Folks, guess it's winter!

It snowed last night, so I hurried up to take a few pictures, as it is very noticeably warmer today, 10 degrees C more, and as it is melting very fast.
Friends in northern latitudes, please stay warm. Others: don't forget the suncream, or umbrella for some!

Not your everyday gargoyle!

Pretty colorful, innit! I am not quite sure if it actually a gargoyle, it might be an art piece.
Strasbourg is a city of gargoyle. I don't think anybody counted them, but there might be several hundreds of them, or more. They are everywhere!

City lights

December theme day: gift

Hi there. This is me, 7 years ago, recovering from open heart surgery in the ICU, at St Paul's hospital in Barcelona. I was given the gift of life.
A few years later, in Skopje, Macedonia, I suffered a severe stroke. And I died, my "new" heart just stopped. The doctors there, at the university hospital, brought me back, after 2 minutes. Again, the gift of life. Life changing experiences, both of them.
You guessed it, this month's CDP theme day is: gift. Being half german, I just HAVE to tell you that Gift is german for poison...;-) Waiting for german posts about that theme...
Anyway, just click here to see what my dudes and dudettes did about it! Do it now!

Number 3

Third time lucky! After 2 broken trees (see a past post), the big christmas tree (well, a miserly 28 meters tall) is up and decorated. Much bigger than the "big" one on Times Square in New York, a ridiculous 23 meters... Ha, WE BEAT  NYC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Strasbourg, capitale de Noel, capital of Christmas.

Having some wine at the cathedral

It is getting really cold, barely above freezing. So, a vin chaud, aka mulled wine, aka Gluehwein, is good for a lot of of things: makes you warm, help fighting colds, it it opens the appetite, it boosts the immune system, and so on... Louis Pasteur called it the healthiest of drinks.

Monday mural on tuesday

Sorry, I'm late!
Yep, our local genius Dan 23 did it again!!!

Hark the angels

The main street leading to the cathedral. It is even busier than it looks, thousands and thousands of tourists, all of them stopping abruptly (right in front of me, usually) for photos... You won't find many locals there for the next 5 weeks. Well, there is me...

It's christmassing

A butcher's christmas decoration... The 447th christmas market has started, the tourist hordes are coming, all 2.5 millions of them...

Hey you!

Feed me!

It was a cold and rainy evening

More b&w here

The big clock in the sky

I had to be in town early this morning, so I took my obligatory 2nd coffee of the day at the train station. No moon, just a big clock.

Good morning!

The view from my kitchen window, whilst sipping my first coffee of the day

Barcelona...

A photo from my old Barcelona blog

Cliché

Believe it or not, we do have other cars in France...LOL

Christmas tree, episode 3

Right. Every year, in time for the opening of the Christmas market, the city puts up the tallest possible pine tree on place Kleber, aka the main square.
Well, it started well. They found a tall one, 36 meters, in the mountains nearby. They cut it, and... it broke into 3 pîeces.
One week later, they cut another one. This one made it to the city, and was put up. The city workers were decorating it, when... they noticed a large crack.
So, this is number 3...  Let's touch wood.
The Christkindlsmaerik, or christmas market, opens next weekend.  I'll keep you posted.

Black and white weekend

Brushing up on my b&w skills, lol!
More b&w weekend posts here!

Big Brother is watching you...

... from his underwater lair.

Post 500

I lived in front of Parc Monceau in Paris for a few years, and it still is as beautiful as 34 years ago

Kraken, I love you

Surprising love declaration.

2 boats crossing...

...one from Paris, the other one from...

A monday mural

Be sure to wear some...?... in your hair
More Monday Murals here.

A weekend reflection

Rain, more rain, hail, Noah's flood parts 2 and 3, and a little sunshine in between...
More weekend reflections here.

Now, you wait a minute, mister!

This ain't no Strasbourg! You're cheating!
Yo dude, weekend away, in grey (not gay) Paris. Chill.

Colors

Wherever I go...

These boots are made for walking! Perfect shoes for travelers, not just for aussies!

Our local llama shop

Formerly known as: our local unicorn shop

Which way to the garden?

Lost gnomes.

A monday mural

Victor Hugo, one of France's greatest novelists and poets.
"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face".
More Monday Murals here.

It's a cold and rainy day...

... so, let's take the time travel machine, and go back to Genova, Italia

See the terrace on the whitish building?

I definitely could live there!
More weekend reflections here.

Little monochrome beauty

Never seen her before! Isn't she a beaut!
More monochrome beauty right here!

Socks, drugs and rock'n roll

After looking for 3 weeks for an appropriate post for yesterday's theme day, a few hours after posting, I came accross this yesterday...

Wine, knack(wurst) and rock'n roll!

November City Daily Photographer theme day: rock'n roll. A hard one... To tell you the truth, Strasbourg is not a rock'n roll kind of place. Well, except for one place, the very excellent Bretzel Airlines. What could be more alsatian than a bretzel??? Well, don't answer this one.... Choucroute (aka sauerkraut), wines, and on, I know, guys...
To see more rock'n roll photos, click here.

The tree is up!

Every year around this time, the city puts up the tallest christmas tree they find, on place Kleber, our main square. This year, it didn't go as planned... They found a 36 meters tall tree, but it broke when they cut it down. This is plan B, only 30 meters tall, 100 feet. The christmas market opens on the last weekend in november, time for the city workers to make the tree christmassy, by attaching more branches (right now, the tree is...meager), and to decorate it.

Saint Jean

St John church was a former monastery church. Built in 1477, and heavily damages during WW2, it is now home to a monastic fraternity (whatever this means. I saw a nun unlocking the door this morning). I love the simplicity of it!
A close-up of the lion above the entrance:

Big Brother...

...is watching you, from the top of the Uniqlo shop

Reformation

The town is very busy this weekend, lots of protestants from all over France, Germany, Switzerland, celebrating 500 years since Father Martin Luther, catholic priest, augustinian monk, father of 6 with Katharina von Bora, a nun, absconded his "true" faith, to embrace another "true" faith (...).
Now, the region here, Alsace, is predominantly protestant. A few catholics, jews, muslims, others...And our neighbors, Switzerland and Germany are very protestant as well. Followers of a guy who wrote a treatise about jews, Von den Jüden und iren Lügen, "about jews and their lies".  In the treatise, he argues that Jewish synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer  books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes burned, and property and money confiscated. They should be shown no mercy or kindness, afforded no legal protection, and these poisonous envenomed worms should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time. He also seems to advocate their murder, writing "we are at fault in not slaying them". 
What a nice example to follow.
You know the rest: suffering, death, racism, narrow mindedness, hate, intolerance, bigotry, Trump...

Evangelicals are boycotting the celebrations. I wonder why.

Buddha in Paris?

Not really, seen in the window of a souvenir shop near the cathedral in Strasbourg 500 km from Paris.
More black and white photos here.

For rêveurs!

   Rêveurs= dreamers. Moustaches are for dreamers, forever. Or so it says here. I am more of a beard guy myself, but whatever tickles your fancy...

He ho, and a bottle of rum!

Strange things seen in windows, in this case a new rum/pirate bar, Barberousse.Oh well, I guess it's that time of the year. I'll drink to that!
Waiting for Captain Jack Sparrow to buy me a drink!

Love is all around

Hearts are popping up everywhere. Strasbourg: city of love!

A monday mural

I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change...I'm changing the things I cannot accept.
Angela Davis

More Monday Murals here
Mural by Dan23.

Elsewhere...

An old door at the National Museum in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

At the barbershop

Nice beards, guys!

Musica!

Excellent musicians, brilliant classical music!

Have fun and be merry

A modern knight on his noble steed. Looking slightly anxious though.