Through Y, I met Ö in Köln. And it’s through them, I became a fan of 1. FC Köln when they were in the Bundesliga’s 2nd Division. How times have changed, and in some instances, they haven’t; after relegation, #EffZeh are in the 2nd Division again for the 2024-2025 season.
I can now look back and marvel at the fact that I first came to Köln in 2002, and there’ve been more over the past 22 years. Double-digit total in visits: definitely. At least 20 times: likely. Catching up today after what’s happened the last number of years requires multiple mojitos.
On the way to El Inca on Roonstrasse, in Köln Neustadt-Süd: 2012 mural by Debug Visuals.
Ö activating and booking the bike with mobile app as part of public transport, via Köln transport authority KVB.
I made the photos above with an iPhone15 on 31 Jul 2024. This post composed with 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.
Bonn is a city of Beethoven; Ludwig the composer was born and raised in Bonn, before moving to and making it big in Vienna. A number of places in Bonn honour the memory of Beethoven. It’s also easy to forget Bonn was once the capital city of West Germany for over 40 years. Post-war rivalry and tension had escalated with the division of both Berlin and the nation into “west” and “east” entities. Bonn became the new capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990, until the Fall of the Wall and subsequent reunification. It’s never been a full move to this point in time; a number of federal departments still remain in Bonn.
I’ve visited the city before, but not with real depth on my part. To begin “again”, here’s how I saw sunny Bonn on travel day 83.
Bonner Münster.
“Cassius and Florentius”, by Turkish artist Iskender Yediler in 2002. These two figures are buried in the church behind, and are Bonn’s patron saints.
Universität Bonn (University of Bonn).
Münsterplatz: Beethoven memorial (by E. Hähnel 1845), in front of the Postamt.
hashtag Bonn, at Sternstrasse
Stadtgarten: Neues Beethoven Denkmal, by M. Lüpertz, 2013. In 2022, I saw another copy of this very same sculpture at Vienna’s Beethovenplatz.
“In this house Beethoven was born on 17 December 1770.”
Famous Beethoven portrait by J. Stiehler, 1820.
Inside Bonn’s Haribo store with lots of gummy bears.
Afternoon light, Am Neutor.
All photos were made with an iPhone15 on 29 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
I first met Y on the flight-journey and transatlantic long-haul from Santiago, Chile to Frankfurt am Main in 2002. Based in Heidelberg at the time, I was awarded some ESO telescope time in Chile, and after success collecting data, I was on the way back to Germany. Y spent months in Peru on alpaca research, and she was going back to Germany to complete her PhD program.
I’ve been to Köln many times since, to catch up with her. Now, 22 years forward to 2024, we’re reminiscing over beer at the new apartment Y shares with M in Brühl, located between Bonn and Köln. We marvel about the years gone by, common friends, and changes and turns the universe has thrown at us in that span of time.
M and Y
M, tilted me, Y.
In the middle of comparing Google searches.
I probably said something dumb in German, and that’s gotta be my “D’OH!”
22 years have gone quick.
I got in the first snap above; the remainder are by MW. This post for 28 Jul 2024 composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
Above/featured: Vienna’s green vineyards on Nussberg, with Kahlenberg at centre in the background. Photo, 14 Jun 2023.
A year in review typically provides coverage spanning a period of six months or more; the period doesn’t even have to be a continuous stretch. But in this case, my highlights come solely from a period of six weeks in May and June. All else pales by comparison.
All of the images presented below have been corrected for geometric distortion and rotation, with further adjustments to image-crop, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows, clarity, sharpness, vibrance, saturation, and colour levels. These images are as always best viewed on screens larger than a miniscule mobile.
Fotoeins Fotografie 