Now That’s a Scarecrow!

Maybe you did not know, but scarecrows used to be just that, real crows to scare off crows and other unwanted, opportunistic scavengers. This is how some farmers still do it in France, however cruel, unethical and non-pc it may seem to some people. (Don’t worry,they shoot them first.)

Judge Carmen at Maastricht Carnaval

At the carnival in Maastricht I stood for quite a while on a bench in a crowd in front of a stage. A male choir kept the audience warm with their enthusiastic singing, even at one stage singing about what I was doing. Mrs S said, they are pointing at you, saying something about photo. Neither of us understand much spoken Dutch, and I wondered if I had offended somebody, but my fears were unfounded. It was a song about taking photos, that word being mentioned many times accompanied by the lead singer pointing at me. I could only smile back in return and point my camera at somebody else in the crowd. Nobody seemed to mind, several of them (in particular women for some reason) more or less posing, smiling into the camera. But the best shots are normally of people who are unaware of the photographer.

This week’s picture is not one of outstanding beauty, but more of outstanding happiness on a man’s face. This bespectacled gentleman was dressed as Carmen, red dress with black dots and black wig and all. But the hair piece had been slightly dislodged and looked more like a black version of an English judge’s court wig and a Caribbean pirate’s floppy hair combined!

Judge Carmen had bumped into a couple he knew, but who did not recognise him at first in his outlandish outfit, so he had to “identify” himself. He laughed heartily at their reaction.

What I like in particular about this split-second out of the five seconds it all took, is that it tells a whole story, in a blink, his expression being representative of the atmosphere of this annual event, sheer joy, fun and some silliness.

Carnaval in Maastricht

We have often passed through Maastricht on our way to or back from France, but we have never had time to stop. To make it worse, it is less than an hour from where we live, so we decided to go there yesterday. We know the Germans are keen on Karneval, and we have been to Duesseldorf and seen all the fancy dress, happy people and all the colours on earth. What we did not know, was that the Dutch are as keen on partying during the carnival season. Yesterday was grey and cold, but that did not dampen the spirit. Just look at these snaps.

        

    

    

     

Happy Chocolate Easter

There are all sorts of museums all over the world, and in Cologne there is one for chocolate.

This time of year a big brother bunny, in what looks like golden foil, poses majestically above the entrance. Inside you find smaller, more common versions.

 

It is a chocolate heaven on earth for chocoholics. They even have a display of a chocolate waterfall behind bullet-proof glass(?), otherwise people might have been too tempted to sample it I guess.

We didn’t have time to go through the museum itself, but we were happy just to visit the shop and make some modest purchases. Is that cheating?

Love Is But a Dream - Love Padlocks / Liebesschlösser Revisited

In October last year I wrote about the padlocks on the Hohenzollern bridge in Cologne, a post that has been found by quite a few searches from all over the world. I have been back, and now on the southern side where most of them are.

You see people, who walk across the bridge, stopping regularly to look at padlocks and read the inscriptions. And there are tens of thousands to look at, in particular on the southern side of the bridge.

One couple, who secured their love padlock on New Year's Day this year, has already lost two of their four ladybirds for luck. Does that mean luck is running out already for Katharina and Bernhard? Who knows?

Some cynic or sad loser who has not found love yet, has painted a message on the footpath in German:

"Liebe ist nur ein Traum" - "Love Is But a Dream"

Others are displaying some strong feelings, including handcuffs. Or is that possibly a bit kinky?

How about this one then? Did the maker of that padlock design it in complete innocence or was it meant to look slightly rude? Is that a sex god? Well, it is a love padlock after all, I suppose!

 

Love padlocks - Liebesschlösser

	Some time ago we came walking across the Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne, a railway bridge leading straight into the main station. I had my eyes on the river and had the opportunity to get closer to this iron man who seems to be scared of small birds.
It was not until I looked the other way to try and get some shots through the fence that I noticed something odd, which I actually had seen on the other side before.
	Many people walked past without noticing or paying any attention, but children often spot funny and surprising things, as did this young girl.
There were padlocks everywhere, and they were often interlocked. A few had nothing on them, but most of them had either something written with a permanent marker pen or as the ones on the right here, had names engraved professionally.
	They could be colourful and of different designs. When I moved nearer to take a close-up I discovered something even more unusual, and perhaps clever.
There was advertising! The company that I guess has engraved a great number of all the thousands of love padlocks on this bridge, and possibly in other public places, had their own little padlock with the company name and URL. Will anybody spot it? Well, I did!

I googled and found that this is not an unusual phenomenon. You can find these love padlocks all over the world, as I discovered when I read this Wikipedia page. The fences on this bridge in Cologne will probably with time be full of padlocks. The western side seems to be where it started, and this love-locking has now moved over to the other side where we were. According to Wiki, the railway company threatened to remove all locks, but had to give in to public opinion and leave them as a symbol of people's commitment to each other.

I can just picture the scene when a love couple comes out on the bridge, how they jointly attach the lock to the fence, throw the key into the river and then seal it with a looong kiss. What do you think?

Flax Market

Yesterday was probably the last summer day. Apart from some chilly mornings, we have had nearly 20 degrees C in the afternoons. Today started with fog and a distinct autumnal feel, so I think the organisers of the annual flax market in one of our little neighbouring towns were quite pleased with the timing.

We have been several times to this event over the years and we are actually familiar by now with the layout of it all and also recognise individuals and their stalls. As you might expect there are all sorts of things to look at, buy and try out, anything artisan, old-fashion or folksy and rural. Since we are so close to both the Dutch and Belgian borders there were quite a few from those countries as well, as you can see in some of the pictures in my Smilebox.

I hope you enjoy my little guided tour around the market as much as we enjoyed our gentle stroll ending with a rewarding glass of beer and sekt (sparkling wine) respectively.

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