Bayreuth, Germany: inside the main hall of the Margravial Opera House (Markgräfliches Opernhaus) during guided tour. The building was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
I made the image above on 9 Jun 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/30-sec, f/2.8, ISO6400, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wBK.
The Alter Markt square in Stralsund is brilliantly illuminated in late-day sun with St. Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) and the Rathaus (City Hall) framing the scene at right. The greenish building at centre-left is the heritage-protected mid-18th century building Commandantenhus. Stralsund’s Old Town has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.
I made the image above on 31 May 2024 with an iPhone15; the image is corrected for geometric distortion. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wIH.
Just outside the city of Schleswig, Germany is the site of a former Viking settlement near the western end of the inlet Schlei. The sheltered harbour and a relatively short overland (portage) distance between the North and Baltic Seas made this an ideal location for settlement. The Viking sites Haithabu and Danevirke nearby have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.
I made the image above on 30 May 2024 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: , and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wI3.
Potsdam’s Sanssouci (“care free”) palace and park are very popular places for visitors in summer. However, a couple of days with severe thunderstorms and high winds in the past week forced the closure of the entire grounds, as announced earlier today on their website and as seen with signs on their locked gates. Downed branches and tree segments needed clearing. By mid-afternoon, some of the grounds opened to foot traffic, bicycles, and motor vehicles. It’s no surprise there were far fewer number of visitors observed on the grounds today.
In 1990, selected gardens and palaces in Potsdam including Sanssouci were inscribed by UNESCO as a single item onto their list of World Heritage Sites.
Locked gate on the grounds’ southern perimeter in morning hours.
Orangerieschloss: 1851 to 1860/1864, by Stüler and Persius.
Neue Kammern: 1748 by Knobelsdorff; first an orangery, then guest palace.
Hauptallee, facing west to Neues Palais.
From Hauptallee up to Sanssouci palace.
Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing north to Sanssouci palace.
Weinbergterrasse (vineyard terrace), facing south to the Great Fountain.
On the terrace steps, up to the palace.
The final spots for Friedrich the Great (below) and his beloved dogs (above center).
Grave for Friedrich the Great (1712-1786) who ruled as Prussia’s monarch from 1740 until his death. Yes, those are spuds on the plaque; legend has him responsible as the first to getting potatoes into German hands and bellies.
The visual jewel that is the centre portion of Sanssouci Palace.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 27 June 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
Brühl is the home of the Augustusburg and Falkenburg Castles and their associated garden-parks. For its unique and intact early-example of Rococo architecture from the 18th-century, these castles were inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site in 1984. A regional-express train from Bonn Hauptbahnhof (central station) to Brühl Bahnhof (train station) is only 10 minutes, and upon leaving the latter station, Augustusburg’s sunlit golden yellows lies straight ahead on the walking path.
Schloss Augustusburg.
My father would have loved this French garden.
(1) 8000 km to the other side of the world, and Canadian geese are everywhere. (2) The geese seemed to disagree over who has the most rights to this pool of water.
One last reflection from Schlosspark Augustusburg, for personal reflection. “Not bad” for a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
BRD buildings in the Bundesviertel
As a product of the 1970s and 1980s, I knew of two Germanys and, thanks to the 1976 Olympics, I then learned their abbreviations in both English and German. West Germany was known as FRG / BRD, and East Germany GDR / DDR. Looking back now, this became a starting point towards a long journey over the Atlantic, as I learned too that Bonn was capital of West Germany.
From 1949 to 1990, Bonn was capital city of the BRD: Bundesrepublik (West) Deutschland; FRG: Federal Republic of (West) Germany.
Former parliament building between 1992 and 1999. With German reunification and (re)declaration with Berlin as capital, many federal departments move from Bonn to Berlin. The final session of the German Bundestag in Bonn takes place in this building on 1 July 1999; all subsequent sessions take place in Berlin.
“Deutscher Bundestag” (German Parliament). Today, this building is part of the ensemble for the World Conference Centre Bonn.
1933 former Pedagogic Academy building built in Bauhaus style, converted in 1949 to meeting space for the Parliamentary Council, German Bundestag, German Bundesrat. This is the south part of the former parliament building.
The German Bundesrat meets in this north part of the parliament building. Plenary sessions take place here from 1949 to 2000, after which the Bundesrat moves to Berlin.
Deutsche Welle (now: DW), in Bonn. From 1994 to 2001, I watched Deutsche Welle from my apartment in Toronto’s North York. In late-2001, I moved sight-unseen to Heidelberg, Germany.
Two important flags.
I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 30 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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