Art - mostly public - showing German humor & genius (and a little madness!)

We went to no art museums, but art was everywhere. By the end of the trip I had gathered this crazy group of images - things that "caught my eye."

Here you go:

This crazy thing in Amberg always makes me laugh. I think it is metal and glass or enamel.

Closer detail of public art in Amberg

The famous "spectacles" bridge, Amberg

 

On this side of the bridge however, it appears to create a skull

Large welded metal globe, Amberg

Tiles inside the globe, Amberg

Crazy thing at the Auto and Technik Museum Sinsheim - it appears to be some kind of windmill/whirligig

A closer look.

Wooden carving above door in Courtroom 600, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg

Statue above the entrance to the Palace of Justice

Chandelier in Courtroom 600, Palace of Justice, Nuremberg

Venus of Amberg by Lucia Torge, 2009. Public art - carved limestone,  Amberg

Reverse of Venus of Amberg

Flossenburg, sculpture by survivor

Deitrich Bonhoeffer statue, Flossenburg

Description of a "Rube Goldberg" type machine, The Imperator, Auto and Technik Museum, Sinsheim

The Imperator, Auto and Technik Museum, Sinsheim

Mirrors at the Hilton Hotel, Frankfurt Airport.

Part of Frankfurt Airport - it is a shiny Quonset hut shape and reflects the ever-changing activity below - like an inside-out Cloud Gate.

OK, I know...this one is silly, but I thought YC might like it...Yard art, Amberg

German gardens, and cats and such...

I love the small German gardens. People take such care of these small yards. And they are lovely, even when the winter wind blows cold.

Decorative grasses

Rose hips

A few vines (one variegated) trailing from a small home garden, Amberg

This huge tree was a way-marker for us on our regular walks before we found the many staired short-cut.

Frost covered trees in Amberg

A small window box in Rothenburg was still bright with color.

I saw this from a distance as we were looking for an entry to the walls in Rothenburg. Could it be "old man's beard"? It may not be the exact variety we have in Texas (clematis drummondii0, but it is definitely a relative.

A somewhat closer view of the seeds of a wild clematis in Rothenburg

I heard these birds - almost a chortle - as I walked the walls of Rothenberg

A dovecote

Moss on a railing, Rothenberg

 

I loved this rough old house seen from the walls of Rothenburg. I wondered what creature might use the hole in the masonry. Of course, I half-expected a squirrel to stick its head out, but no luck today.

Lichen and moss on a boulder (also dusted with frost) near Pottenstein.

Fern and icicles outside the Devil's Cave near Pottenstein

Closeup of fern, Pottenstein

Moss covered boulders at the exit to the Devil's Cave near Pottenstein

We hiked in a number of "natural areas" including hills around Pottenstein where I saw this poster identifying wildflowers. Sorry, wrong season.

Orchard near Pottenstein

More icicles near Pottenstein

Wild thing (wait, that's DH) exiting the Devil's Cave near Pottenstein.

Ferns and moss, Pottenstein

Moss covered stone at the Documentary Center, Nuremberg

A paddling of  ducks (and a couple of stray pigeons) greeted us the morning we went to the river in Amberg - our plan was to photograph the "spectacles."

Paddling of ducks - I recognized some mallards.

This pigeon  posed. The other moved.

 And we saw a few cats...they always seem to wander around, even in snowy weather. We saw a number of felines, but these guys posed.

MC calls this one-eyed flee bag "Lucky." This cat and another from the neighborhood regularly come visit.

This girl made friends with MC in moments at the Auto and Technik Museum, Sinshein

 Sheep graze in the orchard behind MC's house.

This one watched me for a good while. The others couldn't be bothered.

And we did see deer (2 red deer) on one drive, but they crossed the road and were gone almost before we could register that we had seen them.

Christmas decorations, but the markets were gone.

 We left for Germany on the 26th and arrived on the 27th. The Christmas Markets were gone, but decorations and lights are everywhere.

So, of course we enjoyed the lights and the windows and the trees...

Window in Rothenburg

Rathaus, Rothenburg (it is currently protected by a fabric painted like the facade of the building)

Evergreen filled, um, we are going to call this a horse trough. Yes, that's what it is.

Another window in Rothenburg

This tree was simply decorated with candle "lights," bows and pinecones.

The huge Christmas tree in the center of the marketplatz as seen from a window in the Rathaus tower, Rothenburg

Decorated trees flank a city gate, Rothenberg

This fountain is garlanded for the holiday

Lights along the Rothenburg streets

Another decorated window

Most businesses have a lit tree in a holder at the door.

City decorations in Pottenstein

A tree near the "spectacles" bridge in Amberg

Frost-covered forrest and  dome of the monastery above Amberg seen between strings of Christmas lights.

Christmas lights still strung across the street in Amberg.

Lights still brighten the Amberg streets at night.

Stars decorate the Frankfurt Airport

Workers clear pine boughs from the marketplatz