Art and Abart

There have been some changes here over the month I was gone. Some roads have been re-tar sealed, including the road under the large Eucalypt...

One thing about jet lag is that you get to see places at unusual times. I was at Banksia Station by 5:30am, even before the Banksia Bakery o...

While we were taxiing for take off at Frankfurt Airport the middle aged Asian businessman sitting next to me fell sound asleep and snored lo...

Melbourne has been consumed by the horror of the rape and murder of Jill Meagher in Melbourne's Brunswick last week and Philip's rea...

Silver birch trees in Hamburg Hamburg has been wet and cold and suddenly it is autumn. Just when I have adapted (well almost) to this se...

Over the last week I have been painting small pictures to hang in Gino's Italian Cafe here in Rissen. Gino is a real gem, an Italian who...

I seldom buy canned foods nowadays because the inner lining of cans often contains the toxin bis phenol and tests have shown that the uptake...

This shop (chain actually) has got marketing down to a tee. It is a coffee shop; grinds and sells various coffees - all own brand. But on th...

The stall holders at the Sunday market in Uetersen last weekend wore traditional dress and their stalls, full of  baskets of  fresh and beau...

After living in a country where cigarettes must be kept under the counter it is a bit of a shock to find baskets of cigarette packages place...

I do like escalators that have all the 'up' stairs on one side, so you don't have to walk around to the other side on each floor...

Uetersen (just north west of Hamburg) is one of the world's most important rose breeding areas and the Uetersen Rosarum is worth a visit...

These mid-air actors in Hamburg were attracting attention on Friday. Some people walked straight past without seeing them but then someone w...

Australian Ugg boots seem to be popular in Germany. I have seen them in Hamburg (below) and Munich (below that)! The ones I saw in Hamburg y...

It was cold and threatening rain in Hamburg this morning so I went into the city center, getting out of the train at Jungfernstieg to a typi...

How nice to see the Hamburg Rathaus (Town Hall) appear at the end of the street. Rathaus Hamburg Rathaus It is such a pretty build...

In Hamburg this afternoon there was a very long queue of people waiting to buy an iPhone5. Pedestrian managers in yellow jackets were kee...

The Angel in St Michael's church in Munich Isn't she lovely?

I was in a bit of a zombie state after painting hard for two weeks then doing the tourist thing in Munich so I snoozed on the train to Hambu...

"There must be more to Munich than this," I said to myself as I drank my espresso looking out the cafe window. Munich Street ...