Magnificent Calligraphy

I keep hearing about the high unemployment these days and can’t help but think there’s a talented doodle artist out there, perhaps currently unemployed, who could resurrect this kind of magnificent calligraphy for the world—maybe even with a modern twist. Awards, decorative birth or marriage certificates, diplomas, greeting cards, stationery textile designs...there must be dozens of applications and a fortune to be made. Wish I were so talented! Wouldn’t you love to receive an award decorated so beautifully? Or at least have a kitchen towel with a monogram drawn in these splendid scrolls?

Some of these are a bit hard to see clearly due to the folds and the glass reflections. I just thought they were so pretty, I wanted to share them anyway.

These seals indicate that bureaucracy is nothing new.

All the items above are from the Torture Museum in Rothenburg, Germany. I wanted you to enjoy their beauty before telling you they are mainly laws prescribing torture for offenses as horrible as wearing the wrong color hat! Or to put bakers in a cage and repeatedly dunk them in the river for making a loaf of bread that was slightly under—or over—the prescribed weight!

I like this musical calligraphy on a window shade at Melk Abby. How creative!

Happy Halloween!

Lednice Chateau, just across the Austrian border in the Czech Republic, one foggy morning:

A formerly grand old home in Vienna's Third District:

Trees–tamed or tortured?

Boo! Giant skull at Karlsplatz.

Eeeek! Now this really scares me...in a country I won’t name, definitely not Austria.

Schönbrunn Palace Gardens in Autumn

Schönbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburgs, has a long

history of notable events. It's the palace gardens, especially the trees,

that I find enchanting with their breathtaking autumnal colors.

The Neptune Fountain is quiet now but still beautiful.

Two joyful artists and their glorious crowns.

Freud and I Share 'A Little Piece of Paradise'

Just outside of Salzburg, in Bavaria, Germany, is beautiful Thumsee, a small Alpine lake surrounded by mountains. It is not mentioned in most tour books and I'm glad it is still a secret that I share with only several thousand others. It’s Bad Reichenhall’s hiking area, swimming hole and ice skating pond. I found it in 2007 quite fortuitously en route to Innsbruck. It was truly love at first sight and I return to Thumsee as often as I can.

Freud and his family were also frequent visitors to Thumsee and he called it “a little piece of paradise.” It makes my heart soar to marvel in its beauty and peace. It is one of my favorite places to commune with Nature.

I understand the lake, the boathouse and a huge home are for sale for a couple of million Euros. If you buy it, you must promise to keep it as beautiful as it is!