German vistas

I have been busy for the last few days rummaging through my computer folders to find out some of the snaps I took during my visit to Germany six years back. I thought those pics would look great in this era of mobile phone photography that allows you to immortalise every moment of your life till you choose to delete it for the next moment that you feel you have to immortalise.
Photography used to be one of my passions during my college days and after as I wandered in different places in and around my home district to take pictures of bridges, forts, trees, hills and whatever interested me. I was bequeathed an old Canon SLR from my late father who got it from his cousin settled in Borneo. I learned photography from photography books and did trial and error experiments using this camera. Digital photography did not exist even in the realm of imagination in those days. You had to wait till the film was washed and the prints taken to know if the `immortal' pictures you had taken came out well. The books are still with me but a used Nikon F801 camera I purchased over 10 years ago has stopped working. The Nikon SLR has been a museum piece for the past one decade. Whenever I fee the inner urge for photography, I take my albums and look at the photos I have taken. Here are some of the snaps I took during my tour of Germany in June/July 2002:

This is the Marktplatz of Calw, the cute little town, where German writer Hermann Hesse was born. I was enthralled by the architectural beauty of the town in the southern German State of Baden-Wurttemberg. I was in Calw for two weeks and I will never forget the hospitality of the people there.
This is river Nagold that flows through Calw. The photgraph was taken from a bridge across the river at nearby Hirsau. Seen in the background is the tower of an ancient Christian monastery. The house of my host Dietmar, where I stayed during my visit, was a stone's throw away from this spot. This picture brings back memories of Diet, as I call him, and his girlfriend Eva.
This is another part of Calw. It looks so peaceful, doesn't it? What is beautiful in this area is the perfect blend of traditional and modern architecture. This is the church in Holzbronn, a resort near Calw. I visited the church (Bernhardekirche). I still cherish the memory of my interactions with Volker Weis and his wife Margaret Ehni, both ministers of the church. Both were progressive in their outlook. They told me about the history of Protestant religion in Germany.
If I hadn't already constructed a house, I would have built a house exactly like this one I found in in Holzbronn. I can't imagine that house without that lamp post. This is the entrance to the Cistercian Monastery in Maulbronn. It was built in 1147. It is one of the best preserved heritage sites in Germany. I spent a whole day inside the monastery, a tourist destination now. I remember walking into a bar inside the monastery compound. Italian bartenders in the bar were very friendly.
This is a part of the Black Forest which is a wooded region in the mountains of south-western Germany. I saw a lot of fir trees on the upper slopes of the forest. The wooden bridge across a small stream gives an earthly charm to the entire greenery. This is a spot in Hirsau. Flowers, the lawn and the bungalow-type building are so captivating that you don't notice that post-modern steel sculpture.
I saw this guitarist on the Ludwig Strass (Ludwig street) in Munich. She was so involved in music that she didn't care to look at me who was taking her snap. This is the Central Railway Station in Munich. It reminded me of the Railway Station in Chennai. I spent a day in Munich. It was a whirlwind tour taking pictures at Marientplatz, Ludwig Strass and other landmarks of the city. This is Siegestory (Victory Gate) in Munich at one end of the Ludwig Street whose other end is Odeonplatz, the main landmark of which is Feldhernhalle (Commander's Hall) where Adolf Hitler made his first attempt for power in 1923.
This is a square in Romer, which is the old part of Frankfurt, a modern business city with its skycrapers. When I was just watching the sights of Romer, a group of Christian music troupe landed there from nowhere and started singing in praise of Christ. The singers were not Germans. This is Altes Schloss (old palace) in Stuttgart, capital of Baden-Wurttemberg. This was originally built around 941. It is a major landmark building in the city and it houses the Wurttemberg State Museum. I liked the yellowish ambience of this Baden-Wurttemberg State Parliament hall. The cube-shaped parliament has 128 seats for elected representatives, 240 seats reserved for guests in the visitors gallary. We were greeted by the Deputy President (Deputy Speaker) inside the hall when the house was not in session. Somebody with us asked her if the house allowed private TV channels to film and telecast the entire parliament proceedings, she said rather proudly: "We are a democratic country and there is no restriction for the media."

This was the latest high-speed loco engine on display at Stuttgart which is known for its automobile industry.

Three girls were presenting a public music performance on a street in Tubingen, Germany's Oxford or Cambridge. Tubingen is a youthful city. You know why? Students formed majority of the population in this city, that is.