One of Thousands

Deb in I had a little extra time in a small town in Slovenia called Lesce Bled before our train was scheduled to leave for Vienna. We had coffee at a small cafe and then went exploring. This beautiful church was our best discovery.There were many things that struck me about this place. The first was that, though the church was unattended, it was also unlocked so that anyone had free access. But the most striking thing to me is that this church is only one of thousands that are scattered throughout many small towns of Europe. This church would have been this town's pride and joy when it was built. And I think it still is.

Sparglji

AKA Asparagus. As photographed at a street market in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Before Sunrise

We spent one night of our recent trip to Slovenia near a pristine mountain lake called Bohinj (pronounced Bo-heen). I got up early to capture a sunrise and blue morning sky over what I hoped to be a mirror smooth lake. I got a smooth lake but fog instead of sunrise. I also found the lake (which doesn't allow motorized vehicles) generally devoid of activity.I did find one person out rowing one of the traditional, locally made wooden boats. Whether he was fishing, getting his morning exercise or going somewhere I'll never know. But his presence does help this photo.

Snow In Berlin?

I think it may snow on rare occasions in Berlin, Germany. But if you own a Brandenburg Gate snow globe, you can make it snow whenever you want. I wonder if they sell Great Pyramid snow globes in Egypt? I'm wondering if they even know what snow is in Egypt. . .

History Lesson

I have already mentioned in another post that at the time Deb and I visited Dachau, there were few people present. But there were two groups of young German soldiers touring the grounds. Here, one group waits for another in front of the famous monument to those who suffered and died at this concentration camp.

I'll Have Another, Please

We had had a great day driving south from Berlin to Rothenburg. But when I ordered "warm raspberries" from the dessert menu at our hotel restaurant, I wasn't sure what I'd get. And when this was served, a great day became almost perfect. Fresh raspberries and creamy vanilla ice cream - it doesn't get much better than this!

Rustic

It's hard not to admire the craftsmanship in this rustic hand-made gate in rural Slovenia.

Memorial To the Murdered Jews of Europe

Not too far from where Hitler's Chancery building stood and close to where Hitler committed suicide in his famous underground bunker, lies this unsettling memorial to all of the Jews who were murdered in Europe.This memorial was dedicated in 2005 and has been controversial because some say the memorial doesn't attempt to answer questions like "how?" and "why?"I'm afraid that this photo doesn't come close to giving the viewer a sense of this place and a sense of my emotions as I looked for the right way to photograph it. In the end, I chose to include the trees bordering the monument to the west because I liked the contrast.For a brief video explanation, click here.

The Girls of Rothenburg

This was a nearly candid photo but one girl spotted my camera and acted uncharacteristically -- she smiled at me! This is not normal dress for children in this town; it just happened that on the evening we were there, There was a dress rehearsal for a pending religious pageant. Rothenburg, by the way, is in Germany and is a wonderfully preserved walled medieval city.

Another Wooden Boat - Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

The Wooden Boat - Lake Bled, Slovenia

Arbeit Macht Frei

The Germans that we encountered in our visit there were polite, friendly and happy. They showed respect to us even when we made mistakes due to ignorance of their laws and customs.So when I walked through the famous "Work will make you free gate" at Dachau, I wondered, as many others have, about the paradox that Germany is. How could the country that gave us Bach and Einstein also give us "The Final Solution?"Because this is a photo blog, I won't attempt an answer other than to say that all countries, including my own, can offer up paradoxes in their history.

Deb and I visited Dachau 30 minutes before it closed on a cool, rainy day. It was eerily devoid of people. And it was almost completely devoid of color.Somehow that seemed appropriate.For those interested in photography, you should know that when I took this photo, I realized that tens of thousands of other photos have probably been taken of this gate. So I was thinking about finding a point of view that might help my photo be a little different. So, after taking a couple shots with my standard lens, I took my 50mm 1.2 lens to capture a very narrow depth of field.Canon 5DII 1/640s f/1.4 ISO640 50mm