trento

the canals

venice

milan

vysoke tatry

štrbské pleso, the highest settlement on the west side of the high tatras, the lowest of the alpine mountains in europe

chatam sofer

the metal threads are intended to represent the jewish diaspora, broken at the top


the reconstructed jewish cemetary
and mausoleum of rev. chatam sofer (born in 1762 and considered by some the greatest jewish scholar of the nineteenth century), shown to us by andrej's father, president of the jewish community of bratislava.

bratislava II

the blue church of bratislava

soviet relics

bratislava

köln station

kölner karneval

carnival in köln begins on the elften elften elf Uhr elf -- the eleventh of the eleventh at eleven o'clock.

köln at night

nijmegen

matthias and i drove north to nijmegan, the oldest city in the netherlands, to see the les tres riches heures du duc de berry at the museum het valkhof. [you can see some of the drawings here]

below is the barbarossa ruins, part of the ruins of the valkhof castle, built in the eleventh century by charlemagne (but then dismantled at the end of the nineteenth century)

kevelaer

this house, the haus te gesselen, was originally built in the beginning of the thirteenth century. matthias' aunt and uncle purchased the house in 1987, at which point it was sinking into the ground and about to split in two. they reinforced the wooden supports with cement, restored the building, and now live in the downstairs floors. if you read german, here's a little more of the history.

mammouth tusks

the lower rhine

the town of straelen


walbeck, home to two castles and quite a few other medieval buildings -- as well as being matthias' boyhood home.

köln

the dom, the cathedral in the center of köln. construction began in 1248, on the site of a cathedral first built in the 800s, then was finally finished in 1880. now it's the largest enclosed space inside a church. [some more pictures of the dom]

brussels

barbara in the grand'place/grote markt