Pretty Coffee

Pretty Coffee,
Fascinating,
How it makes a man sing!
Pretty Coffee
Is a wonder -
Pretty Coffee, Pretty Coffee

(With no apologies to Sondheim...!)

Hey look...

This is a true double yoker!

Glasgow airport prior to departure

This is the airport, but we're leaving on time despite the fog.

Edinburgh castle in the snow

This is the view you get while shopping in Edinburgh - wow!

Calum tasting a lime

Say no more...

Monogrammed coffee

They're so thoughtful here in Scotland - they mongramme the coffee!

Ice crystals on the window

Look at these pretty crystals on the window. They're such a pain for drivers.

You know you're in Scotland when...

You know you're in Scotland when you get porridge at McDonalds. I suppose McDonalds is a Scottish name anyway...

I knew cats were evil but...

This proves that cats are evil - demon eyes!

Moon over the castle

Here's some clouds chasing the moon over Edinburgh Castle. You can see the National Gallery in the bottom right hand corner.

Snowy Edinburgh

Here's snowy Edinburgh, although five minutes after this photo was taken, the sun came out!

"Anything from the trolley?"

Anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, knows the trolley lady on the Hogwarts Express. She asks the question "Anything from the trolley?" which is obviously based on the British Rail refreshments trolley seen here. The pic's a bit blurry, as the train was moving...

Och, Jock!

Caught this pic of a terrier running in the snow.

Well, it is Scotland...

Self-portrait?

Can you see me in this picture of Glasgow? My shadow is in the bottom left hand corner.

Fun, eh?

Queens Park Glasgow

When I was here in October, I put pictures of this park on this blog in Autumn. These pictures are of the same area, but in Winter.

Pretty pictures

Everywhere you look, the snow turns almost every scene into something pretty. It's probably just the novelty of it for me, but it's still pretty.

Where I stay in Glasgow

This is where I stay in Glasgow at my friend Donnie MacNeill's house. As you can see, snow everywhere! The front door step has been incredibly icy the last few days.

Frost, ice and snow.

Here's the current view of Glasgow streets from the top of a double decker bus. You probably can see all the snow on the streets - it's terribly slippery and extremely dangerous.

Scottish sunset

This picture was taken on the way to Glasgow from Edinburgh. I think it's quite pretty.

Go Partick!

I walked into St Peter's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh to be greeted by the Rector Fred Tomlinson with a warm welcome because I was wearing a Partick Thistle scarf. Here you can see us discussing tomorrow's upcoming game.

Weather in Edinburgh

Unlikely to rise above zero today, but the sun's trying to peek through...

Snowed in...

How to cope with being snowed in? The Scottish solution: hot tea and Digestives...

More winter pictures

Here's some more winter pictures for you to enjoy.

Nae half balmy

This crowd of people are having - I kid you not - a barbie. I think the influence of Neighbours in the UK had gone far enough, don't you?

White Christmas

I went for a walk today around the local park. People were out in force enjoying the non-snowing weather. It was actually very pretty.

Ode to Joy

This plaque is outside of the building where the German poet Schiller wrote the words to 'Song of Joy' in Leipzig. Beethoven of course used the words in his Ninth Symphony, which I heard later the night I took this pic. See Listening to Beethoven's Ninth at the Gewandhaus

Morning after night before

Catching up on blogging on New Year's Day...

Wall denkmal (monument)

These pictures are from a wall memorial currently being constructed in Leipzig. The Monday night masses outside the St Nikolas Church in Leipzig were instrumental in bringing down the wall dividing East and West Germany. This memorial reflects these feelings, I think.

Leipzig corridors

Leipzig is known for all its little arcades and corridors which are great fun to wander about, finding all types of interesting shops from specialist toy shops, designer boutiques to Goth Shops.

Faust in Leipzig

This statue represents a scene from Goethe’s Faust and stands outside of Auerbach’s cellar in Leipzig. It’s very big and actually a bit scary, as the play dictates at that point.

St Thomas Star of Bethlehem

This star was hanging from the roof in the St Thomas Church. I thought you might like to see it.

Bach Candles

In Bach’s St Thomas Church, Leipzig, you can light these candles or buy some to take home as a souvenir. The candles say “Place of believers of the spirit of music.” So I had to light one, of course.

Bach Statue at Thomaskirche

This statue stands outside the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Bach was here for nearly three decades until the end of his life, and wrote was recognised as the greatest religious music ever for, as he often wrote at the end of his scores, ‘Soli Gloria Deo’ – alone for the Glory of God.
Someone has their picture taken every minute of so next to this statue, and you’ve got to remember, this is midwinter. Apparently, they are run off their feet in summer.
A lot of people know about the St Thomas Church and Bach, but don’t realise that he was responsible also for the music for the other main Leipzig church, St Nikolai.

Hamburg Pipes

Being an antismoker, I found the pipe shops in Hamburg a bit disgusting, but smoking still seems to be very popular in German. Don’t ask me why. Must be the addictive nature of it. Anyhow, these pics are still fun.

Hamburges Franzbrötchen

This pic is from a few days ago.

This pastry, Franzbrötchen, is the trademark pastry of Hamburg. Shortly after this picture, I ate one and didn’t need to eat for hours! They are loaded with butter and cinnamon – very rich.

Christmas baubles and decorations

I had to share these pictures from Hamburg. So European Christmas.

Half eaten Santa in Hamburg

I saw this hysterical decoration hanging in a mall arcade in Hamburg. You can see it’s like a half-eaten chocolate Santa. It looks very realistic and every passerby seeing it laughs.

Julie at the Town Hall

This fountain in the courtyard of the Hamburg Town Hall wasn’t running because it was frozen! You can see my friend Julie, a Hamburg native who now lives in Melbourne, enjoying this rare opportunity to say hello to the statues up close and personal.

Hamburg War Memorial

This is the Nikolai church that was destroyed in World War 2 and the ruins have been kept as a memorial for all of those who have suffered in War. Hamburg is on a large harbour and was a U-boat port and so was subject to very heavy losses from bombing. So a memorial is not surprising here. Note the Hamburg flag (red) peeking out between the buildings.

Hamburg canals – are women are from Venice and men from Hamburg?

Note: this posting is froms pics a few days ago.

There are more canals in Hamburg than Venice, and wandering around the city, you’ll find this easy to believe. These scenes appear in Hamburg every time you turn a corner when out walking through the city centre.

Oh yeah, are women from Venus and men from Mars? Nope. We’ll all from Earth, so get over it!