The lion dance is part and parcel of every Chinese New Year. It is performed to chase away bad luck and to summon good luck for the coming year.
Green lettuce is hung from high places. In Chinese, the word for vegetable is ‘cai’ and it sounds like the word for fortune. The ‘lions’ are required to perform acrobatic moves and reach for the lettuce.
Fire crackers are also lit. The loud sound is believed to scare bad spirits away.
A lion dance in action.
Close-up of the lion heads…
Hello all, it’s been awhile since i last updated anything. So here’s a photo which i took today.
I wish you readers a productive year ahead.
As many of you know, Germany is currently hit by heavy snowstorms. The following pictures are taken around the small town of Heilbronn.
There are slush all over the road. It is really messy and quite slippery too.
The snow might not look like much, but Heilbronn is comparatively warmer than many other German towns. Today, it was around -7°C…
Slush around the tram track.
The main square in Heilbronn.
Regardless of the bad weather, there is still some pedestrian traffic in town.
People are coming out because shops are slashing prices ahead of the annual end-of-winter sales (starts on 25th Jan).
The Kilian Church covered with snow.
Lastly, a picture of my apartment.
Like most other towns, Heilbronn has its own Christmas Market. However, it’s quite ordinary, and not as famous as the nearby Christmas markets in Bad Wimpfen or Esslingen.
The Kilian’s church is quite the show stealer with its imposing backdrop. And yes, it snowed, just before Christmas too. It was -13°C in the afternoon.
From another angle at night. This was taken a couple of days earlier, just before it started to snow. There are many stalls selling snacks and various handicrafts.
That’s all for this post. Merry Christmas everyone!
“Bad Wimpfen
The old German Christmas market in Bad Wimpfen, a medieval town with framework houses close to Heilbronn, will certainly rank among your unforgettable experiences in the Christmas season. On the weekends before Christmas you can stroll among the more than 100 booths of the old German Christmas market. Visitors enjoy the taste of the delectable flavours of advent time as well as the romantic atmosphere of this very special Christmas market in the valley of the Neckar river.” ~ www.badwimpfen.de ~
And unforgettable indeed was my trip to this tiny village. Even though Bad Wimpfen is located only about 30 mins from my place, i haven’t got the chance to visit its famed Christmas Market. Moreover, it only takes place on the 3 weekends leading to Christmas.
I was unfortunate to have missed the connecting train both to and from Bad Wimpfen due to some delays in the train schedule, which by the way, is rare in Germany, but the trip was worth the trouble.
The entrance to the village.
The lanes are small and packed with people.
“knusper knusper Hähnchen” directly translated to english is “crispy crispy chicken”. It is the name of an elaborately decorated German restaurant.
The building on the bottom left is the town hall and one of the two towers in Bad Wimpfen can be seen in the middle.
For the first time ever, we had a photo shoot in Heilbronn. Luck was with us as the weather was really good, with the clouds providing us ample diffused light as well as making the sky really dramatic. We had only a short time frame to finish the shoot as the sun sets early here. There were 8 of us including 2 photographers and we really had a great time.
Sun rays breaking through the clouds. It’s about 4p.m. when this picture is taken, also the time we started the photo shoot.
Introducing Hajar and Lisa.
A different pose.
Hajar.
Introducing Zubair Zulkifli a.k.a. Koboi.
Introducing Vincent Goh.
Introducing Mustakim a.k.a Mus.
Here are some pictures i dug out from my archive. It was taken during the shepherd’s race held in the quaint and charming town of Markgröningen during this year’s summer. Families of shepherds from as far as the Alps gather here yearly for a fun-filled weekend.
sometimes joined in by boisterous gypsies…
and not forgetting SpongeBob, lots and lots of them.
Puppets…
captivating young ladies with their merry laughters.
yellow and blue drum…
flags thrown up…and expertly caught again.
La chica muy bonita…
Check out those sunglasses.
After half a day of carrying heavy wooden buckets on their head, their smiles have faded a bit.
2 weeks ago, i trekked up a nearby hill … twice, on two different days. Once was early in the morning, it was quite foggy then and once more in the evening where i waited for the sun to set. It is situated about 20 minutes away by foot and a further 1 hour to reach the top. The whole hill is a vineyard.
These bales of hay were lying around near the foot of the vineyard.
Halfway up the hill. The city of Heilbronn can be seen in the background.
The leaves of the grape plant come in different shades of green, yellow, orange and red.
This is the view from the top.
A house in the vineyard.
The sunset from the top is simply stunning.
Same spot, a little to the right. I can’t decide which one to upload. Which do you think is the better one?
The hut on top of the hill.
Silhouette of Sey.
There are many tools sheds such as this one here.
That is all from both my hikes. Wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Hello readers,
it’s been pretty hectic for me lately and that explains the lack of posts. And sadly, my iMac has expired, only after 2 years of service. The LogicBoard is behaving erratically and won’t recognise the RAM anymore….
i have one good news to share though. After endless gray and rainy days, the sun decided to come out today
as well as flocks and flocks of swans.
That’s all for now folks. Till my next post.
Summer is finally here. Gone are the wind chill and rainy days. What better way to celebrate it than to sit in a park, sipping delicious German beer and listening to live music of your choice? That about sums the Stuttgart’s Sommerfest.
The fountains are the fav for an obvious reason.
Everyone wants their share of the cool water.
Angel at the Schlossgarten (Palace’s garden).
walk, stroll, cycle … just be part of the festival.
from classical music…
to mainstream music, almost all types of music are offered.
In front of Königsbau.
Sea of people… view from the top of the aptly named Treppe (steps).
View of Starbucks from the Treppe.
Lighting effects on the palace.
Another view from the top of the Treppe.
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