxon Switzerland for cycling and hiking:

Yet the city centre is known as the Jewel Box for the wondrous architecture.

Much has been rebuilt since WW II.

See my photos of Dresden in Black and White. An experiment for me. I’ve almost never edited in B&W.

Better are these tourist videos.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube. (4min)

Over 60% of the city is green space.

There is a huge green flood plain on the Elbe river.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Dresden in Black & White

On By Rick McIn photos, travel1 Comment

Faux-tography. 😀

What I liked best about Dresden, Germany was how few tourists cluttered up the great sights. Of the languages I heard, almost everyone spoke German. A few Russian. And a few spoke English.

Early or late in the day — or, especially, in the rain — I had the huge plazas nearly to myself even at the end of August.

Unlike Florence which is swarming with tourists at all times, my photos were mostly unpopulated.

For fun I decided to experiment with editing in black & white (Noir filter) and see if I could capture a feeling of the old East Germany.

My Pilgrimage to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

On By Rick McIn cycling, hiking, travelLeave a comment

You might know the (typically) long, hyphenated name Garmisch-Partenkirchen as it was the host of the 1932 Winter Olympics.

It’s the best hiking town in the Bavarian Alps — yet it took me 65 years to get there. 😀

I waited on a good weather window to make the trip down from Munich, and got some of the best days of the year.

Actually … I had hail and hard rain my first afternoon. Here I am sitting out the deluge in a city park.

Moon & Honey recommended the 7 best hikes in Garmisch-Partenkirchen:

With 3 nights, 2 days I managed five:

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Excellent.

I enjoyed the cycling, as well.

The valley looks something like Switzerland. But different in the many stark sheds in the fields.

Rick cycling early morning

The valley being super busy, I decided to tent legally rather than wild camp.

Campgrounds are generally lousy in Europe, compared with spacious Canada. This one is typical.

The towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen are nothing special. I much prefer Chamonix, France, and even Whistler, Canada, as scenic ski towns.

The trains, cog railways, and cable cars are superb, however.

It’s still a terrific base for outdoor adventure sport.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The Paris Apartment by Lucey Foley

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

In her third thriller (“The Guest List” and “The Hunting Party”) Lucy Foley keeps you guessing with multiple first person narrators and short chapters designed to leave you hanging.

The star of this twisted tale is Jess, arriving in Paris from London to visit her half-brother, Ben.  …

Turns out Ben is missing and Jess can’t get any answers from the denizens of number 12, rue des Amants. …

Guardian – Everyone’s a suspect in ‘The Paris Apartment’

Quite entertaining.

Visiting Bamberg, Bavaria

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

A small city, the old town of Bamberg has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.

I had quite a bit of time there as the police made ALL cyclists take their bikes off my train leaving town. Apparently some had argued with the conductor — so we ALL had to leave. And wait a couple of hours for the next train. 😀

Bamberg is quaint. It was crowded on a summer day.

For sure my highlight was the Old town hall (1386), built in the middle of the Regnitz river, accessible by two bridges.

Beautiful.

It’s sometimes called Klein-Venedig (“Little Venice”) … and there are some pretty canals.

Click PLAY or or get the drone’s eye view on YouTube.

Murder House by Patterson & David Ellis

On By Rick McIn uncategorizedLeave a comment

James Patterson does love to co-author.

No doubt David Ellis gets a bump in his writing career.

Detective Jenna Murphy comes to the Hamptons to solve a murder — but what she finds is more deadly than she could ever imagine.

Trying to escape her troubled past and rehabilitate a career on the rocks, former New York City cop Jenna Murphy hardly expects her lush and wealthy surroundings to be a hotbed of grisly depravity.

But when a Hollywood power broker and his mistress are found dead in the abandoned Murder House, the gruesome crime scene rivals anything Jenna experienced in Manhattan.

And what at first seems like an open and shut case turns out to have as many shocking secrets as the Murder House itself, as Jenna quickly realizes that the mansion’s history is much darker than even the town’s most salacious gossips could have imagined. …

jamespatterson.com

Life … ENJOY the Ups and Downs

On By Rick McIn philosophy, travelLeave a comment

The rain. And the rainbows.

Sean Kitching, one of my favourite YouTube editing experts, is giving up his house. Going full-time on the road in a camper van.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Simply Lies by David Baldacci

On By Rick McIn booksLeave a comment

Much better than the average Baldacci.

The April 2023 one kept me guessing.


Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective, leads a hectic life similar to that of many moms: juggling the demands of her two small children with the tasks of her job working remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy tax and credit cheats.  

When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems.   …

In the blink of an eye, Gibson has become a prime suspect in a murder investigation—and now her job is also on the line until she proves that she was set up.

Before long, Gibson is locked in a battle of wits with a brilliant woman with no name, a hidden past, and unknown motives—whose end game is as mysterious as it is deadly.  

Amazon